• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Compensation & Benefits

Bill would give private-Sector employees access to CalPERS

07/18/2008
The California State Assembly has passed a bill that would allow private-sector employees who don’t have employer-based pension plans to open individual retirement savings accounts with the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) …

Holiday premium isn’t the basis for overtime calculation

07/18/2008
Good news for California employers that pay their employees time-and-a-half for holiday work: You don’t have to cough up additional pay for overtime hours worked on a holiday …

Santa Clara firm fined for not accommodating lactating mom

07/18/2008
A Silicon Valley security services company has been fined $4,000 for failing to provide a private space for one of its employees to express breast milk. California regulators fined International Security Services, based in Santa Clara, after receiving a complaint from a new mother …

Same-sex marriage: What the trend means for employers and HR

07/17/2008

No federal law mandates that employees who are in state-sanctioned same-sex unions must receive the same employee benefits that heterosexual married couples receive. But the writing is on the wall. And even employers in states that ban same-sex unions may find themselves targeted by advocates for greater benefits … 

Must we offer EAP services to those on COBRA?

07/17/2008
Q. Currently, we offer our employee assistance program (EAP) to those who elect COBRA coverage. But are we required by law to offer the EAP to COBRA participants? This is the first time I’ve seen a company offer an EAP through  COBRA. Participants pay $3.08 plus a 2% administrative fee if they elect. — T.A., Maryland …

Using FMLA leave to build a porch: Can that be legal?

07/17/2008

Have you ever approved FMLA leave for an employee’s medical ailment but had a sneaking suspicion the time would be spent on more than bed rest? If you discover “creative” uses of FMLA leave, be careful not to pull out the “You’re Fired!” finger too quickly or you may find yourself in the center of an FMLA retaliation lawsuit …

Compressed workweeks: How to handle holidays

07/17/2008
Q. A handful of our employees work four 10-hour days and get Fridays off. The rest work a regular week (five eight-hour days). If a holiday falls on a Friday, should the employees who work the 10-hour days also get Thursday off since they are always off on Fridays? — C.J., Nevada …

Post-childbirth FMLA leave: Taken in two parts?

07/17/2008

Q. One of our employees recently immigrated to the United States. She is pregnant and told us she plans to take eight weeks’ FMLA leave immediately after the child is born. A few months later, she’d like to return to her home country to visit family for a month. In other words, she wants to split her FMLA leave into an eight-week period and a four-week period. Can FMLA leave for a new child be split up in this fashion?

Can the DOL contact our former employees?

07/17/2008
Q. We’re in the middle of a U.S. Department of Labor audit. Investigators are looking at payroll records for the past two years. Now they want the names, addresses, phone numbers and positions of all employees who left within the past two years. Do they have the right to this information? Can they go back two years? — D.G., Rhode Island …

The HR I.Q. Test: August ’08

07/17/2008
Test your knowledge of recent trends in employment law, comp & benefits and other HR issues with our monthly mini-quiz …