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Compensation & Benefits

Are your policies biased against employee caregivers?

06/01/2007

If you’ve never heard of “family-responsibility discrimination,” or FRD, you soon will. This subset of sex discrimination is a form of gender bias brought by employees who claim they were treated unfairly because they fulfilled caregiving roles for children or elderly parents …

Outreach center offers emergency relief for workers, cuts turnover

06/01/2007

The Family Outreach Center that’s provided to employees of Rosen Hotels does more than find day care slots and elder care resources for employees …

KPMG’s ‘Network of Women’ cuts turnover of female staff

06/01/2007

Nearly 80 percent of the female employees at New York-based KPMG think it’s a great place to work, up from 63 percent in 2004, a company survey shows. Sandra Bushby, director of women’s initiatives, says that’s because of the firm’s “Network of Women”…

Choral group’s refrain: Workers who sing together stay together

06/01/2007

For 10 years, employees at the St. Louis headquarters of the A.G. Edwards brokerage firm have put together an employee chorus to sing at the annual holiday luncheon and at a local nursing home. The chorus is a holiday stress reliever, a networking tool for employees …

Big ruling: Supreme Court limits scope of pay-discrimination lawsuits

05/29/2007

The U.S. Supreme Court handed employers a major victory this week by clarifying that workers who claim pay discrimination must file their complaints within 180 days of the alleged offense. But this ruling could, in the short run, lead to a spike in pay-bias claims.

Federal minimum wage jumps to $5.85 per hour on July 24

05/25/2007
Congress voted to increase the federal minimum wage from the current $5.15 per hour to $7.25 per hour in a three-step process. The federal minimum will jump 70-cents per hour in July 2007, July 2008 and July 2009.

FMLA in a Nutshell: How to Comply With the Family and Medical Leave Act

05/15/2007
White Paper published by The HR Specialist, copyright 2009 ______________________ The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which became law in 1993, provides qualified employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year for the birth or adoption of a child, for caring for a spouse or an immediate family member with a […]

Ban smoking or ban smokers? How far can you legally go?

05/15/2007

Thirty states and the District of Columbia have established “lifestyle discrimination” laws that prohibit employers from discriminating against employees or applicants based on the person’s off-duty use of tobacco or participation in other legal though controversial activities …

Extend your grief benefits beyond simple bereavement leave

05/15/2007

Your organization probably allows grieving employees to take a few paid days off when a family member dies. But employees who lose loved ones are unlikely to return to normal in just a few days.

No need for extra severance when laying off litigious staff

05/01/2007

Employers that want to trim their work force often sweeten the exit with severance payments. In exchange, employees sign away rights to lawsuits they may otherwise have contemplated. But what about employees who already have pending employment discrimination lawsuits or EEOC or state agency complaints? …