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Workplace violence: Keep staff safe the legally smart way

10/01/2007

Employers are legally obligated to maintain a safe work environment. When employees commit violent acts against co-workers or customers, employers can be held responsible through negligent-hiring and supervision lawsuits. Each year, roughly 1,000 people are workplace homicide victims. And research shows that killings are five to seven times more likely to occur at workplaces where guns are allowed …

The dreaded reference check: What to say about former employees?

10/01/2007

Q. What may an employer say about why an employee left or was fired? …

Only business need can justify English-Only rules

10/01/2007

Employers that want to limit the use of languages other than English in the workplace take note: Your language restrictions must be reasonable and based on genuine business needs. A simple company preference for English isn’t good enough …

Restaurants shell out $1 million in unpaid wages

10/01/2007

Five Long Island eateries will pay $966,000 in back wages to busboys, counter personnel, dishwashers and cooks to settle a U.S. Labor Department lawsuit. The wages cover two years in which the employees, mostly Hispanic immigrants, worked up to 60 hours per week without overtime compensation …

Immigration: Know your ‘Border guard’ responsibilities

10/01/2007

Together, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 and the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986 govern U.S. immigration policy. IRCA was amended in 1990. With each new law, employers gain new responsibilities. For each new employee hired, U.S. employers must complete a Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. The I-9 establishes the employee’s identity and his or her legal work status. Employers can hire only those who are eligible to work legally in this country …

Don’t forget—New rules in place for new hires

10/01/2007

As of July 1, Georgia public employers and the contractors and subcontractors that provide services and goods for public employers are required to comply with the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act of 2006. The Georgia Department of Labor has promulgated new rules requiring employers to provide employment eligibility verification to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security …

Keeping I-9 forms in separate file: Is it mandatory?

10/01/2007

Q. I’ve read that we shouldn’t keep employees’ I-9s in their personnel files. Is this a suggestion or are there laws that require them to be in separate files? —L.K., Alabama …

Report finds day laborers only a small part of work force

10/01/2007

A July 25 report issued by the Public Policy Institute of California has found that day laborers make up only a small percentage of the state work force. According to “Day Labor in the Golden State,” only about 40,000 people are working or looking for work as day laborers each day in California …

H-1B visa abuse costs Iselin tech company back wages, penalties

10/01/2007

The U.S. Labor Department has ordered Technologies500, of Iselin, to pay $537,189 in back wages to 36 computer programmers it hired under the H-1B visa program. The software company, also known as Cybersoftec.com, failed to pay the workers prevailing wages from January 2004 to November 2005. The department also levied fines of $162,750 …

Human trafficking brings ‘Modern-Day slaves’ to salons

10/01/2007

Federal agents recently arrested two men and a woman from Togo, alleging that they had smuggled at least 20 women and girls into the United States to work in hair-braiding salons in Newark and East Orange. Apparently, the “employees” worked without pay and were housed by their employers …