Category: HR Management & Compliance

There are dozens of details to take care of in the day-to-day operation of your department and your company. We give you case studies, news updates, best practices and training tips that keep your organization fully in compliance with ever-changing employment law, and you fully aware of emerging HR trends.

Downsized Employee with Lupus Advances ADA, FMLA Claims

An Oklahoma receptionist diagnosed with Lupus less than two months before losing her job to a reduction in force has advanced her state and federal disability bias and retaliation claims against her former employer following a federal district court ruling. Cynthia Reed, whose position was eliminated and mostly automated just two days after she requested […]

Administration Proposes Overtime Expansion, Solicits Employer Buy-in

President Obama announced a proposed rule to “modernize” and expand overtime protections for workers on March 13. The administration signaled that it would like to expand overtime protections through a U.S. Department of Labor rule change that would raise the salary threshold defining which workers are exempt from overtime and potentially evaluate some of the […]

Get Your Learners Moving During Training

Sharon Bowman, president of Bowperson Publishing & Training (www.bowperson.com) and author of Using Brain Science to Make Training Stick, gave trainers good advice yesterday, so we asked her another question: “Why is movement important during training, and how can trainers build movement into training sessions?” Bowman responds by reporting that brain research conducted in the […]

6 Reasons to Conduct an Engagement—Not a Satisfaction—Survey

Yesterday’s Advisor featured consultant Allan Benowitz on why you shouldn’t measure satisfaction. Today, the do’s and don’ts of engagement surveys, plus an introduction to a unique guide just for HR managers in smaller, or even one-person, HR departments. Benowitz, who is the vice president of Growth and Development at The Employee Engagement Group, offered his […]

OFCCP releases resources to help contractors comply with new regulations

The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has posted information on its website to help federal contractors comply with the new regulations pertaining to the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA) and Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act. The new resources are: The VEVRAA benchmark database; The Disability […]

Is Your Training Learner-Centered—and Moving?

We asked Sharon L. Bowman, president of Bowperson Publishing & Training, Inc. (www.bowperson.com), how trainers can make training “learner-centered” and why it’s important to do so. Bowman asserts that learner-centered training is “training in which learners are actively involved every step of the way from the moment they walk into the classroom until the moment […]

Stop Measuring Satisfaction—Focus on Engagement

For strategic talent management, forget surveying satisfaction, says Consultant Allan Benowitz. The meaningful focus should be on engagement. Satisfaction is about giving things to employees, he adds, while engagement is about employees giving back. Benowitz, who is the vice president of Growth and Development at The Employee Engagement Group, offered his expert tips on engagement […]

Requiring Notes for Each Intermittent FMLA Absence Could Be Improper

A company’s policy of requiring a doctor’s note for each intermittent absence under the Family and Medical Leave Act violates FMLA because the policy directly conflicts with FMLA’s recertification procedure. So ruled a federal district court in a consolidation of cases that presented an issue of first impression in the jurisdiction of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court […]

Toobin’s Take on Hobby Lobby

Special from SHRM’s Employment Law and Legislative Conference Hobby Lobby is the case to watch on this session’s Supreme Court docket, says noted author Jeffrey Toobin. Individuals have religious freedom, of course, Toobin says, but do corporations? Hobby Lobby is a large (3 billion plus) privately held organization with over 600 stores across the country. […]