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.

New FMLA Certification Forms Available

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has released new certification forms for leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The new forms carry an expiration date of February 28, 2015, and replace forms that had a December 31, 2011, expiration date. The new forms appear to be identical to the old forms except […]

10 Ways to Curb the Most Common Types of FMLA Abuse

What are the most common types of FMLA abuse? Do you have employees who might be abusing the FMLA system? In a CER webinar titled “Stop FMLA/CFRA Abuse: 10 Ways Employers Are Combating Chronic Call-Ins and Fraud,” Marc L. Jacuzzi, Esq., differentiated between suspected abuse versus fraudulent use of the system, and also outlined some […]

Labor Dept. Urges High Court to Accept Narrow Definition of Sales Reps

By Khristine Scholtz The U.S. Labor Department, continuing its push for a narrow definition of outside salesmen, argued in a friend of the court brief that the outside-sales exemption is limited to employees who make their own sales. At issue is whether pharmaceutical sales representatives must be paid for working overtime hours, or are exempt […]

Washington State Legalizes Same-sex Marriage; Will Others Follow Suit?

And then there were seven: Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire (D) on Feb. 13 signed a measure making same-sex marriage legal in that state. Washington joins Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York, Iowa and the District of Columbia as U.S. jurisdictions with that distinction. The Washington law goes into effect on June 7. The Washington […]

DOL Unveils $12 Billion 2013 Budget Request

The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiscal year 2013 budget request continues many priorities emphasized in the previous year’s budget, such as the effort to combat worker misclassification, while ending or consolidating some programs aimed at helping women and veterans find jobs. The DOL’s 2013 budget request comes in at $12 billion. The 2012 request […]

California Joins With DOL to Fight Independent Contractor Fraud; Pacts Also Signed By 11 Other States

California is the most recent state to enter into a pact with the U.S. Labor Department aimed at cracking down the improper classification of employees as independent contractors. Nancy J. Leppink, deputy administrator of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, and California Labor Commissioner Julie A. Su announced their recently signed memorandum […]

Labor Seeks New Funding to Boost FLSA, FMLA Enforcement in 2013

The Obama Administration’s proposed 2013 budget  includes funding to hire 92 additional Wage and Hour Division investigators. The budget would allocate $6.4 million to hire investigators to enforce the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act, said Nancy Leppink, acting WHD administrator during a webchat on Monday. The funding would allow […]