Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Several months ago, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a final regulation mandating the steps employers must take to verify an employee’s Social Security number (SSN) when the employer receives a “no-match” letter from the DHS or the Social Security Administration. The rule specified that employers would be required to fire employees–or face government […]
One of our employees who has recently returned to work after giving birth says that we have to give her a special room and special breaks to express milk. This would hurt our productivity. Do we have to allow this? —Rachel W., HR Manager in San Francisco
Last week, California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner announced that insurers’ workers’ compensation costs have plummeted by 70 percent since the workers’ comp reforms of 2003 were implemented—and as a result, pure premium rates will remain unchanged for now. Poizner noted, though, that insurers should continue to pass on the cost savings to businesses in the […]
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that Dec. 26, 2007, is the deadline for employers to begin using the revised Form I-9, which was released several weeks ago. This is the form that all employers must complete for new hires to verify eligibility to work in the United States. As of Dec. […]
Our facility has numerous hazards; chemical, physical—you name it, we’ve got it. We train our workers on handling and avoiding them, but what about our visitors? I’ve been tasked with tightening up our visitor safety program. What suggestions do you have for me? — Caroline C., HR Manager in Los Angeles
Governor Schwarzenegger signed a new law on October 9 granting military spouses unpaid time off from work to ensure that military families can spend time together when the service member is on leave from deployment. The law took effect immediately. Here’s what you need to know.
A few of my employees want to make up some time they missed, but the makeup time would end up being overtime, which I can’t pay. Is there a provision in the law that covers this situation?
If we fire an employee, do we have some extra time to get the final paycheck to him or her?
We’ve had two bad hiring experiences in which we found out later that candidates misrepresented certain areas of their background. Now, we want to improve our background checks. What can you recommend? — Isabella, HR Staffing Specialist in Oakland
We have a retail establishment with several branches, and as part of the branding of the stores we want all of our salespeople to wear the same look—khaki pants and a long-sleeved, button-down blue shirt with white pinstripes. Someone told me that requiring a “look” is the same as requiring a “uniform” and that we’d […]