Senate Passes GINA

. . . The Senate today passed the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act. That sends the bill back to the House, which already passed it last year. Here’s the New York Times article filed this evening. rb

“Talent” as Marketing?

Seth Godin’s recent post on Talent and marketing HR hit home on may fronts. 
What if you started acting like the VP of Talent? Understanding that talent is hard to find and not obvious to manage. The VP of Talent would have to reorganize the department and do things differently all …

How to Integrate New Employees

This week, I’m completing the last session of several months of training I’ve been offering to the team leaders and potential team leaders at a client company. I’ve really learned…

Stress at Home Spills Over to the Workplace

We’ve heard a great deal lately about the gas prices, the economy, sub-prime mortgages and the like - all bad.  I suspect we’ve also seen the level of stress at work increase as employees carry over the stress from their personal lives into the workplace.  As gas nears $4.00/gallon here in New York, everyone is beginning to tabulate the cost of going everywhere - $10.00 round trip to work, $5.00 to the mall, etc.  Doesn’t appear to be much relief in sight in the near future. So, hold onto your hats as things unravel a bit at work!

Worker’s Bring Economic Stress into the Office

Workplace Waterboarding?

Yes, just when you think you’ve seen it all…..  The Word On Employment Law Blog points to an article reporting that as part of  motivational training session, a company engaged in waterboarding of a participant in order "to demonstrate to the employees that they should work as hard as the employee being waterboarded was working to breathe." 

For new on this story - see this Washington Post article on the progress of the legal case so far.

And, what were they thinking???

EEOC Proposes Rule Addressing Disparate Impact Claims Under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act

The EEOC recently issued proposed regulations addressing disparate impact claims under the ADEA.  The proposed rule addresses the Supreme Court ruling in Smith v. City of Jackson 544 U.S. 228 which held that recovery is available under the ADEA not only for disparate treatment or intentional discrimination but also unintentional claims or disparate treatment.

The announcement of the rule is available here in the Federal Register.  Comments must be made on or before May 30, 2008.

New FMLA Poster Containing Military Leave Amendments

The Department of Labor has available a poster reflecting the recent changes to the law affecting military personnel.  It’s meant to be temporary and a supplement to the existing poster.  It’s available on the DOL website:

National Defense Authorization Act / FMLA Poster

EEOC Reports Largest Percentage Increase in Charges in 15 Years

This press release notes that charges filed with the EEOC are up over 9% from 2006 to 2007 - this single largest annual increase since 1993.  Yikes!

Supreme Court Says EEOC Intake Questionnaire Triggers Employee Rights

The Supreme Court recently ruled that when a complainant completes and intake questionnaire with the EEOC and the EEOC does nothing with it, it does not preclude the complainant from then bringing a claim of discrimination in Federal District Court.  In Federal Express v. Holowecki, the claimant went to the EEOC and completed the EEOC’s intake questionnaire.  The EEOC did not issue a charge of discrimination and provide it to the employer.  Thus, the employer was unaware of the claim.  Next thing…. the employer was being sued in Federal Court as the claimant was able to successfully circumvent the EEOC’s internal process.

Here’s a good point raised by John Hyman of the Ohio Employer’s Law Blog:

"My problem with this ruling is that Fed Ex never had any meaningful way to respond to the Intake Questionnaire. That form was never sent to it, and it had no notice that a proceeding had even been initiated until after the actual charge was filed 6 months hence. Thus, an employee can proceed to federal court on an age discrimination class action lawsuit, without the employer, who had no notice that a charge had even been filed with the EEOC, having the benefit of trying to settle the claim pre-lawsuit."

Pay Overtime - Even When it Violates Policy

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled recently that an employee who works overtime must be paid for those hours even though he/she may have been prohibited from working overtime.  There are many who already operate consistent with this ruling, so this may not be something new for all of you.  In the case of Chao v. Gotham Registery, an employment agency refused to pay for overtime for temporary nurses unless the overtime was approved in advance by the agency.  Thus, when the employees actually worked overtime without approval, they were not paid for those hours.  The Court held that the company’s overtime practices violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Moral of the story - if your employees work overtime without permission, pay them and then address the matter as a discipline issue.

Thanks to the Connecticut Employment Law Blog for a comprehensive summary of the case.