Articles tagged 'HR News'

Court Ruling May Make You Rethink Taking on Unpaid Interns

by John E. Thompson on Jun 13, 2013, 7:00 AM | 2 Comments

By John E. Thompson

We have repeatedly cautioned that employers who are prepared to take on unpaid interns should enter into these arrangements with their eyes fully open.

New developments emphasize this yet again.

The Fox Searchlight litigation

We reported in March 2012 that Fox Searchlight Pictures had been sued under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and New York law by unpaid interns who were claiming to be due wages and other sums. The court has now ruled this week, in Glatt v. Fox Searchlight, that at least two of these individuals were indeed “employees” for purposes of the FLSA and state law. Read more…

HR News & Trends, Recruiting and Staffing

Temp Worker Hiring is Growing 5X Faster Than the Overall Economy

by John Zappe on Jun 12, 2013, 8:08 AM | No comments yet

With the addition of 25,600 temp workers to the nation’s payroll in May, there are now more workers employed as temps than at any time since before the start of the 21st century.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last week that on a seasonally adjusted basis some 2,679,800 people were employed as temporary workers in the U.S. last month. In the last year, the temp sector has averaged 15,500 new hires a month. Since the recession ended in June 2009, the average is just over 16,000 a month.

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, temp workers numbered 2,659,300 in May, not far off from the record 2,767,300 temps working in October 2006. Read more…

Recruiting and Staffing

Recruiting Tradeoff: Will You Find Programmers If You Call Them Ninjas?

by Don Charlton on Jun 12, 2013, 7:00 AM | No comments yet

Yes. Recruiting software can hire you the talent you want. But what you name that talent is entirely up to you.

So, does it matter that you call programmers “ninjas,” and marketers “rock stars?”

All the software in the world won’t help your cause if nobody understands what you’re talking about.

What’s in a name?

Indeed.com regularly lists dozens of job openings for Jedi around the country. You know, like Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker Jedi. Who said there’s a recession? Read more…

Benefits, HR News & Trends

Out-of-Pocket Health Care Cost Limits May Be Higher For Some in 2014

by Michelle Andrews on Jun 11, 2013, 12:27 PM | No comments yet

Starting next year, the Affordable Care Act sets maximum limits on how much employees and other consumers can be required to pay out-of-pocket annually for their medical care. But some people with high drug costs may find the limits don’t protect them yet.

That’s because the federal government is giving some health plans extra time to comply with the rules.

Under the law, the maximum amount a consumer with single coverage will pay out-of-pocket in 2014 will generally be $6,350 while a family could pay up to $12,700. Those totals include co-payments and deductibles, but not premiums, and they apply only to plans that are not grandfathered under the law. Read more…

HR News & Trends, Legal Issues

OSHA Cranks Up Its Focus on Safety for Temporary Employees

by Edwin G. Foulke Jr. on Jun 11, 2013, 11:37 AM | No comments yet

By Ed Foulke

In a recent memorandum from the national office to its Regional Administrators, OSHA set forth new issues that Compliance Officers should examine when they inspect work sites where temporary employees are working.

The information to be documented includes determining whether the employees are exposed to conditions in violation of OSHA rules or other safety and health hazards and whether the employees received safety and health training “in a language and vocabulary they understand” as well as the supervising structure under which the temporary employees are reporting (i.e. who is supervising the temporary employees at the work sites). Read more…

HR Insights

Following Your Career GPS: Recalculating to Keep Yourself on Track

by Ron Thomas on Jun 10, 2013, 10:25 AM | No comments yet

Recalculating, make a right at the next light. Recalculating, make a left at the next intersection.

With GPS in a car, there is no need to get lost anymore. I now live in Saudi Arabia, and of all the items that I brought over, my Google Maps app is something I never leave the house without.

Try following direction and the entire street markings are in Arabic. So if I am looking for Exit 8 this is how the signs look: ٨مخرج

Sometimes, our careers can be like traveling in a foreign country. We get lost, we make the wrong turn, and sometimes end up in a destination that is far from our original target. Read more…

HR News & Trends

Weekly Wrap: SHRM 2013 in Chicago? You Might as Well Shoot Me Now

by John Hollon on Jun 7, 2013, 12:20 PM | 6 Comments

I cringed when I heard that SHRM’s 2013 Annual Conference and Exhibition (from June 16-19) was going to be held in Chicago this year.

Yes, I have a love/hate relationship with the Windy City. I love the people, the restaurants, the vibrancy, the Bears, but I hate the weather, the airport, the convention center, and most of all, how Chicago seems to enjoy funding its civic excesses by sticking it to out-of-town visitors.

I griped about all of this last fall when the HR Technology conference was held in Chicago one last time (before heading to Vegas for the foreseeable future) in a post titled HR Tech 2012: Why I’m Glad It’s Finally Moving Out of Chicago.

My main gripes were about the hotel room rates that seem to be approaching New York levels, and the highest tax burden on visitors of ANY city in the country, but it’s more than that. Read more…

HR News & Trends

Virginia Cab Company Gets a $10 Million Employment Screening Lesson

by Nick Fishman on Jun 7, 2013, 9:07 AM | No comments yet

Here’s a real head-scratcher: Imagine that you are an employer (LOL, if you’re reading this blog, you probably are), and you get the following criminal rap sheet on a prospective employee.

Failure to obey a traffic signal, 2007
Speeding, 2009
Failure to pay attention, 2012 Read more…

HR Basics, Legal Issues

What You Need to Do to Prepare Your Company for an I-9 Audit

by Jessica Cook on Jun 6, 2013, 10:25 AM | 1 comment

By Jessica Cook

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) continues to issue Form I-9 Notices of Inspection to businesses across the nation.

In fiscal year 2012, ICE served 3,004 Notices of Inspection to businesses, totaling over $12 million in fines. Additionally, ICE made 520 criminal arrests tied to worksite enforcement investigations. These criminal arrests involved 240 individuals who were owners, managers, supervisors or human resources employees.

The Notices of Inspection require employers to allow ICE to inspect their I-9 forms to determine compliance with employment eligibility verification laws. Once the Notice of Inspection has been issued, the targeted employer has three days to provide ICE with the company’s I-9 forms to be reviewed. Read more…

Benefits, HR News & Trends

Group Pushing Employers to Offer Pregnancy Coverage for Dependents

by Michelle Andrews on Jun 5, 2013, 12:30 PM | No comments yet

Employer health plans routinely cover pregnancy costs for workers and their spouses—but not necessarily daughters. According to a handful of new complaints filed with the federal government, that’s sex discrimination, and the Affordable Care Act doesn’t allow it.

If these complaints are successful, they could expand the benefits that health plans must cover under the Affordable Care Act.

The National Women’s Law Center is alleging that five institutions are discriminating against women by excluding pregnancy coverage from the health insurance benefits that they provide to their employees’ dependent children. Read more…