Late last week, Gov. Brown signed Senate Bill 1038 which eliminates the California Fair Employment and Housing Commission (FEHC) and transfers its duties to the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH). The new law takes effect on January 1, 2013.
The DFEH has the power to receive, investigate and conciliate claims of employment and housing discrimination. The FEHC currently has the power to conduct hearings on these claims and could subpoena witnesses, publish opinions and publications and conduct mediations at the DFEH’s request. The FEHC also develops regulations.
These duties will now be transferred to the DFEH. The bill creates a Fair Employment and Housing Council within the DFEH and the council will assume the powers and duties of the former commission.
Tags: DFEH, Department of Fair Employment and Housing, Fair Employment and Housing Commission, SB 1038, HR Allen Consulting Services, HR Informant, FEHC
California imposes a prevailing wage law on employers who contract to provide services or construction work for public entities on public works projects of more than $1,000 (Labor Code sec. 1771). According to the California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR), the purpose of prevailing wage laws is to make sure that getting a public works contract is not based on paying lower wage rates than a competitor.
Tags: DIR, Department of Industrial Relations, California Consititution, charter city, prevailing wage, HR Allen Consulting Services, HR Informant, California Supreme Court
Small-business owners are often reluctant to get involved in an employee’s private affairs — and rightly so — but when the circumstances start to affect job performance, you may need to take action.
Tags: stress, employees, HR Allen Consulting Services, HR Informant
Regardless of the industry or size of the business, employers are responsible for the correct classification of their workers. Failure to correctly classify a worker as an employee or independent contractor can make the mistaken employer responsible not only for the worker’s back employment taxes, but also penalties, warns the IRS.
Tags: IRS, contractor, 1099, W-2, HR Allen Consulting Services, HR Informant, employee
This morning the U.S. Supreme Court upheld President Obama’s Health Care Affordability Act. The court essentially ruled its penalty provisions were akin to a tax. So what does this mean for insurance brokers and their clients? Here are a few of my quick thoughts:
Tags: obamacare, PPACA, Categories: Affordable Care Act, Benefits, HealthcareTags: ACA, Healthcare, HR Allen Consulting Services, HR Informant, Affordable Care Act
Some unexpected but welcome news for New York State employers: an amendment to the Labor Law that loosens restrictions on employers’ ability to make authorized deductions from employees’ wages.
Tags: deductions, New York Labor Law, HR Allen Consulting Services, HR Informant
This morning, a divided Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision written by Justice Alito upholding decades of industry practice and finding that the Fair Labor Standards Act’s outside sales exemption applies to pharmaceutical sales representatives (PSRs). The Court decided unanimously that the Department of Labor’s (DOL) amicus curiae briefs in which it first articulated its position that the outside sales exemption should not apply to PSRs should not be provided any “especially favorable weight.”
Tags: pharmaceutical sales representatives, outside sales exemption, U.S. Supreme Court, HR Allen Consulting Services, HR Informant
Paid vacation leave constitutes a form of wages. Because the right to accrue paid vacation vests as the employee renders services, employees “earn” a portion of their annual vacation accrual each day they work.
Companies should make certain that their vacation policies are clear. In California, employers may not implement “use it or lose it” vacation-time policies, but employers can place reasonable caps on vacation.
Tags: holidays, leaves of absence, paid time off, paid vacation, sick leave, use it or lose it policy, HR Allen Consulting Services, HR Informant, PTO, vacation
Three large trade groups representing millions of the country’s businesses and employers entered the appellate fray last Thursday with their filing of an amicus brief before the Sixth Circuit in EEOC v. Peoplemark, Inc. As we previously reported here andhere, EEOC v. Peoplemark stems from a Michigan district court’s underlying decision to award approximately $750,000 in attorneys' fees and costs against the EEOC, as a result of the agency’s failed discrimination suit against defendant Peoplemark, Inc. The trade groups’ amicus submission adds to the growing chorus of voices expressing growing intolerance for the EEOC's overly zealous enforcement tactics in large-scale pattern or practice cases.
Tags: HR Allen Consulting Services, HR Informant, EEOC, settlement agreement, Sixth Circuit
Cal/OSHA announced that it is investigating two suspected heat related deaths in the construction and agriculture industries that occurred over the past month. This news is a stark reminder that employers must be vigilant in complying with California’s heat illness prevention standard.
The most recent suspected fatality occurred on June 1 and involved a 56-year-old farm worker who collapsed while pruning fruit trees. According to Cal/OSHA, the man was working in high-heat conditions at the time of the collapse. The other case involved an 18-year-old masonry worker who fell unconscious as the crew was cleaning up for the day and died the next day.
HRWatchdog previously reported that CAL/OSHA kicked off its 2012 heat illness prevention campaign. Employers with outdoor workers must remember that high-heat provisions apply whenever temperatures reach 95 degrees and include extra precautions, such as ensuring effective communication, observing all employees for signs of heat illness, closely supervising new employees and frequently reminding employees to drink water.
In announcing its investigation, Cal/OSHA said its staff will enforce compliance with the state’s high-heat standard through scheduled inspections and local “heat wave” inspections when temperatures rise dramatically. The agency will provide statewide heat illness prevention training through September. For more information, visit Cal/OSHA’sHeat Illness webpage.
Tags: HR Allen Consulting Services, HR Informant, Cal/OSHA, heat illness, heat illness prevention, 2012 heat illness campaign, Cal/OSHA investigation, high-heat standards