Strategic HR Lawyer: Labor & Employment Law

Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Labor & Employment Law Blogs

OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Bankruptcy (866) 635-1838
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402

Labor & Employment Law

Strategic HR Lawyer

Dedicated to strategic human resources management and employment law.

Post Frequency: 0.7/day

Last Entry: March 28, 2011 at 20:38:56

IRS Mileage Rate for 2009 Goes DOWN to 55 Cents

Posted on November 30, 2008
The IRS recently announced the mileage reimbursement rate for 2009. It is going from 58.5 cents/mile this year down to 55 cents/mile next year. Here are the details from the IRS announcement: Beginning on Jan. 1, 2009, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (also vans, pickups or panel trucks) will be: 55 cents per mile for business miles driven 24 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes 14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations The new rates for business, medical and moving purposes are slightly lower than rates for the second half of 2008 that were raised by a special adjustment mid-year in response to a spike in gasoline prices...

Final Rule on the Family & Medical Leave Act

Posted on November 20, 2008
The US Department of Labor recently issued its long-awaited Final Rule under the Family & Medical Leave Act. The 200+ page document provides commentary and discussion regarding the proposed rules and the Departments rationale for the final rules provided...

Americans With Disabilities Amendments Act of 2008

Posted on October 01, 2008
The new Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008 (ADA A) was signed into law in September and becomes effective on January 1, 2009. There are some interesting changes to judicial interpretations of the original law which many allege had watered down the protection available under the law...

New York State WARN Act Now Law

Posted on August 14, 2008
New York State recently passed its very own "New York State Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act." Many other states have enacted their own versions of this type of legislation and this one, like some of the others, is far more expansive than the Federal WARN...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Rub a Dub Dub?

Posted on August 14, 2008
Ahhhhh, the dangers of social networking sites. Well, on second thought, I'm rather glad this story was uncovered! According to Fox News, "Several Burger King employees in Ohio are looking for new jobs after an Internet video surfaced of one worker bathing in a restaurant sink...

Salary Increase Projections for 2009

Posted on August 09, 2008
For a good overview of salary increase estimates for 2009, follow this link to the Compensation Force Blog for: Salary Increase Data for U.S. & Canadian Metro Areas According to World at Work, which recently issued this information, the projected increases range from 3...

Mileage Reimbursement Rate Increases to 58.5 cents/mile

Posted on August 01, 2008
The Internal Revenue Service recently increased the standard mileage rates for the final six months of 2008. The rate increases to 58.5 cents a mile for all business miles driven from July 1, 2008, through Dec. 31, 2008. This somewhat unusual for the IRS to make this adjustment mid-year...

EEOC Guidance On Religious Discrimination

Posted on July 23, 2008
The EEOC issued revised guidance on religious discrimination. Now available is a new revised chapter of its compliance manual - available here: EEOC Compliance Manual Section 12 - Religious Discrimination Among the subjects included in the new section are: Coverage issues, including the definition of “religion” and “sincerely held,” Disparate treatment analysis of employment decisions based on religion, including recruitment, hiring, promotion, discipline, and compensation, as well as differential treatment with respect to religious expression; customer preference; security requirements; and bona fide occupational qualifications...

IRS Announces HSA and HDHC Limits

Posted on July 10, 2008
The IRS recently announced the 2009 contribution limits for both Health Savings Accounts (HSA's) and High Deductible Health Care Plans (HDHC's). Here are the new limits: HSA's Contribution Limit – Individual coverage - $3000, Family coverage - $5950HDHC's Minimum Deductible – Individual - $1150, Family - $2300HDHC's Annual Out of Pocket Expense Limit – Individual - $5800, Family - $11600 For more information follow this link to: Revenue Procedure 2008-29

Four Day Work Week to Save Gas

Posted on July 07, 2008
The State of Utah is among the first to permit employees to work 4 days per week in an effort to save on energy costs. According to Newsday: "In a yearlong experiment aimed at reducing the state's energy costs and commuters' gasoline expenses, Utah is about to become the first state to switch to a four-day workweek for thousands of government employees...

"HEART" Act for Military Personnel to Provide Additional Benefits

Posted on July 01, 2008
The Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax Act of 2008 is a law that amends the Internal Revenue Code in order to provide certain benefits to members of the military, Reserves and National Guard who work for an employer in addition to performing their military duties...

New I-9 Form Issued

Posted on June 30, 2008
The U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Service has issued a revised I-9 form containing a new expiration date of June 30, 2008. The original revision date goes back to 2007, so you should be using the newer edition anyway. According to USCIS any prior forms are not acceptable...

Federal Contractors Now Required to Use e-Verify

Posted on June 20, 2008
President Bush recently issued an order requiring federal contractors to utilize the e-Verify system. Below is the relevant section of the President's order: "Sec. 5. (a) Executive departments and agencies that enter into contracts shall require, as a condition of each contract, that the contractor agree to use an electronic employment eligibility verification system designated by the Secretary of Homeland Security to verify the employment eligibility of: (i) all persons hired during the contract term by the contractor to perform employment duties within the United States; and (ii) all persons assigned by the contractor to perform work within the United States on the Federal contract...

What An Auditor Will Ask in an I-9 Audit

Posted on June 16, 2008
When we are conducting Human Resources/Assessments as part of our practice, it should come as no surprise that we typically audit I-9 Forms. All too often we see incomplete forms, forms that have not been signed or inconsistent practices with respect to copying documents - all of which cast doubt upon the accuracy and completeness of all of the forms...

Prohibition Against Genetic Discrimination Now Law

Posted on May 26, 2008
...at the Federal level at least. We already have one of these here in New York. Bus for the rest of you, this is big news. The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (H.R. 493) or "GINA" prohibits employers from discriminating against applicants and employees based on genetic tests or genetic information...

A Basic WARN Refresher

Posted on May 12, 2008
With the concern about the economy of late, it's good to find a refresher on the Worker Adjustment Retraining and Notification Act (WARN). The New York Employment Law Letter has a nice overview of WARN which is must reading for those considering a staff reduction...

401(k) Plan Participants Can Now for Fiduciary Breach

Posted on April 29, 2008
According to fellow Lexblogger, Vicky Johnson, individual plan particpants now have the opportunity to recover damages against plan fiduciaries who breach their responsibilities. The United State Supreme Court recently held in LaRue v. DeWolff, Boberg & Associates...

Stress at Home Spills Over to the Workplace

Posted on April 22, 2008
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...

Workplace Waterboarding?

Posted on April 15, 2008
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...

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

Posted on April 01, 2008
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...

New FMLA Poster Containing Military Leave Amendments

Posted on March 15, 2008
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

Posted on March 06, 2008
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

Posted on March 01, 2008
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...

Pay Overtime - Even When it Violates Policy

Posted on February 28, 2008
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...

NLRB Reduces Rights of Employee Union Advocates to Use Employer Email

Posted on February 20, 2008
The National Labor Relations Board recently issued a decision severely limiting the rights of employee union advocates to use employer email to conduct solicitations of fellow employees. What the new decision means is that employers can safely prohibit all non-work related email solicitations by employees even if union related...

New Proposed Regulations to the Family & Medical Leave Act

Posted on February 15, 2008
The US Department of Labor recently issued proposed revised FMLA regulations. The new regulations, subject to a comment period, comprise well over 400 pages - sufficient to cure insomnia. Here are few changes of note while all the dust begins to settle: - Serious Health Condition - Where leave involves more than three consecutive days plus two health care provider visits, the two visits must occur within 30 days of the beginning of the period of incapacity (subject to certain exceptions)...

New California Employment Laws

Posted on February 07, 2008
OK, better late than never... The California Labor & Employment Law Blog has a great post summarizing new legislation taking effect in California in 2008. The laws range from legislation as simple as an increase in the state's minimum wage to laws such as: A new law requiring employers with 25+ employees to grant unpaid leave to spouses or domestic partners of combatants on leave from deployment in a combat zone...

FMLA Expanded to Provide Protection to Families of Service Members

Posted on February 01, 2008
The Family & Medical Leave Act has been immediately amended to provide additional benefits to families of service members. According to Michael Moore at the Pennsylvania Employment Law Blog, FMLA-eligible employees will now be entitled to the following:Caregiver Leave for an Injured Servicemember: This benefit permits a “spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin” to take up to 26 workweeks of leave to care for a “member of the Armed Forces, including a member of the National Guard or Reserves, who is undergoing medical treatment, recuperation, or therapy, is otherwise in outpatient status, or is otherwise on the temporary disability retired list, for a serious injury or illness...

Super Bowl Monday "Flu" - 1.5 Million to Call in Sick

Posted on January 31, 2008
I recently received a media inquiry regarding Super Bowl Monday which I blogged about last year. The premise is that there will be a loss of productivity as a result of what I'll call "Super Bowl Flu." So this year I decided to do a little research and found that there actually was a survey conducted this year and the conclusion of the survey is that "an estimated 1...

Technology & Data Security From the Inside

Posted on January 25, 2008
Most of the time we're worried about hackers getting into our computer system from the outside. Here's an interesting but scary story about a disgruntled employee who wiped out ALL of her company's data files because she thought her boss was trying to replace her...

Previous | Next

Related Law Bulletins

Personal Injury: 5 Reasons Why Your NY Injury Lawyer Will Lose His License
1. He steals your money.2. He steals your money.3. He steals your ...

Immigration Lawyer And Assistant Found Guilty Of Visa Fraud
The United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of T...

Injustice - Righting a Wrong - NY Medical Malpractice Lawyer Explains
Have you ever felt that you were wronged? Maybe you noticed it whe...

Dead Man's Family Calls NY Malpractice Lawyer First Before Burying Him
THIS IS A TRUE STORYA call came in the other day. A hysterical wom...

2 Questions Every New York Malpractice Lawyer Needs To Ask
A potential client calls the office with a story that rambles on a...