Vigilant Blog

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently published a final rule defining when an employment practice is a “reasonable factor other than age.” The new rule is important because it explains how an employer can defend itself from a complaint under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) that a seemingly neutral employment practice had…

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently issued a Tips: When OSHA investigators start peeking into your practice of disciplining employees for safety reasons, will they like what they see? The best way to stay out of trouble is to target the unsafe act, not the result of the act. In other words,…

Three Types of People to Fire Immediately. The authors wrote that if you want to have a culture of innovation in your workplace, you need to get rid of people who play the part of victims (I dont get paid enough for this), nonbelievers (this will never work) or know-it-alls (you dont understand the business…

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) restructured its whistleblowing protection program, in a move that is meant to show how important enforcement has become to the agency. OSHAs Office of the Whistleblower Protection Program will now be reporting directly to OSHAs Office of the Assistant Secretary, David Michaels, who is the head of…

A new law provides that full-time National Guard duty (other than training) to respond to a national emergency doesnt count toward the general five-year maximum allowable leave under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). This means that if the federal government orders full-time National Guard duty for a domestic homeland security issue,…

A recent report on executives priorities determined that developing leaders and succession planning were the greatest concerns related to employee talent. When evaluating their companies talent programs, executives who were spending more in this area were more likely to be satisfied with the results. The highest strategic priority for executives was locating new sources of…

EEOC v. Management Hospitality of Racine, Inc., 7th Cir, Jan. 2012).<!—?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /?—>   Effective anti-harassment measures should occur more often than once during the length of employment. All employees should be given access to the company’s anti-harassment policy and receive at least some training about their rights and responsibilities….

On February 1, 2012, you need to post your Injuries and illnesses must be recorded on the log within seven days; OSHA Form 300 and the log summary must be maintained for five years; Supporting documents must also be maintained for five years, including on-the-job injury reports (801) and other workers compensation documents;…

Question: Can we avoid some of the upcoming health care reform compliance issues, such as the “play or pay” penalties, by carving our company up into smaller corporate entities? Answer: No. Some of the mandates included in the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), apply only to employers of a certain minimum size. The…

After years of debate and legal challenges, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has issued a final rule revising the limits on maximum hours of service for drivers of property-carrying commercial motor vehicles (CMVs). The FMCSA is an agency within the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). The agency decided to retain the 11-hour driving…

Drivers who hold a commercial drivers license (CDL) to operate a commercial motor vehicle in interstate commerce must continue to carry a hard copy of their medical certificate under a rule published by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). The FMCSA, an agency within the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), had directed state agencies…

Most of us know that employees who leave work to serve in the military may be gone for up to five years and still have a right to be reemployed. What may surprise you, though, is that the five years can be extended. As our military force draws down, veterans across the country will be…