Compliance and Legal

Background

Many consumers find unsolicited email – also known as spam – annoying and time-consuming. In addition, unwanted messages sent to wireless phones and other wireless devices can be intrusive and costly. In 2003, Congress enacted the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act to curb spam. As required by the Act, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted rules that prohibit sending unwanted commercial email messages to wireless devices without prior permission.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently held a meeting with "a battery of experts" on disparate treatment in hiring. According to the EEOC, hiring discrimination continues to run rampant.

Time for a grain of salt here: According to the EEOC's press release, most of the experts were from the EEOC, or were individuals who had been denied jobs and claimed they were discriminated against. 

Fact Sheet #73: Break Time for Nursing Mothers under the FLSA

This fact sheet provides general information on the break time requirement for nursing mothers in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“PPACA”), which took effect when the PPACA was signed into law on March 23, 2010 (P.L. 111-148).  This law amended Section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Introduction

Generally, an employer has the right to expect that certain guidelines involving dress and grooming be met in the workplace, and can set forth policies regarding these issues.  

Plaintiff's lawyer Donna Ballman and The Evil HR Lady have had good posts recently on common employee misconceptions about employment law, including the "right" to see what is in one's personnel file and the "right" to take a break.*

*Depending on where the employee lives, he may have these rights, but in many states he does not. And the federal Fair Labor Standards Act does not require breaks.

What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

Like it, don’t like it, the I-9 Form has become a basic part of the new hire paperwork at every company in the U.S.

This deceptively simple addition to the stack of first day human resource forms is an employer’s proof that he or she did everything required to make sure every employee is eligible to work in the United States.

Officially, the Form I-9 is called the Employment Eligibility Verification Form.  A mouthful to be sure, which is why people started using the moniker “I-9.”