ADA Final Regs In Effect
Today is the day the final regulations governing the Americans with Disabilities Act, as amended (ADAA), became effective. Much has been written heralding these new regulations which provide definition...
View ArticleIs Your Hand Raised or Are You Busy Texting?
Raise your hand if your pet peeves include people who text while driving. If you are an employer, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) expects to see your hand in the air. They...
View ArticleDeju Vu All Over Again – Layoffs and Furloughs Return
If you’ve been reading the news lately, you will see that companies are going through another round of layoffs and furloughs. Just today, it is reported that the Richmond Times Dispatch is requiring...
View ArticleGet Ready For E-Verify
Increasingly, states have become lightning rods for controversial employment issues. Last winter, Wisconsin became a battleground over public employee unions. Then Arizona attracted national attention...
View ArticleSo You Want A Bigger Office? Showing Complaining Employee the Door Is Costly
The newest in what is expected to be a long line of new cases to be filed under the revised ADA is the “cubicle case.” A worker at the University Medical Center in Nevada was fired for being unable to...
View ArticleEarth(quake), Wind and Fire. Will You Be Ready If Disaster Strikes?
What a week we just had in Virginia! An earthquake, a hurricane with flooding, and swamp fire smoke all in one week. If last week didn’t convince you to review, or prepare for the first time, a...
View ArticleDon’t Let Your Internship Turn Into A Black Swan
With over two years of recession, jobs have been closed for many, particularly new college graduates. Many of these eager graduates are willing to work for nothing “Just to get the experience.”...
View ArticleYour Employees Are Mad as Heck and They Are Walking. . .to the EEOC
Heading to the office today, I heard a young man behind me say, “Well, I’d been there six- and-a-half years, so it was time to move on.” A few steps later, I heard him add, “Well, it was time for me...
View ArticleDrafting Non-Competes Is Risky Business
For those of you who draft, work with and seek to enforce restrictive covenants, pay particular attention to the recent November 2011 Virginia Supreme Court decision in Home Paramount Pest Control...
View ArticleSupervisors Could Be Personally Liable for Leave Interference
In a case decided in late August, Weth v O’Leary, a federal court in Virginia sent a wake-up call to all public employer supervisors when it held that the Treasurer of Arlington County could be held...
View ArticleFeds Hang Up On Commercial Drivers
In a continued effort to reduce accidents from distracted driving, the federal government has banned as of January 3, 2012, all commercial motor vehicle drivers from using hand-held mobile phones while...
View ArticleBackground Checks – Minefield For The Unwary
Pepsi’s $3.13 million settlement with the EEOC over an overly broad background check policy should cause all employers who use such checks to re-evaluate their policies. While background checks can...
View ArticleTwo New Employer Requirements!
NLRA Poster. No later than April 30, 2012, most private sector employers will be required to post a notice advising employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The notice,...
View ArticleHow Will You Welcome Home Our Veterans?
On May 1, 2012, President Barack Obama made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan during which he and Afghan President Hamid Karzai signed the Strategic Partnership Agreement. The Agreement spells out...
View ArticleSpeaking of Website Accessibility
We’d like to thank the Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce - and in particular Mary Garber – for asking Annemarie Cleary and myself from Sands Anderson and Christian Munson and Dave Hess from...
View ArticleWorker Classification Scrutiny Intensifies for Employers
The news for employers hasn’t been pretty this week. The Society of Human Resource Managers reports that the G-man, in the form of a Department of Labor (DOL) investigator, may show up unannounced at...
View ArticleEmployers Who Have Nothing Nice to Say Should Say Nothing at All
With high unemployment rates comes increased demand on human resource departments to provide employee references. Even though many employers increasingly shield themselves from providing insight into...
View ArticleBeware EEOC’s Broad Power: Protect Your Trade Secrets
With EEOC complaints on the rise, employers should take note of a recent opinion reminding them that the EEOC may access “virtually any material that might cast light on the allegations against the...
View ArticleComputer Abuse and Use: How Protected Are You?
If your company policies don’t adequately define employee parameters of computer access as well as usage, then your company may find itself losing to disgruntled employees who take or misuse company...
View ArticleLayoffs Are on the Rise Again – Are Your Documents Updated?
This past week Richmond-headquartered Fortune 500 company Genworth Financial announced that it would lay off about 400 positions in a cost-cutting move. Shortly after that announcement, in discussions...
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