California has been reaping the financial benefits of your timekeeping efforts. Over the past couple of years, more and more companies are getting caught by insufficient proof that they’ve properly tracked (and paid for) employees’ time.

A proper time card shows:

exactly what time your employee started work,
exactly what time your employee left for a meal [...]

The feds passed the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) and it took effect on 11/21/09… which means you should add it to your wall of employment law posters immediately. (Note: California already prohibits this type of discrimination, so you may be covered if the “EEO and The Law” section of your posters includes genetic information.)

This federal law affects [...]

A 2008 survey of 4,387 workers within low-wage industries in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City revealed that many of the laws meant to protect workers are frequently violated. Here are a few examples of the violations:

Minimum Wage: 26% of workers were paid less than minimum wage.
Overtime: 25% worked over 40 hours the previous week, [...]

You’ve heard me talk a lot about all the employment laws California has. Now the feds are getting more liberal and it’s bound to be interesting to see what passes. Currently pending legislation includes:

Family Fairness Act of 2009:  This would eliminate the 1,250 hour requirement of the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) so part-time employees [...]

I talk with a lot of small business owners who tell me they are using Independent Contractors (I/Cs) rather than hiring employees. But have they really thought it through? The one thing few companies are doing when making the decision between I/Cs and employees is checking the legal liability of their decision.

Did you know that [...]

When you think about your employment risks (assuming you think about them at all), what do include in that process? Are you expecting employees to walk up to you and say something directly to your face? Or have you and your supervisors been trained to pay attention to the more subtle clues that the company [...]

Consulting with companies that don’t have or need a full-time HR person (my specialty) continues to bring me surprises. When I first started consulting I discovered that neither the state nor federal government websites offered new employers information about being an employer beyond how to obtain an Employer’s Identification Number (EIN). Not a thing about the [...]

This year is the first that I can remember where there were more Federal changes to employment laws than California changes. That alone is historic! But the changes to COBRA  almost seem like they should have been California’s idea because they are so favorable to the employee … or, in this case, the ex-employee.

Homeland Security has once again revised the Immigration & Naturalization Service’s I-9 form. As usual, you can get immediate access to the latest I-9 form on my website.

Just so you know what to look for, the newest version has an 06/30/09 expiration date in the upper right corner of page one. Although this doesn’t affect any of [...]

As you’ve probably noticed, California is always leading the way for new employment laws. However, within California, that leader is San Francisco and it’s often scary to realize what local laws San Francisco has enacted. Let’s just say that, while it’s tough doing business in California, it’s tough and expensive in San Francisco.

The latest bill [...]