Bereavement leave:

Michelle's Law, otherwise known as H. R. 2851, was enacted to ensure that dependent college students, who have medical coverage as dependents of their parents, do not lose their health insurance coverage if they need to take a medical leave of absence. When such medical leave of absence would result in the student losing status as a full-time student, the student would typically be required to elect COBRA C.... Read more

Are we ready for Congress to require that employers provide paid sick days to all employees? Five states (New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Hawaii and California) plus Puerto Rico mandate that employers provide short-term disability insurance benefits for employees with non-work-related injuries and illnesses. While employers in other states sometimes voluntarily provide this insurance benefit as wel.... Read more

I recently mentioned to a colleague that I wished clients would call me before they fired the pregnant employee. No disrespect intended to pregnant ladies here (having been one myself—twice). However, one of my goals in life seems to be to get employers to understand that they can take certain actions when disciplining and discharging employees that can likely provide them with legal protections shoul.... Read more

Sometimes I think employers bend over backwards too far for their employees and forget they have a business to run and that they are the boss. While it is important to be civil and human, and understand that your employees are people, too, with lives and responsibilities outside of work, this can be carried too far. I’ve recently seen this create unintended potential legal liability for employers. .... Read more

Changes are afoot in United States employment law. Employers need to begin preparing in order to avoid unintended and detrimental consequences. Discrimination Against Military Personnel Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is the main route through which employees in the United States pursue discrimination claims against their employers. The title prevents discriminated based on race.... Read more

I know we’re all busy, but HR managers really need to train their managers on human resources basics. Take this sick-leave situation which demonstrates the type of scenarios I’ve had to deal with regularly—a real comedy of errors when they are all strung together. Read more