Articles by Girish Anand

July 13, 2012
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National Restaurant Association Sues DOL Over Tip Pooling Regulation

The National Restaurant Association, joined by several restaurants and trade groups in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals jurisdiction, has filed suit against the Department of Labor over a regulation that forbids tip-pooling arrangements that include back-of-the-house (kitchen) workers. The 9th Circuit Court in Cumbie v. Woody Woo Inc. in 2010 ruled that restaurants are free to share tips with k...
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July 12, 2012
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EEOC and Family Dollar Stores (7,200 Nationwide) Agree to Mediate

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and Family Dollar Stores Inc. (NYSE:FDO) today announced the signing of a National Universal Agreement to Mediate (NUAM) to informally resolve workplace disputes through Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) prior to an EEOC investigation or potential litigation. The NUAM applies to all Family Dollar establishments throughout the United States. ...
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July 12, 2012
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Summer's Here, But No Heat Standard from OSHA

Though the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has launched a heat danger educational and outreach program, and has even issued a smartphone app to calculate an affected worker's heat index and provide safety tips, the agency has no heat standard in the works, though one was recommended by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in 1972. When press...
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July 9, 2012
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CDC Publishes Online Small Business Resource Portal

CDC
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has published an online Small Business Resource Guide that serves as a handy, easy-to-use portal for finding information about the laws, regulations and other responsibilities of doing business in the United States. The portal links to other government sites, including some state sites that feature unique safety laws, and is broken down into ...
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July 9, 2012
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Incentive Programs May Disqualify Companies from OSHA'S VPP

In 1982, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) established its Voluntary Protection Program (VPP), which exempts "model workplaces" from routine inspections. Model workplaces are those that report industry-leading low injury rates. However, between 2000 and 2011, as OSHA's inspection staff was reduced and VPP membership requirements were relaxed, some 80 workers...
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July 3, 2012
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EEOC Ogling Coffee Chain's Practice of Hiring Only the Attractive

Acting without a complaint from any employee past or present, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is investigating Marylou's Coffee, a Massachusetts chain, because it has a reputation for hiring only attractive women to be its servers. Looks, however, are not a protected class under any federal legislation. Only the District of Columbia has established "personal appearan...
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July 2, 2012
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Transportation Firm Settles for $11M Over 'Hangman's Nooses' Discrimination

An $11 million consent decree entered in a Chicago federal court has ended the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC's) race harassment and discrimination lawsuit against a major transportation company. Magistrate Judge Susan E. Cox granted preliminary approval of the decree. In its suit, the EEOC charged that Yellow Transportation, Inc., and YRC, Inc. subjected African-Amer...
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June 28, 2012
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Office for Civil Rights Publishes HIPAA Audit Protocol

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has been conducting HIPAA privacy, security and breach audits since early this year and today released the protocol that is has being using to inform the audit process. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act in 2009 required HHS to conduct audits to determine how well ...
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June 28, 2012
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Supreme Court Upholds PPACA's Individual Mandate

The U.S. Supreme Court announced today (June 28, 2012) that it has upheld the individual health insurance mandate (buy insurance or pay a penalty) portion of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) as constitutional under Congress's taxing authority. The victory for the Obama administration was sealed when Chief Justice John Roberts in a surprise move sided with the four soli...
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June 28, 2012
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Latest Round of 500 I-9 Audit Notices Sent Out

DHS I-9 ICE immigration
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a wing of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) tasked with enforcing immigration policies (among other duties), has issued another 500 I-9 Employment Verification Form audits to 500 American businesses in critical infrastructure, agriculture and other industries. These I-9 audits can lead to fines and even civil and criminal penalties and charges....
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Practical articles on HR, Safety, compliance, and people operations—written for real businesses, not legal textbooks.

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