Articles by Girish Anand

December 15, 2010

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FMLA Leave Up by 10 Percent in 2010

According to a survey by FMLASource, the number of employees taking unpaid leave from work under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) has risen by 10 percent in 2010. “As companies continue to operate with leaner staffs in a slowly recovering economy, many workers are seeking FMLA job protection in order to take time off to care for themselves as well as family members,” said Jim...

December 15, 2010

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Some States Raising the Minimum Wage Come Jan. 1, 2011

December 14, 2010

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New York Puts Some New Teeth into Wage and Hour Enforcement

Governor David Patterson of New York has signed into law the Wage Theft Prevention Act, which specifies new notification and reporting obligations on the part of employers and also raises the stakes money-wise on civil and criminal fines. It also provides for imprisonment in some circumstances. The law requires employers to provide documentation to each employee, in both English and the employe...

December 7, 2010

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DOL Hotline Helps Employees Sue Employers

ABA DOL Wage and Hour Division

Beginning next Monday, the Department of Labor (DOL) will be setting up a hot line so complaint filers whom the DOL is too busy to serve can call a member of the American Bar Association (ABA) and seek legal redress over wage and FMLA issues. The partnership between the DOL and the ABA springs from the Middle Class Task Force that President Obama set up, and it's part of the administratio...

December 3, 2010

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DOL Collects $300 Million in Back Wages in New Enforcement Push

FLSA overtime pay

The Department of Labor (DOL) announced recently that it has collected more than $300 million in back wages since 2009, benefiting some 385,000 workers. Typically, back wages represent overtime pay that was withheld either knowingly or unknowingly. Since taking over, the Obama administration and DOL Secretary Hilda Solis have beefed up their inspection force by hiring some 300 additional W...

December 1, 2010

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EBSA Requires 401(k) Fee Transparency

401(k) DOL EBSA final rule on fee transparency

In the wake of a spate of high-profile employee class action lawsuits on excessive 401(k) fees, the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) has jumped into the fray with the publishing of a final rule of the transparency of fees and expenses associated with 401-(k)-type retirement plans. Plan administrators will now have to provide detailed, plain-language breakouts of all fees and exp...

November 24, 2010

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EEOC Catches Up on Backlog of Discrimination Claims

discrimination lawsuits EEOC

In its just-released Performance and Accountability Report (PAR) for fiscal 2010, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) says it is "rebuilding" and reducing its backlog of discrimination claims needing action. Though a record number of of claims--99,992--were filed in the fiscal year, the inventory of claims to resolve rose less than 1 percent, from 85,768 to 86,338. Acco...

November 23, 2010

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Inflation Stagnant; Retirement Limits Flat

benefit plans HIPAA IRS

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced dollar limits for tax-deferred retirement savings accounts for 2011, and, reflecting a flat cost-of-living index for 2010, has left those limits virtually unchanged for the new year. For instance, the limit for 401(k), 457(b) and 403(b) plans remains unchanged at $16,500, with health savings accounts (HSA) holding steady at $3,050 for individuals...

November 18, 2010

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NLRB Seeks to Protect Workers from Social Media Retaliation

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which is increasingly more pro-employee under the Obama administration, is suing American Medical Response (AMR) of Connecticut for firing an employee over remarks she posted on her Facebook page. Annemarie Souza, an emergency medical technician, was sacked after an incident in which a supervisor asked her to respond to a customer complaint but refused...

November 17, 2010

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EEOC Now Pursuing Obesity Discrimination Claims Under ADAAA

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), tasked with pursuing discrimination claims under a variety of federal laws, has broken new ground by filing a lawsuit for obesity discrimination under the Americans With Disabilities Amendments Act (ADAAA). The ADAAA greatly expands the definition of disability and makes it just as illegal to discriminate against the actually disabled as it do...

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Girish Anand

Recent Articles

Practical articles on HR, Safety, compliance, and people operations—written for real businesses, not legal textbooks.

EEOC Rescinds Permissible Affirmative Action Guidance

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U.S. Department of Labor Issues New Opinion Letters on Overtime Exemptions, Bonuses, and Compensable Time

On May 29th, 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released several new opinion letters addressing key wage & hour issues. Specifically, one of the four documents informed readers whether an exempt employee could perform additional work in a secondary role at an hourly rate and still be eligible...

EEOC Issues New National Enforcement Plan Through 2029

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Articles by Girish Anand