When a South Dakota employee cannot work due to illness or disability, he or she can receive short term disability benefits. These benefits vary from company to company, because short term disability is private insurance and offers many different plans. An employee’s job is not guaranteed while on short
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Many Iowa employees wonder who oversees their 401k plans. In 1974, the federal government established ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act). ERISA sets the standards for most of private industry’s pension and health plans, including 401ks. This federal law applies to employees in Iowa and throughout the United States.
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Rhode Island utilizes the “two-lock” system to maintain confidentiality of an employee’s privileged information. Rhode Island law doesn’t address the exact parameters of the lock system so many employers and employees wonder how the system works. The two lock system is a safe, and probably the most
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“Reasonable accommodation” is a phrase often heard when discussing issues of accessibility in the Connecticut workplace. What does it mean? How should it be interpreted? The term comes from the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), passed in 1990. According to this federal law, businesses must
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Many Alabama employees have questions regarding a hostile work environment. In a federal case, the regional manager of a fast-food franchise in Dallas was awarded more than $166,000 recently because of jokes about her hearing impairment in the workplace. The manager took her complaint to the EEOC,
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Many people have questions about international copyright law. A man in England came across an amazing discovery in his grandmother’s attic recently. It was the original score for the Beatles’ song “Yesterday.” The outcome of the court case surrounding that find illustrates some of the issues that
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Terminating an employee is a process fraught with potential complications. That is why employers are advised by the best Human Resources professionals to institute a formal disciplinary policy that includes written warnings. No federal law and no Connecticut or other state law addresses written warnings
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A key ingredient of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is the concept of “reasonable accommodation.” The ADA applies to employees in Wyoming and throughout the nation. Many states also have disability laws at the state level. Since the passage of the ADA in 1990, employers must
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Jokes about an employee’s disability are no laughing matter, as employers across the nation are learning. Not only are they inherently insensitive, but they may create a “hostile work environment” that could lead the employee to lodge a complaint resulting in a financial award to the worker
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It is important for everyone to understand international copyright law. A poet writes a love poem and gives it to his paramour. Does his lover now own the poem? The short answer is, “Not exactly.” A longer answer is, “No, not the poem itself, but, yes, the
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Employers should take steps to protect their employees, and their business, against a major Swine Flu outbreak this winter. This includes encouraging employees to stay at home when they are ill. While there is no need for panic, Swine Flu poses a deadly threat to seniors, small
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Many people in New Hampshire have questions regarding copyright. When it comes to questions about intellectual property, an often-heard term is “international copyright laws.” This may be confusing to many people, creative and otherwise, who have raised questions about New Hampshire copyright laws. In reality, laws controlling
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No federal law and no Minnesota or other state law addresses written warnings for employees. The lack of laws offering useful guidelines is one more good reason for employers to put good disciplinary policies in place. An employer would be best served by instituting a
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Every employee and employer needs to take steps to prevent the Swine Flu this fall and winter. The last major global influenza pandemic was in 1918. About 50 million people died, or about one third of the population of Europe. That was more than all of the people killed
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Most employers and employees know that it is illegal to discriminate in against disabled workers when it comes to hiring, training, promotions, working condition, discipline, and the like. Most of them also realize that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 requires firms to make reasonable
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Two federal agencies have taken actions that employers should be aware of regarding the possibility of Swine Flu, the CDC and the Department of Homeland Security. The Homeland Security Department’s Secretary, Janet Napolitano, has declared a U.S. public health emergency. In April of 2009, the CDC issued
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How many creative people in North Carolina are aware of the fact that their intellectual property is theirs from the moment they commit it to the medium of their choice, whether that medium is paper or a computer hard drive? Probably very few are aware of it,
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Less than 20 years ago, South Dakota employers had no obligation to make any kinds of accommodations for disabled employees. Those were the pre-ADA days. ADA is the Americans with Disabilities Act, a major piece of federal legislation passed in 1990. It applies to most South Dakota
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Written warnings are a useful tool for employers dealing with intransigent workers. Many employees wonder if they have to sign the written warning. The answer is “no” – but refusing to sign the warning does not make it invalid. They are not covered by federal or
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Employers in Missouri are urged by OSHA to have a plan in place in the event of an influenza epidemic or pandemic. Plans should include keeping contact between employees themselves, or between employees and customers, down to a minimum. The emergency plans might involve allowing
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Although their livelihoods are likely to be affected by copyright laws, many creative people in Ohio and elsewhere misunderstand or know little about those laws One of the first things to understand is that simply giving a friend or stranger a copy of one’s work does not
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The workplace has become considerably more accessible to the differently-abled Utah employee in the last 20 years. It was only in 1990 that the Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, was passed. Until then, employers were not legally required to make any accommodations for disabled workers. Public
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