With the 2008 election in its final days, employers must brace for significant employment law changes. HRHero.com has produced a free white paper on 6 potential employment law changes under new leadership in Washington. The white paper also includes a chart of time off to vote laws taken from HR Hero’s 50 Employment Laws in 50 States book. The laws have been researched by employment law attorneys in each state who are part of the Employers Counsel Network. The white paper also includes a comprehensive “Time Off to Vote” sample policy you can adapt for your company.

You can also check out John Phillips post about the Impact of Presidential politics on employment law issues.

Many thanks to everyone for taking this month’s survey twice. Your answers were very interesting, especially on the essay question about the most difficult thing your HR department has had to do this year. Many of you have had to deal with layoffs, finding good employees to hire, the rising cost of health care, and every HR person’s favorite four-letter word – FMLA.

Once you’ve checked out the survey results, add a comment to this post and tell us what you think.

read more…

Last Friday (Oct. 10) we discovered we had some significant technical problems with the survey on Your HR Department that caused us to lose many of your responses.

So we’re going to try this again. The survey is the same. We’ve gotten the technical problems resolved. Now we just need you to take the survey — again.

read more…

Connecticut has become the third state to legalize same-sex civil marriages, which California and Massachusetts already recognize. The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled 4-3 to overturn a lower court ruling that denied same-sex couples the right to marry on the grounds that existing laws allowing civil unions afforded them sufficient rights. Gay and lesbian couples sought the right to marry under the Connecticut Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection. The Connecticut decision has no potential effect on federal law, which does not recognize same-sex marriages.

We will provide more details and discuss how this ruling will affect your workplace in an upcoming issue of Connecticut Employment Law Letter.

A mental health parity measure has been passed in Congress as part of the $700 billion financial rescue package. The measure requires covered employers that provide health plans to cover mental illness and substance abuse on the same basis as physical conditions. President George W. Bush signed the financial package on Friday, October 3. The mental health provisions go into effect one year after enactment, with a different effective date for collective bargaining agreements.

Here are some of the provisions of the mental health measure: read more…

On September 5, 2008, New York Governor David A. Paterson signed into law Bill No. A10625, which amends New York’s General Business Law. Effective immediately, the amendment clarifies who must abide by New York’s Disposal of Personal Records Law, which relates to the disposal of records containing personal identifying information.

Personal identifying information consists of personal information, such as a name, number, personal mark, or other identifier, that can be used to identify a natural person, coupled with one or more data elements. Data elements range in type and are enumerated in the statute.

read more…