This year's difficult flu season serves as an excellent reminder of the recent outbreak of a new strain of influenza found in birds in Asia. President Bush issued the National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza in 2005, and the Implementation Plan for the National Strategy in 2006.
Impact:
Employers should take steps now to develop and maintain a plan to respond to a pandemic flu event. Recognizing the risks as well as identifying the resources available to prevent or mitigate those risks is key, not only to reducing workplace exposure, but also to stemming the spread of pandemic flu outbreak.
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Beginning September 30, 2007, employers with 100 or more employees and federal government contractors and subcontractors with 50 or more employees and a contract worth $50,000 or more, as well as most financial institutions, are required to file a newly revised EEO-1.
Impact:
The new EEO-1 requires employers to think a bit of differently about "ethnicity" and "race":
Embezzlement is on the rise. Organizations that neglect to guard against internal fraud may not only be subject to devastating losses, but could face large fines, increased regulation (i.e., Sarbanes Oxley), lawsuits and loss of their greatest asset - their reputation.
Impact:
Small companies may be at a higher risk of fraud than large ones. Why? Because small companies believe they do not have the staff to support internal controls.
The United States Supreme Court broadened the definition of retaliation under Title VII so that it now includes acts "harmful to the point that they could well dissuade a reasonable worker from making or supporting a charge or discrimination".
Impact:
The new legal test for what constitutes an adverse employment action is whether it would dissuade a reasonable person "in the plantiff's position" from lodging a discrimination complaint.
The Eleventh Circuit recently ruled that a contract between an employee and his employer, requiring disputes be resolved through arbitration, was enforceable due to the commercial legal relationship that exist between the employer and its employee.
Point:
The focus of Family Medical Leave continues to sharpen.
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