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On January 1, 2004 California became the first state to mandate Paid Family Leave for workers who take time off to care for a sick family member. This change is a sub set to the California Family Rights Act (CFRA). This act is based on the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which is a federal law. As a foundation to understanding the pending changes in California it is necessary to obtain an overview of the FMLA. Despite their best intentions, employers and human resource professionals find themselves unintentionally violating some portion of the FMLA due to complicated definitions and technical requirements. This article is written from the perspective of an employer in order to highlight dominant features of the FMLA and California’s Paid Family Leave. It is increasingly important for companies to adopt policies and procedures that will ensure compliance with all requirements going forward. Otherwise, the consequences could be costly.

Corporate environmental benchmarking is difficult with the range and inconsistency of environmental information available, even from facilities within the same firm. Environmental management systems can assist firms in organizing internal corporate benchmarking efforts. They attempt to capture environmental impacts from activities throughout a facility under a single system and generally follow traditional benchmarking cycles of plan, do, check, and act. However, the systems lack important features that enable benchmarking. Based on a critical analysis of environmental management systems, the article recommends minor changes to extend environmental management systems for corporate environmental benchmarking. Consistent goals should be encouraged at all facilities to produce common metrics. Procedures should require data collection and reporting to a central office. Management review should monitor performance and determine where leading facilities can transfer better processes to lagging facilities.

Age discrimination is common and occurs in all types of industries, fields, and professions all across the world. The common misperceptions about “older workers” include hard‐to‐break habits, technological ignorance, and lack of energy and flexibility. Such attitudes, expectations, and perceptions of older workers should not exist in our professional community. Whether old or young, all people should be treated with respect and dignity. The purpose of this article is to understand the reasons behind age discrimination and ways to prevent it from occurring in the workplace. Removing age discrimination in the workplace lies in the hands of all organisations. First, they need to demolish the myths of age and realise its strengths, such as reliability, mature judgement, lack of impulsivity, timeliness, strong work ethics, and experience. Second, upper management should educate its chain of managers and supervisors about the effects discrimination has on the company’s financial situation as well as its reputation. The government plays a major role in enforcing the laws regarding age discrimination and punishing those who are unlawful.

Outlines the increasing number of violent acts which take in place in the US workplace and lists the main areas of risk together with the main associated costs to business. Looks at the dilemma faced by employers in screening applicants and the lack of information through bare references together with the liability/negligence potential if incidents occur. Lists measures which can be implemented to reduce risk, e.g. less cash, alarms and good lighting. Concludes that the trend towards more violence seems likely to continue and that employers must balance their obligations to ensure a safe environment with restrictions which limit their ability to weed out those with violent tendencies.

Employees are an integral part of an organisation. They are important assets for a company. Employees with their hard work and sincerity can either make a company or break a company with their insincerity or disruptive behaviour. Employees should be treated like a family. It is important for an organisation to keep employees happy. If employees are satisfied and feel part of the organisation, they will work harder and ultimately the organisation will grow by leaps and bounds. On the other hand, if they are not happy, it could adversely affect company’s growth. If employees are dissatisfied or frustrated, there is a potential that they can turn violent. Companies should take appropriate measures to make sure that the employees are free from any kind of harm.

Provides a summary of state and federal legislation prohibiting employment discrimination. Places particular emphasis on disability discrimination. Outlines to whom the legislation applies, when a charge can be filed and defines reasonable accommodation.

Sets out the US laws that give women protection from discrimination when pregnant. Defines the scope of pregnancy disability and outlines the responsibilities that employers have under the law. Focuses on pregnancy regulations in California, describing the provisions made for pregnancy leave, the medical certification needed, the right to reinstatement, the employer’s right to transfer a pregnant employee, and the pregnant employee’s right to transfer. Sets down the policy developed by UCLA concerning pregnancy discrimination. Briefly outlines the evidence a woman would need to show to win a case of discrimination because of pregnancy.

Defines racial harassment and the forms in which it generally appears. Looks at the issue from the employer’s perspective, advising liabilities. Continues by putting the employee’s point of view. Expels some common myths and lists some useful recent case law.

The purpose of this article is to recognise the different types of compensation programmes for commissioned sales employees and to establish ways to manage these programmes in an ever changing business environment. This article will identify companies who use compensation programmes for their commissioned sales employees. This article will also compare and contrast the differences between the company’s different compensation plans. Compensation management is becoming increasingly more difficult for or ganisations to control because sales employees are wanting more and more. Managers need to find out what sales employees want and give it to them in a way that is fair and specific. Being specific in compensation and incentive plans is becoming the new method for managers to follow, while at the same time promoting a team atmosphere among sales employees. Results for compensation management of commissioned sales employees do not point to one best method, but managers are encouraging sales employees to work as a group and not against each other. This would create camaraderie among employees, thus enhancing the work environment and increasing quality and quantity of sales.

There is a need to address the implications of offender electronic monitoring (EM) within Ireland. Thus this research examined prisoner EM participation intentions through an application of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) (Ajzen, 1991).

A male sample (n=101) from two Dublin prisons completed a TPB survey anonymously.

The moderately favourable prisoner attitudes suggested positive orientations towards participation in EM but did suggest some perceived difficulties. Subjective norms had a strong positive influence on intentions.

Prisoner intentions were generally positive towards EM participation. This bodes well for future EM schemes in Ireland. It is also essential to gather other perspectives relevant to the prison system, when implementing EM.

The TPB offers an effective approach to understanding prisoner's EM intentions. More specifically, the TPB pinpointed the prisoners’ favourable intentions towards participating in an EM scheme by highlighting the influence of positive attitudes towards EM and their strong belief that significant others shared these positive attitudes.