Employee Rights

It is important for employees to plan their retirement ahead of time. There are different methods to plan for your retirement and make sure you can live a comfortable life after finishing your career. Besides pension, government employees have 401(k) plans allowing employees to invest in them. People who do not have access to 401(k) can create retirement accounts (IRA) to save…

Sometimes employees have to work with the added stress of knowing that an illegal activity is taking place at their organization. In some cases, employees cannot take the added pressure and choose to whistleblow against their employees. It is difficult to decide what decision to make because you could risk losing your job or face retaliation from your employer. You…

Minors often look for summer jobs to earn some extra money. Those who pay for their tuition may try to find work to earn enough money for when their semester starts. Others might be looking for some extra cash. There are specific laws in place to protect the rights of underage people who are often employed by small businesses. It…

The Simplified Employee Pension, or SEP, offers an easy retirement plan option for employers. Unlike other retirement plans, which require setting up a separate plan, in a SEP you can make contributions to your own Individual Retirement Account (IRA) and to the IRAs of your employees. These contributions are subject to some percentages of pay and dollar limits. Factors such…

If you have lost your job through no fault of your own, you might be eligible for unemployment benefits and compensation. With growing economic problems, organizations are laying off employees to reduce expenditure. Payroll taxes paid by most employees go to the Unemployment Insurance (UI) Fund. If you are unemployed, you might be able to receive a percentage of the…

Organizations may be unethical and corrupt, but this does not mean every individual working for them has a part to play. Some employees expose wrongdoing at their organization by whistleblowing. Whistleblowing is the exposure of information to internal or external sources by an employee, which proves something illegal, unethical, fraudulent or corrupt is going on within the organization. Whistleblowers may…

What started as a silly dispute between one millionaire and another has evolved into a titanic struggle that pits union and labor rights against business interests. At the center of this controversy is Tom Brady, the Patriot’s quarterback, and Roger Goodell, the Commissioner of the NFL. The “Deflate-gate” scandal centers around allegations that Mr. Brady deflated footballs used in a…

For years the civil penalties that government entities could levy on companies that violate their employees’ rights have been stagnant. Congress did not allow the agencies to peg the penalties to inflation. The net result was that the “bite” of the penalties was slowly eroded over time until they were essentially meaningless. But last year, Congress passed the Federal Civil…

As corporations become increasingly multinational, it is understandable that their managers may misunderstand which law they are bound by. In the United States and its territories, U.S. employment law controls. All covered workers regardless of their citizenship or work authorization status are protected by U.S. equal employment opportunity (or “EEO”) laws. This post will go over some common examples and…

Workers’ compensation is paid out to workers who are injured on the job. Workers get a quick and guaranteed source of benefit funds and in exchange, they agree not to sue their employer. Everyone’s costs are reduced, and everyone wins. But what happens when you return to work? Are you benefits automatically ended or is there some sort of grace…