Employment / Labor Law News Roundup: October 2012

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Nazri's "Blow Job" in Parliament

The Prime Minister has often preached about new winds of change and transformation blowing through Umno and into the country.

http://blog.limkitsiang.com/2012/11/01/nazris-blow-job-in-parliament/

Mountain Law: What is the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act?

President Obama touted at one of the recent debates his accomplishment of signing into law the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009.

http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20121031/NEWS/121039992/0/FRONTPAGE

Citizens group, panel clash on Rye Town Hall space needs

After months studying the space needs at Town Hall, a volunteer committee is nearly ready to make its recommendations to selectmen.

http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20121101-NEWS-211010422

Longtime Volusia Personal Injury Law Firm Becomes 'Rue, Ziffra And Caldwell'

After 36 years of operation, the Port Orange-based law firm of Rue & Ziffra has been renamed "Rue, Ziffra & Caldwell" to recognize Thomas E. Caldwell, a board-certified attorney and longtime partner.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/11/prweb10073259.htm

Jobs Employment Unemployment Generic Blurb

Extra attention will be paid to the job market this month when the government releases its jobs report Friday -- the last before the presidential election next week.

http://www.clickorlando.com/news/money/Jobs-report-to-be-released-Friday/-/1637116/17214190/-/n4xbetz/-/index.html

Safety Check: OSHA Offers Anonymous Online Safety Awareness Tool

Safety Check: OSHA Offers Anonymous Online Safety Awareness Tool OSHA offers anonymous hazard awareness tool to help small businesses identify potential problems and locate applicable standards and remedies.

http://www.palletenterprise.com/articledatabase/view.asp?articleID=3779

Firefighter welcomes compensation laws

An Albany-based firefighter who has leukaemia has welcomed the Government's decision to make changes to worker's compensation laws.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-01/compensation-laws-for-firefighters/4345988

Moosejaw to open Detroit pop-up

Moosejaw, the outdoor retailer, will open a temporary or pop-up retail outlet in downtown Detroit for the Christmas shopping season.

http://www.freep.com/article/20121101/BUSINESS07/311010181/1002/business

After audit, Tarpon Springs looks into ethics code, fraud reporting

In addition to being a local code of ethics, the policy would establish procedures for reporting fraud through a hotline for whistle-blowers. The recent discussion comes after an internal audit earlier this year recommended the policies, city officials said.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgovernment/after-audit-tarpon-springs-looks-into-ethics-code-fraud-reporting/1259278

Jobs Employment Unemployment Generic Blurb

Extra attention will be paid to the job market this month when the government releases its jobs report Friday -- the last before the presidential election next week.

http://www.kcra.com/news/money/Jobs-report-to-be-released-Friday/-/11797182/17214190/-/gfmqtmz/-/index.html

Local Jobs: JC Penney Loss Prevention, Grants Analyst for DeKalb Schools

Looking for work in Stone Mountain or Lithonia? Each week Patch compiles job listings from sources such as the Department of Labor , DeKalb County, DeKalb Public Library , web sites of individual businesses and job search sites such as snagajob.com to help you.

Saturday, October 6, 2012

The Top 46 Job Boards for Job-Seekers

1 Through 10 Alphabetically

After College

Best Jobs in the USA Today

great

11 Through 20 Alphabetically

The Interview Exchange

jobalot.com

JobCircle.com

Jobfox

Mutual Suitability System

21 Through 30 Alphabetically

Jobirn: Insider Referral Network

interesting

best

LatPro

LinkUp

31 Through 40 Alphabetically

41 Through 46 Alphabetically

great

Coping With Job Loss --Personal Impact

There's no magic formula for re-employment.

it all comes down to hard, introspective work that entails taking an honest look at yourself and asking key questions about your strengths, weaknesses, likes, and dislikes.
You must truly know yourself before you can effectively begin to market yourself. Finding re-employment requires you to match your abilities and personal skill set to an employers needs.
You must be the answer, and convince your future employer that you have what it takes to solve their problem by filling the open position.

MONSTER.COM: Prep for the Top 10 Interview Questions

By Carole Martin, Monster Contributing Writer

Too many job seekers stumble through interviews as if the questions are coming out of left field. But many interview questions are to be expected. Study this list and plan your interview answers ahead of time so you'll be ready to deliver them with confidence.

1. What Are Your Weaknesses?

This is the most dreaded question of all. Handle it by minimizing your weakness and emphasizing yourstrengths. Stay away from personal qualities and concentrate on professional traits: "I am always working on improving my communication skills to be a more effective presenter. I recently joined Toastmasters, which I find very helpful."

2. Why Should We Hire You?

Summarize your experiences: "With five years' experience working in the financial industry and my proven record of saving the company money, I could make a big difference in your company. I'm confident I would be a great addition to your team."

3. Why Do You Want to Work Here?

The interviewer is listening for an answer that indicates you've given this some thought and are not sending out resumes just because there is an opening. For example, "I've selected key companies whose mission statements are in line with my values, where I know I could be excited about what the company does, and this company is very high on my list of desirable choices."

4. What Are Your Goals?

Sometimes it's best to talk about short-term and intermediate goals rather than locking yourself into the distant future. For example, "My immediate goal is to get a job in a growth-oriented company. My long-term goal will depend on where the company goes. I hope to eventually grow into a position of responsibility."

5. Why Did You Leave (Or Why Are You Leaving) Your Job?

If you're unemployed, state your reason for leaving in a positive context: "I managed to survive two rounds of corporate downsizing, but the third round was a 20 percent reduction in the workforce, which included me."

If you are employed, focus on what you want in your next job: "After two years, I made the decision to look for a company that is team-focused, where I can add my experience."

6. When Were You Most Satisfied in Your Job?

The interviewer wants to know what motivates you. If you can relate an example of a job or project when you were excited, the interviewer will get an idea of your preferences. "I was very satisfied in my last job, because I worked directly with the customers and their problems; that is an important part of the job for me."

7. What Can You Do for Us That Other Candidates Can't?

What makes you unique? This will take an assessment of your experiences, skills and traits. Summarize concisely: "I have a unique combination of strong technical skills, and the ability to build strong customer relationships. This allows me to use my knowledge and break down information to be more user-friendly."

8. What Are Three Positive Things Your Last Boss Would Say About You?

It's time to pull out your old performance appraisals and boss's quotes. This is a great way to brag about yourself through someone else's words: "My boss has told me that I am the best designer he has ever had. He knows he can rely on me, and he likes my sense of humor."

9. What Salary Are You Seeking?

It is to your advantage if the employer tells you the range first. Prepare by knowing the going rate in your area, and your bottom line or walk-away point. One possible answer would be: "I am sure when the time comes, we can agree on a reasonable amount. In what range do you typically pay someone with my background?"

10. If You Were an Animal, Which One Would You Want to Be?

Interviewers use this type of psychological question to see if you can think quickly. If you answer "a bunny," you will make a soft, passive impression. If you answer "a lion," you will be seen as aggressive. What type of personality would it take to get the job done? What impression do you want to make?

The myth of the passive job seeker

"We need to get rid of the words 'active' versus 'passive,'" says Kassandra Barnes, research and content manager at CareerBuilder. "They just aren't relevant words in the job-search landscape anymore.'' Barnes is referring to the findings of CareerBuilder's and Inavero's 2012 Candidate Behavior Study, which highlights the behaviors and perceptions of today's job seekers.

One of the survey's major findings was that, employed or unemployed, the vast majority of workers are almost always seeking new opportunities. Of the 1,291 workers nationwide who participated in the survey, 77 percent said they were either actively searching for a new job or open to new opportunities, and 35 percent said they begin preparing for their next job within weeks of starting a new one. When it comes to frequency, 71 percent of workers said that searching for new opportunities is part of their regular routine, whether or not they're employed, with 27 percent searching as frequently as once a week.

These findings weren't unique to any particular demographic segment. Workers of both genders and across various income levels, generations and backgrounds reported similar attitudes and behaviors.

How employers should treat all job candidates
Given these findings, employers should stop thinking of job seekers in terms like "passive" and "active," since a majority of workers are constantly on alert for new job opportunities. Instead, employers who want to hire more effectively should focus less on finding passive job seekers, since most workers are casually browsing opportunities and employers at any given time.

Why employers run into hiring roadblocks
The other danger in using these labels is that it can inadvertently derail the employee search, causing employers to miss out on perfectly qualified workers. "Employers tend to think of active and passive candidates in terms of bad and good," Barnes says. "Yet passive candidates are not necessarily better than active candidates. If anything, they might even be less ambitious or willing to leave their current company." Employers do themselves a disservice by ignoring the active candidates who have shown interest in their companies.

"Think of recruitment in terms of running for political office," Barnes says. "Why would you try to sway a Republican to be a Democrat -- or vice versa -- when you should really focus on re-energizing your base population?" For hiring managers, their base is active job seekers, so it only works against them to ignore or discredit this group.

Globalization and employment relations

The balance of economic efficiency and social equity is the ultimate debate in the field of employment relations. By meeting the needs of the employer; generating profits to establish and maintain economic efficiency; whilst maintaining a balance with the employee and creating social equity that benefits the worker so that he/she can fund and enjoy healthy living; proves to be a continuous revolving issue in westernized societies.

Globalization has effected these issues by creating certain economic factors that disallow or allow various employment issues. Economist Edward Lee (1996) studies the effects of globalization and summarizes the four major points of concern that affect employment relations:

International competition, from the newly industrialized countries, will cause unemployment growth and increased wage disparity for unskilled workers in industrialized countries. Imports from low-wage countries exert pressure on the manufacturing sector in industrialized countries and foreign direct investment (FDI) is attracted away from the industrialized nations, towards low-waged countries.
Economic liberalization will result in unemployment and wage inequality in developing countries. This happens as job losses in un-competitive industries outstrip job opportunities in new industries.
Workers will be forced to accept worsening wages and conditions, as a global labour market results in a “race to the bottom”. Increased international competition creates a pressure to reduce the wages and conditions of workers.
Globalization reduces the autonomy of the nation state. Capital is increasingly mobile and the ability of the state to regulate economic activity is reduced.

What also results from Lee’s (1996) findings is that in industrialized countries an average of almost 70 per cent of workers are employed in the service sector, most of which consists of non-tradable activities. As a result, workers are forced to become more skilled and develop sought after trades, or find other means of survival. Ultimately this is a result of changes and trends of employment, an evolving workforce, and globalization that is represented by a more skilled and increasing highly diverse labour force, that are growing in non standard forms of employment (Markey, R. et al. 2006).

10 Things to Think About: Employment Contract Provisions

Employment contracts take many different forms. All employees at a company may be asked to sign the same form contract, or each employee may have a contract with the employer that is applicable just to his or her employment agreement. An employer and an employee may simply have an oral agreement regarding the kind of work the employee will do, for how long, and at what rate of pay. Sometimes there is no written or oral agreement but the behavior of the employer and the employee can be viewed as an implied employment contract.

Most employment contracts have common elements such as the employee's start date, salary, and benefits. Other provisions that often appear in employment contracts are listed here. You can think about what kind of employment contract is agreeable to you before you sign your next employment agreement. Your attorney can advise you about the pros and cons of agreeing to the various provisions or suggest other terms to include.

1. CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT. An employee confidentiality agreement is a contract or part of a contract in which the employee promises never to share any information about the details of how the employer's business is conducted, or the employer's secret processes, plans, formulas, data, or machinery used, such as the price the company has charged for its products. Usually a confidentiality agreement lasts even after the employee no longer works for the employer.

2. NONCOMPETITION AGREEMENT. In the noncompetition clause the employee agrees that for a certain amount of time after he or she stops working for the employer, the employee will not become employed by a rival company or any company engaged in a similar type of business, and the employee will not set up a company that will compete with the employer's business or solicit the employer's customers. Usually the noncompetition clause is limited to a particular geographic area.

3. OWNERSHIP OF INVENTIONS. This provision applies to employees who invent things as part of their jobs. In this part of the contract the employee agrees that anything he or she invents at work, or during a set period of time after termination, becomes the employer's invention, not the employee's own invention. Additionally, employees usually agree to assign their inventions to the employer, cooperate with the employer in getting inventions patented, and keep information about the invention confidential like any other trade secret. In return, sometimes the employer agrees to share with employee-inventors a percentage of the royalties paid for inventions.

4. BEST EFFORTS. Although it is often just assumed that the employee will work hard for the employer, sometimes employers add a best-efforts provision to the employment contract. It states that the employee promises to work to the best of his or her ability and to be loyal to the employer. Sometimes it also states that the employee specifically agrees to make suggestions and recommendations to the employer that will be of benefit to the company.

5. EXCLUSIVE EMPLOYMENT. In this provision, the employee promises that as long as he or she works for the company the employee will not work for anyone else in the same or similar type of business. It may also extend to a promise not to be a shareholder or director in a similar business, or even to provide services voluntarily to a similar or competitor business.

6. NO ADDITIONAL COMPENSATION. The no additional compensation clause states that if the employee becomes an elected director or officer of the company or serves on a company managing committee, the employee will not be entitled to additional compensation for doing that work.

7. NO AUTHORITY TO CONTRACT. Sometimes this part of the contract is called the "agency" provision. It makes clear that the employer and employee have an employment relationship only, not an agency relationship; the employee has no right to enter into a contract or otherwise obligate the employer, unless the employer gives express written consent to do so.

8. TERMINATION. A standard part of any employment contract is the termination clause. It states that either party may terminate the employment contract for any reason by giving a certain amount of notice, such as two weeks' notice. It may also give the employer the right to just terminate the contract without notice if the employee violates the contract in any way. Another aspect of the termination clause is a statement that the employer has the right to terminate the contract if the employee becomes permanently disabled because of ill health or physical or mental disability such that the employee can no longer do the job.

9. ARBITRATION. Arbitration clauses are found in many types of contracts, including employment contracts. In this provision, the parties agree at the onset of the relationship that if they ever have a dispute about any aspect of the employment relationship, they will submit the dispute to arbitration rather than seek resolution by a court of law. It may include details about the arbitration, such as whether the arbitration decision will be binding and how the parties will find an arbitrator when the time comes.

10. CHOICE OF LAW. Employment laws vary from state to state. Some states have laws that are generally viewed as more favorable or beneficial to employers than employees or vice versa. This part of the contract is an agreement that if the parties ever have a dispute that results in a lawsuit, it will be governed by the laws of a particular state, no matter where it is filed.

Locating jobs

Common methods of job hunting are:

Finding a job through a friend or an extended business network, personal network, or online social network service
Using an employment website
Looking through the classifieds in newspapers
Using a private or public employment agency or recruiter
Looking on a company's web site for open jobs, typically in its applicant tracking system
Going to a job fair
Using professional guidance such as outplacement services that give training in writing a résumé, applying for jobs and how to be successful at interview.

As of 2010, less than 10% of U.S. jobs are filled through online ads

Employment / Labor Law News Roundup

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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Nazri's "Blow Job" in Parliament

Mountain Law: What is the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act?

Citizens group, panel clash on Rye Town Hall space needs

Longtime Volusia Personal Injury Law Firm Becomes 'Rue, Ziffra And Caldwell'

Jobs Employment Unemployment Generic Blurb

Safety Check: OSHA Offers Anonymous Online Safety Awareness Tool

Firefighter welcomes compensation laws

Moosejaw to open Detroit pop-up

After audit, Tarpon Springs looks into ethics code, fraud reporting

Jobs Employment Unemployment Generic Blurb

Local Jobs: JC Penney Loss Prevention, Grants Analyst for DeKalb Schools

Saturday, October 6, 2012

The Top 46 Job Boards for Job-Seekers

Coping With Job Loss --Personal Impact

MONSTER.COM: Prep for the Top 10 Interview Questions

The myth of the passive job seeker

Globalization and employment relations

10 Things to Think About: Employment Contract Provisions

Locating jobs

Common methods of job hunting are: