Articles by Richard Alaniz

Practice

Maintaining Wage and Hour Compliance in 2013

Over the past six years or so, wage and hour lawsuits have become, if not commonplace, extremely prevalent. This trend, fueled by a large number of workers displaced following the financial crisis and stoked by successful settlements and court rulings over the past several years, is unlikely to end anytime soon.
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Practice

Minimizing the Risk of Background Checks

Hiring is an expensive, time-consuming process – employers want to make sure they get it right the first time. For many employers, background checks represent a key tool in ensuring the people they hire are trustworthy and have the skills, experience, and education they claim to possess.
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Education & Careers

Noel Canning Decision Holds President Obama's NLRB Appointments Unconstitutional

On Friday, January 25, 2013, a unanimous panel of the D.C. Circuit ruled that President Obama had unconstitutionally appointed three board members to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
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Practice

How Employers Can Ensure I-9 Forms Are Correct

When Abercrombie & Fitch ran into problems with properly completing I-9 forms, it turned out to be a seven-figure mistake. A $1,047,110 fine was imposed, even though there was no proof the retailer knowingly hired illegal workers.
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Practice

Minimizing Employee Litigation through Arbitration Agreements

Employers can minimize many employee lawsuits and their fallout through arbitration agreements, where a neutral arbitrator hears the facts of the dispute and makes a binding ruling.
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Practice

Workplace Safety, Disabled Employees, and the ADA

In order to ensure a safe workplace while fully complying with the ADA, employers need to understand their rights and responsibilities as well as the rights of job applicants and employees.
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Practice

Ditch the Mistletoe - Avoiding Sexual Harassment Charges

For many companies, the end of the year means planning an annual holiday party. But beware - if employees cut loose at a company-sponsored function, it can lead to sexual harassment charges.
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A&A

Ruling Extends SOX Whistleblowing Protections

Following a recent ruling by the US Department of Labor's Administrative Review Board, accounting firms that do work for public companies may be far more vulnerable to whistleblowing claims under SOX.
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Practice

The Rise in Pregnancy Disability Regulations

Disability claims are always challenging for employers, but this is especially the case when pregnant workers suffer complications that leave them unable to perform their normal job duties.
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Practice

EEOC State Data Shows Trends, Areas to Watch

In 2011, the EEOC received a record-setting number of charges from those claiming employment discrimination: 99,947 in fiscal year 2011, compared to 99,922 in 2010, and an increase from 82,792 in 2008.
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Practice

Potential of Disabled Worker Quotas on Federal Contractors

Companies with federal government contracts or subcontracts may soon risk losing their contracts if they do not meet quotas to hire more disabled workers.
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Practice

EEOC and Courts Begin to Weigh in on Amended ADA Standards

Striking the balance between the need to hire qualified employees and the need to avoid disability discrimination claims has become even more challenging since changes to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) went into effect in 2009.
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Practice Management

When Employees Rant Online - The NLRB Weighs in on Workers' Rights

Employees have always complained about their jobs, bosses, and coworkers. Today, through social media, such complaints can reach a much larger audience than in the past. Some employers have responded by disciplining workers, and increasingly, the NLRB is stepping in.
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Practice

Employers Paying the Penalty for Wage and Hour Violations

In prosecution of wage and hour violations, the stakes are getting personal. In several recent cases, the government has penalized company owners and officers for failing to pay overtime, imposing stiff fines and even imprisonment.
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Education & Careers

Is it legal to only hire the already-employed? The problems with must-be-employed rules

In their quest to find qualified workers, some employers are explicitly stating that they will only hire those who are already employed and will not consider the unemployed.
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Education & Careers

A social life: When employees and applicants take to Facebook

Imagine one of your employees bashes your company or their coworkers on Facebook. You might think that you could fire that employee. But you would probably be wrong.
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Practice Management

Get the right results from employment tests, while avoiding charges of discrimination

As the economy slowly improves and employers look to add more workers, hiring productive workers is as important as ever, and no one wants to waste time and money hiring people who aren’t the right fit.
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A&A

Public unions, the economy, and what's at stake for companies now

It's a story that's playing out across the country – cash-strapped governments are scrambling to balance their budgets while hamstrung by the contracts of current and retired public union workers.
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Practice

Reviewing overtime standards should be one of your resolutions

Miscalculating overtime can be extremely costly for companies in terms of fines and lawsuits. And the U.S. government has just made it easier for unhappy employees to find lawyers willing to sue companies over alleged FLSA overtime violations.
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Practice

When violence affects the workplace, what liabilities do employers face?

Workplace violence risks are real and employers face legal liabilities when employees or customers are victims. Employers must understand how they could be vulnerable to a lawsuit after an incident of workplace violence, and what they can do to prevent such incidences.
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Pages

Voice of the Editor

Even though any accounting auditor would tell you it seems like there are an awful lot of tax accountants out there, surely one-third of the country isn't made up of tax preparers, so it's rather startling news to learn that one-third of Americans like to do their taxes. Who knew?
Read more
Gail Perry, CPA
Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, AccountingWEB
editor@accountingweb.com
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