The Employer Handbook Blog

In a press release issued yesterday, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced that it is implementing additional measures to strengthen the Whistleblower Protection Program.

A brief rundown of these new measures follows after the jump...

Continue reading "OSHA wants employees to blow more whistles" »

Congress created the Occupational Safety & Hazard Administration (OSHA) to ensure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance. That sounds nice. But my clients and I both know this: you don't want OSHA sniffing around your job sites.

Now OSHA is expanding its taking aim at a new target: distracted-driving. Read how, after the jump...

Continue reading "Driving + Texting = OSHA all up in your business" »

I remember about a month ago reading a post on Daniel Schwartz's Connecticut Employment Law Blog about a shooting involving a Connecticut employer. Actually, at the time, I only skimmed the article. Nine dead. Tragic event. But it happened several hundred miles away.

On September 9, in Northeast Philly, my backyard, an employee who claimed she was fed up with years of constant harassment from neighbors and co-workers, returned to work after her shift had ended clutching a .357 magnum. According to a news report from Philly.com, she pointed the gun at two unarmed security guards -- the employer had already taken some precautions against a potential episode of workplace violence -- and ordered them to the gate. After the guards allowed the armed employee to enter, she went to a break room where she found four employees. After ordering one to leave, the disgruntled employee opened fire on the other three. Two died at the scene. One is in critical condition

I offer five preventative solutions after the jump...

Continue reading "5 ways for Pennsylvania employers to prevent workplace violence" »