Friday News Roundup: NLRB Gets Back to Business, Sleeping on the Job, a Labor Department Smartphone App, and More!

The Friday News Roundup aims to aggregate some of the week’s most interesting and relevant topics from top HR blogs across the web. Last week we covered the sexual harassment lawsuit in San Diego and athletic skills in the workplace. This week we cover questions around the Affordable Care Act, changes to the NLRB  and the Department of Labor's call for a smartphone app:

Affordable Care Act: Redefining Part Time and Full Time Work 
President Obama’s Affordable Care Act has had a controversial life since its passing in 2010 and there has been a lot of chatter about it in Washington this week. What remains to be seen is how it will affect employees, HR managers, and company hiring decisions moving forward. We may see employers capping hiring or moving more employees to part-time to limit the amount benefits they are required to provide by law. Similarly, employees may be incentivized to drop down to part-time hours to earn more pay, while still gaining access to tax-subsidized insurance.

National Labor Relations Board is Back in Business
After a long process of political backlog that crippled the NLRB from operating fully, the Senate finally confirmed five new members this past Tuesday. Up until this week the board had only three members, slowing the ruling process and making it difficult to pass judgement on cases. With a full board, we can expect the board to move more quickly through more cases and push ratifications through. 

Who's the Fairest of Them All? There’s an App for That 
The U.S. Department of Labor is currently accepting entries to develop a smartphone application that will rate businesses on how fairly and lawfully they treat their employees. The app will integrate with social media platforms such as Yelp, CitySearch, Google maps, and more. The end goal is to provide job seekers and other businesses with data to help them decide which companies they want to do business with--proving there truly is an app for everything.

Virtual Management: The Lost Art of Walking Around
With the growth of technology in the modern workplace, it’s easy for managers to get swept up in the virtual world and forget about taking time to participate in face-to-face interaction with employees. The trend of email and virtual chat may be limiting your ability to recognize and address workplace issues early on. It may be time for managers stood up from their desk and got more in touch with the lost art of walking around.

Sleeping on the Job Protected by ADA?
An employee in Virginia recently filed a complaint stating his employer failed to accommodate his ADA rights for not waking him up when he fell asleep at work. The employee claims he suffers from Fibromyalgia, a condition that prevents him from sleeping well at night. The case has since been dismissed by both parties, but the issue remains. Who do you think was at fault, if anyone?

Image Credit: Tim Evanson via Flickr