By Piper Weiss, Shine Staff | Fashion It takes hundreds of employees, thousands of hours and millions of dollars to launch a mass market lingerie line. And one blogger to take it all down. I never thought they would pull the Geisha outfit off the market,” Nina Jacinto tells Shine. “I imagine there were a number of factors that went into that decision.” Two weeks ago, Jacinto, a 26-year-old Bay Area blogger and non-profit development manager, most likely became one of those factors. It all started here. “I saw a link to [Victoria's Secret's Go East] line on the blog,  [ Read More ]

The New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission is requesting people posing for driver’s license and ID photos to use less facial expressions for security reasons. What do you think about this policy? (09/20/12) EDISON – The New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission is requesting people posing for driver’s license and ID photos to use less facial expressions for security reasons. The MVC is using facial recognition software to help weed out people with multiple licenses and IDs that may be used for fraud and identity theft. In order for the software to be effective, the camera needs to see faces clearly without  [ Read More ]

You’ve got an anti-harassment policy. All managers and employees have copies and you just completed training on the policy for your entire workforce. Sweet! But is your policy bulletproof? I mean really bulletproof? And if an employee claims that a harasser lurks in your workplace, if sued, will a court agree that the steps you have taken were reasonably designed to end the harassment? Just how confident are you? After the jump, some not so obvious pitfalls from a recent federal-appellate-court decision and six ways (5 from the court; 1 from me) to help you stay legal and out of  [ Read More ]

Topic: Employment Background Checks and the EEOC The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (the “Commission”) approved, by a 4-1 vote, a revised Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (the “Guidance”). This law has already gone into effect. The revised guidance reflects the EEOC’s long-held position that employers’ reliance on arrest and conviction records may have a disparate impact on individuals because of their race or national origin. Before disqualifying an individual with a criminal record from employment, the Commission emphasizes, employers should engage in  [ Read More ]

According to the State of New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, the state’s economy continues to lag, with the loss of nearly 12,000 jobs and a 35-year record high unemployment rate of 9.8 percent as of July 2012. The unemployment rate for Essex county hovered at 11.6 percent, surpassed only by Passaic county which had an unemployment rate of 12 percent in July. However, things might get a little easier for both New Jersey business owners and unemployed individuals if a proposed bill providing a tax credit to small businesses hiring the unemployed is passed. As reported by  [ Read More ]

Preventive Medicine | September 12, 2012 By now, everyone is probably familiar with Dawnmarie Souza’s dispute with American Medical Response, where the National Labor Relations Board sided with an emergency medical technician’s right to bad-mouth her supervisor on Facebook (the case eventually settled), as well as the three memoranda issued by the NLRB’s Acting General Counsel on social media issues. All employers have had difficulty placing appropriate controls on employees’ use of social media while trying not to run afoul of the NLRB, but the situation is even more complicated for healthcare employers, who must be concerned about medical malpractice,  [ Read More ]

Last week, we had a two-part series on the interplay between the Family and Medical Leave Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. The former clearly obligates employers to afford leave to an eligible employee to care for a sick child. But, what about the latter? That is, must an employer provide leave from work as a reasonable accommodation to an employee to permit her to care for a disabled child? In a case decided earlier this month (Magnus v. St. Mark United Methodist Church), the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that the ADA does not require employers to  [ Read More ]

NEW YORK — The New York Police Department has, for the first time, laid out rules for using social media sites like Facebook and Twitter during investigations. New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly issued a memo that makes it OK for cops to register fake aliases to cruise social media, as long as they keep the department informed. The five page memo says officers involved in probes involving social media may register their aliases with the department and use a department-issued laptop whose Internet-access card can’t be traced back to the NYPD, the New York Daily News reports. Trolling  [ Read More ]

Worst. advice. ever. Two Denny’s waitresses have filed this complaint in CA Superior Court alleging that their manager sexually harassed them and, when they complained to another Denny’s manager, they wore told, “Pray about the situation.” Details from Erin Sherbert’s Food Blog at SF Weekly: Now, on to the details of the Complaint: Brandy Cachu, a waitress at the Stockton Denny’s, says that in 2009 her manager, Henry Guiaro, asked her if “her boobs were real.” He then asked her if she would ever “participate in a wet t-shirt contest because she would be the winner.” As the comments continued,  [ Read More ]

What is a corporation? Is a corporation in NJ different than a corporation in another state? What makes a corporation in NJ different from other types of businesses is that a corporation is an independent legal entity, separate from the people who own, control, and manage it. In other words, corporation and tax laws view the corporation as a distinct legal “person,” meaning that the corporation can enter into contracts, incur debts, and pay taxes apart from its owners. And there are other important characteristics that result from the corporation’s separate existence: A corporation in New Jersey does not end  [ Read More ]

New Jersey Statutes 14A:1-1 Short title; purposes; rules of construction; variation (1) This act shall be known and may be cited as the “New Jersey Business Corporation Act.” (2) This act shall be liberally construed and… New Jersey Statutes 14A:1-2.1 Definitions. 14A:1-2.1. Definitions. As used in this act, unless the context otherwise requires, the term: (a) “Act” or “this act” means… New Jersey Statutes 14A:1-3 Application of act This act shall apply to (1) every corporation which is organized under this act; (2) every corporation which reincorporates under this act pursuant to section… New Jersey Statutes 14A:1-4 Reincorporation under this  [ Read More ]

It’s happened to Microsoft, to Google, HSBC, Coca-Cola and to Interpol. Now GoDaddy joins the ranks of high profile websites that were hacked for no other reason than bragging rights. Try navigating to GoDaddy’s website before they get it back up and running, and you’ll see this (see pic on the right). It’s reported that 55 million sites experienced major outage as a result. That’s HUGE!! So if an internet giant like Bob Parsons can get hacked, how can you protect yourself? Here are a few quick and easy methods to protect yourself from those who would do harm: 1)  [ Read More ]

By KATE ZERNIKE | NY Times The mayor of New Jersey’s capital was arrested on Monday and charged in what federal prosecutors described as a scheme to accept more than $119,000 in bribes in exchange for selling city property at a fraction of its value. The arrest was the latest blow to the long-struggling city, Trenton, and its controversial mayor, Tony F. Mack, who narrowly escaped a recall effort last year as allegations of corruption dogged City Hall. Since he took office in 2010, a parade of his appointees have quit in various stages of disgrace, while residents and City  [ Read More ]

It is no longer sufficient to talk how about how mobile phones which shape the recruiting industry over the next few years, without talking about the mobile paradigm shift that is taking place today. We all know the fascinating statistics about smart phone adoption with Nielsen reporting earlier this year that nearly 42% of US mobile users and 44% of European mobile subscribers now use smart-phones. But it is the data that is beginning to emerge from recruiting sites which is of most interest to me and most illuminating for the recruiting process. For example, one of the UK’s top  [ Read More ]

By DAVE CLARKE and LAUREN FRENCH | 9/7/12 8:37 AM EDT Updated: 9/7/12 1:43 PM EDT | Politico New jobs numbers released on Friday came in lower than expected, dealing a blow to President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign a day after the president closed out the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., by asking voters to give his administration four more years to get the economy on the right track. Republicans jumped all over the disappointing report and the new numbers threaten to dampen the enthusiasm Democrats hoped to build among voters following this week’s convention where they promoted Obama’s  [ Read More ]