Employers

Most Baltimore-area employers aren't "family-friendly," a Loyola College survey has concluded.In a survey of 318 area employers, Joseph Procaccini, director of Loyola's Center for Family, Work and Education, said he found most companies in the area don't provide benefits that help workers take care of family responsibilities."

Most Baltimore-area employers aren't "family-friendly," a Loyola College survey has concluded.In a survey of 318 area employers, Joseph Procaccini, director of Loyola's Center for Family, Work and Education, said he found most companies in the area don't provide benefits that help workers take care of family responsibilities."

WASHINGTON - Racing to complete work on their patients' rights bill, Senate Democrats fended off most amendments yesterday but accepted a compromise that would exempt nearly all employers from lawsuits by workers who are denied benefits under employer-sponsored health plans. The compromise bill, expected to be approved by the full Senate today, seeks to resolve one of the hottest disputes in the legislation. It would allow patients to sue only those employers that are directly involved in medical decisions.

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court indicated yesterday that it wants to hold employers responsible for a supervisor's sexual harassment of workers, but that management should not be automatically liable in every case.During a hearing on a test case involving a Florida lifeguard who sued after being subjected to crude sexual advances by two of her superiors on the beach, the justices became mired in complexity about how to write a standard of legal blame for employers."This is like running around Robin Hood's barn," Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist protested as a Fort Lauderdale lawyer for the former lifeguard offered the court little help in clarifying employers' legal responsibility.

SAN FRANCISCO - U.S. employers are likely to maintain a brisk hiring pace in the third quarter, according to the quarterly Manpower Employment Outlook Survey. Twenty percent of companies surveyed intend to hire workers in the third quarter on a seasonally adjusted net basis, matching second-quarter hiring plans that were the most optimistic since early 2001. That's up from a net hiring outlook of 7 percent a year ago, said Barbara Beck, executive vice president of North America operations at Manpower, a staffing company.

The motto at yesterday's Senior Expo Job Fair could have been "Young workers need not apply." More than 80 local employers packed the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium promoting the virtues of older workers as the most reliable, flexible, trustworthy and knowledgeable employees they can find. "They have a great attitude. They put 110 percent into what they're doing," said Marie Gentile, who was recruiting cashiers and ride operators for the Baltimore Zoo's coming "Zoo Lights" exhibit.

A group that includes some of the nation's largest employers is pushing health maintenance organizations to feed massive data bases of patient records into powerful computers to determine for the first time the most effective treatments for bbTC broad range of major illnesses.The employers contend that without such information it is impossible for them or consumers to determine whether the health groups are providing high-quality care and whether some are providing better care than others.

WASHINGTON -- After finding that workers who complain of health and safety hazards are often dismissed from their jobs, the Clinton administration will soon propose sweeping new protections for such whistle-blowers, federal officials say.The law that created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration prohibits employers from retaliating against people who report unsafe or unhealtful working conditions.But the inspector general of the Labor Department, Charles Masten, said such reprisals often occur, and Charles Jeffress, the assistant secretary of labor in charge of OSHA, said the Clinton administration would soon recommend changes in the law to increase the protection of workers who expose health and safety hazards.

Ever file a workers' compensation claim? Wrecked a company car? Received a speeding ticket?Prospective employers can find out if you did. And now, thanks to the Internet, they can do it almost instantly.The aptly named Informus Corp. makes a living giving curious employers information such as the names and phone numbers of your neighbors. Besides providing knowledge of workers' comp claims, Informus connects employers to credit bureaus and state agencies that store financial and criminal information.

A growing number of employers are requiring job applicants to pay for their own drug tests, saying they are fed up with paying millions of dollars for drug users who flunk the tests.The trend started with temporary agencies, construction companies and other employers offering entry-level positions -- some of whom say half of their job applicants are flunking drug tests.But more companies are embracing the practice, saying that charging for the test up front discourages drug-using applicants from wasting companies' time and money.