Employees will be allowed to authorise their own sick leave for as much as two weeks if government proposals to contain the swine flu pandemic go ahead, Personnel Today has exclusively revealed.

Personnel Today is beginning its annual hunt for HR's top 40 Power Players.

A lesbian couple who were "humiliated" by sexual jokes at work have won more than £22,000 in compensation.

Almost two-thirds (64%) of employers that operate a mandatory retirement age agree that it can lead to a loss of valuable knowledge and talent, research has revealed.

This Personnel Today news round-up includes: Unemployment expected to fuel suicide rise Racism CV project cost £170,000 Wandsworth Council faces employment tribunal from sacked worker Bank of England may pump more cash into UK Unemployment expected to fuel suicide rise

Jammie Thomas, a single mother of Native Anishinabe descent, has been foundguilty of copyright infringement and sentenced to pay a $2 million fine. Hercrime was downloading 24 songs that can be legally purchased on iTunes for 99cents each.

After an 11-month strike, the workers of Stella D'oro Biscuit Company wona major victory on June 30 when a federal judge ordered the company toreinstate them with the same pay and benefits they had before the strike.

Finally, after years of unified resistance by the brothers and thebuilding of massive support, California State prosecutors were forced to admitthat they have insufficient evidence against the San Francisco 8.

A complete overhaul of the educational, court, prison, economic and socialstructure is needed to eradicate all forms of racist inequality. Affirmativeaction, while only a small remedy to confront the vast weight of institutionalracism that still exists throughout U.S. society, is

Filmmaker Robert Kenner's documentary "Food, Inc." is apowerful condemnation of the food industry under capitalism—a must-seefilm that explores the mechanization of U.S. agriculture, which, with theconsent of government regulatory agencies, threatens consumers and workersalike.

On April 6, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider an appeal from death-rowjournalist and former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted offirst-degree murder in the shooting death of white Philadelphia police officerDaniel Faulkner at a 1982 trial deemed

The U.S. Supreme Court released a much-anticipated announcement on June 29about the appeal of death-row prisoner Troy Anthony Davis. A short statementsaid the Court had not reached a decision.

The first delegation of Viva Palestina USA flew with British MPGeorge Galloway on July 4 to Cairo, Egypt, where 200 people and a convoy of truckscarrying millions of dollars worth of medical supplies will drive to the borderof Gaza. The

The following June 19 letter was sent by former Congressperson CynthiaMcKinney to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to request that the JusticeDepartment conduct a civil rights investigation of the case of death-rowpolitical prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal.