Month: May 2012
Hit the Road to a Better Understanding of Your Colleagues
Have you ever noticed how traveling with someone helps you really get to know them? In 1976, my mother, two siblings, and I embarked on a trip across the country with my grandparents. My father, what a wise man he was, somehow avoided this particular trip. The six of us spent two weeks together “on […]
iPlaintiff
Litigation value: Ryan gets nothing today, but in a few years ….. who knows? The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA) significantly broadened the ADA’s definition of disability. Ryan had me asking myself how much during last night’s rerun episode, Trivia. During the trivia contest, the organizers confiscated Ryan’s smartphone. Ryan held out for all of eight seconds before deciding that he would rather be ejected from […]
If Feedback Is All Positive, Results Can Be Negative
By Stephen D. Bruce, PHR Editor, HR Daily Advisor “How good am I?” is a question we all ask ourselves, says business and leadership blogger Dan Oswald. We want to know how good we are at most things in our lives, says Oswald, CEO of BLR, who offered his thoughts on feedback in a recent […]
Employee Handbook Helper: Communicating Policy Changes
You should regularly revise and modify your employment policies and employee handbooks as the law changes and as your operational needs dictate. Once you make policy changes, however, should you communicate them to your employees? If so, how?
Five Steps to Eliminating FMLA Fraud and Abuse
Yesterday’s Advisor featured attorney Susan Schoenfeld’s tips for reducing FMLA abuse and fraud; today, five strategies that work, plus an introduction to the guide we call The FMLA Bible.” Schoenfeld, a Senior Legal Editor for BLR’s human resources and employment law publications, offers five strategies for reducing FMLA abuse in your organization. 1. Make Training […]
Top 7 Compensation Articles of 2012 from Compensation Daily Advisor
Misclassification: DOL and IRS Declare War Misclassification—calling individuals “independent contractors” or “volunteers” who properly should be employees—is a burgeoning legal battleground for employers. A recent 30-million-dollar suit on behalf of newspaper carriers is a good example of the stakes involved, says attorney Christine V. Walters. Unauthorized Overtime–Must Be Paid Even if Forbidden Many employers have […]
Avoiding a Clash Over FLSA Contractor Classifications
Before they find themselves under a wage enforcement microscope, employers need to be aware of potential problems and misclassification errors when designating workers as independent contractors instead of standard employees. The U.S. Department of Labor has had the misclassification of workers squarely in its cross hairs for a while. In particular the designation of “independent […]
Get Off on the Right Foot by Drafting an Effective Handbook
Often, the first document a new employee reads is the company handbook. A handbook serves many purposes, among them introducing the employer’s culture, communicating important policies, and setting employee expectations. If approached thoughtfully, a handbook is also a key tool for minimizing exposure to litigation.
Employers That Ignore Overtime Eventually Pay the Price
First, employers must determine whether a nonexempt employee has accumulated enough hours worked to become entitled to overtime pay. Now, let’s assume that the employee has worked enough hours and the issue is how much overtime must be paid. Mastering HR Report: Overtime Count on me Normally, calculating overtime is a pretty simple mathematical exercise […]