Month: May 2012

Reprisal Complaints Must Relate to Health and Safety Matters

By Rosalind H. Cooper Occupational health and safety legislation in most Canadian provinces prohibits reprisal by an employer against an employee who makes allegations of unsafe work. Workers routinely try to rely on such reprisal provisions to attack any actions of their employers. A recent Ontario Labour Relations Board decision, Petro v. The Beer Store, […]

Executive Pay—Different Pay Strategy Required

Executive compensation is sometimes called the “third payroll,” says consultant David Wudyka. There’s a general compensation strategy for exempt and nonexempt, but execs are paid differently, he adds. There are different types of incentives for executives, and taxation becomes increasingly important in compensation planning, says Wudyka, who is managing principal of Westminster Associates in Wrentham, […]

DOL Debuts MHPAEA Web Page, Adds FAQs

The U.S. Department of Labor has collected its rules, guidance and other materials on the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act into a new MHPAEA Web page. The materials on this page include a new set of frequently asked questions on “understanding implementation” of MHPAEA, which when enacted in 2008 substantially beefed up HIPAA’s […]

Retaliation by Compensation—Battleground for Comp Managers

“Retaliation lawsuits are among the easiest to prevent,” says attorney Jody Katz Pritikin, but retaliation is a common reaction by managers who are embarrassed or angered by an employee complaint, and that means managers have to be on the watch for it. Pritikin, who offered her tips at SHRM’s Employment Law and Legislative Conference, held […]

Mergers & Aggravations

Litigation Value: Whatever it is, David Wallace should pray that he’s not on the hook for it. My colleagues and I have written on this blog about all of the costly potential lawsuits the Scranton branch has spawned since Sabre acquired Dunder Mifflin. Let’s assume some of these incidents have become actual lawsuits alleging discrimination […]

Working Mother

Moms Know There’s More to a Job Than Just the Job

Do you have any moonlighters in your workforce? Maybe you have an accountant moonlighting as a van driver or facilities manager. Maybe you have a computer operator moonlighting as a CEO, or even a CEO moonlighting as a computer operator. Such pairings may not sound likely, but when you consider that working mothers perform one […]

Obama’s Same-sex Marriage Statement Doesn’t Change Employer Plans’ Status Quo

Employers likely will need to continue to pay close attention to how their individual states’ approach to same-sex marriage will affect their employee benefit plans, regardless of President Obama’s newly articulated support for it. The president on May 9 said that he supports same-sex marriage, but also that the states should be able to decide […]

N.C. Voters Nix Same-sex Marriage: Implications for Employers

Employers in North Carolina will not face the complications their counterparts in states where same-sex marriage is legal or recognized do, but local and municipal governments that provide domestic partner benefits may have to change their policies. Tar Heel State voters on May 8 approved an amendment to the state constitution that defines marriage as […]