Month: February 2016

New Members Appointed to 2016 ERISA Advisory Council

U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez has appointed five new members to the 2016 Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans, known as the ERISA Advisory Council. Perez also announced the incoming chair and vice chair of the council.

CMS Finalizes ACA Rule Detailing Medicaid Rebate and Reimbursement Reforms

In order to effectively implement provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized, on January 21, a rule detailing reforms to the rebate and reimbursement systems for Medicaid prescription drugs. The reforms will save federal and state governments an estimated $2.7 billion over 5 years.

New WPS Training Requirements—Rising to the Challenge

In November 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) amended the Pesticide Worker Protection Standard (WPS). If you’re in an affected industry, it’s a big change. Today we will review the new training requirements for workers and handlers, which is what some say is the hardest part of complying with the amended WPS.

behavior

HR pro or hall monitor? Dealing with childish behavior at work

by Boyd Byers Several HR managers I work with sometimes refer to employees as their “children” and joke that at times (particularly when they’re dealing with their “problem children”), they feel more like grade-school teachers than HR managers. A recent study reaffirms the inherent truth in this analogy.  From the playground to the workplace Childish […]

Changes to State and Local Government Compensation

Yesterday’s Advisor began to explore a survey from the Center for State and Local Government Excellence involving the state and local government workforce. Today, more results from that survey. A recent survey conducted by the Center for State and Local Government Excellence suggests that local and state governments are making lots of changes to their […]

Stolen Family Photo Costs Candidate the Job

The Discovery Channel recently aired its new series, “Deadliest Job Interview,” and while that makes for a good HRSBT in itself, it also reminds us of CareerBuilder’s annual survey related to the strangest things HR personnel have experienced while interviewing potential candidates.

How to Handle the Cons of Team Interviewing

In Yesterday’s Advisor we took a look at the many pros of team interviews and at a few of the negatives of team interviews. Today we’ll talk about some of the downsides and what can be done about them. The best way to make sure that your team interviews are the best they can be […]

Lunch Breaks Can Give Employers Indigestion

By Michael P. Maslanka, JD The question of whether lunch breaks are compensable recently surfaced in a case from the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals (which covers Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas). The court’s decision is instructive and provides a timely reminder that the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is fraught with danger.