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FMLA Leave HR Conundrums: Handling Suspected Fraud

FMLA leave provides enough regulations for HR to contend with—no one wants to add a fraud investigation into the mix. However, it’s an unfortunate reality that some employees try to abuse the system, especially when it comes to intermittent leave. What can an employer do when fraud is suspected? What Constitutes FMLA Fraud “What constitutes […]

Chronic Illness and FMLA Leave: How to Avoid Abuse

Chronic illness can present unique situations when it comes to managing the associated FMLA leave. Since chronic illnesses are generally defined as those lasting a year or longer, and statistics indicate that about 40 percent of U.S. workers have at least one chronic ailment (and about 20 percent have two or more), this means that […]

HR on the Move—What Are Best Practice Companies Doing?

Please participate in our brief Your HR Department Survey and see how what you are doing stacks up against what other successful companies are doing.   We’ll publish the survey results in a future issue (or we’ll send them directly to you, if you prefer).   Do you “sit at the table”? What’s being outsourced? […]

HAZWOPER Training Requirements Video: Part 1

In this video, I ask Dave to explain what HAZWOPER is, to go over who is covered by this regulation, and to give a brief overview of the training requirements for different groups of employees and managers. Hi Dave, let’s start with the basics. What is HAZWOPER? DG: HAZWOPER stands for hazardous waste operations and […]

Handle with care: Even nonunion strikers can present risk

Low-wage workers in cities across the country carried signs and voiced demands for higher pay last week, but those strikes and similar work stoppages last May differ from traditional walkouts. Unlike in most strikes, the picketers aren’t part of a union although they are getting encouragement from organized labor, especially from the Service Employees International […]

When is a Chronic Illness a Disability?

An employee with chronic illness may actually be an employee with a disability. If so, this triggers all the rights and responsibilities outlined in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). As such, employers need to be cognizant that an employee requesting leave to handle an aspect of a chronic illness may actually be entitled to […]

Bonuses and the FLSA: Overtime pay considerations

Overtime pay obligations under the FLSA can get hairy when non-discretionary bonuses or other incentives are brought into the picture. The main issue at hand is that employers must review non-exempt overtime costs for the incentive award period if the award is non-discretionary.

Train Supervisors to Manage Challenging Employees

To review the four scenarios, click here. Here are the recommendations for dealing with these challenging employees as presented in one of the training exercises in the BLR® PowerPoint® training session, How to Manage Challenging Employees. GUIDANCE Sit down with the employee and examine each of his recent complaints. If a complaint has merit, ask […]

Keys To Selling Your Ideas: Consider Context; Make It Personal

Pink’s best-selling titles include Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us and To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others. Pink’s remarks came at SHRM’s Annual Conference and Exposition held recently in Chicago. [Go here for takeaways 1 and 2.] 3. Don’t forget the importance of context. To illustrate the importance of […]