Archives
Applicants seeking answers: What’s an employer’s obligation to job seekers?
by Tammy Binford The tough job market of recent years has brought employers a flood of resumes and applications. The volume can be overwhelming in the HR office, but behind all those appeals for employment are real people—usually anxious and sometimes desperate people—who crave information about where they stand in the process and when a […]
BLR’s 2013 perks survey results
From health insurance to stock options to paid vacation, employees love perks. They can help in efforts to recruit the best applicants as well as retaining and engaging your top performers. Recently, BLR surveyed 1,493 HR professionals about the types of perks they offer employees. Paid holidays is the number one perk provided by the […]
Congress Sees Self-funded Health Plans’ Financial Strength
Companies that self-fund health benefits are larger than companies that fully insure health benefits and their solvency is just as good as companies that fully insure, a government report required by the health reform law indicates. The reform law requires reports on the prevalence, solvency and quality of self-funded plans, with the stated goal of […]
Fiduciaries Cited for Overreliance on Investment Consultant Advice
Fiduciaries of 401(k) plans were reminded by a recent court decision that it’s best not to accept financial consultants’ investment advice for a retirement plan’s assets without careful scrutiny. At the same time the case, which raised other issues important to managing defined contribution plans, resulted in several rulings in the plan sponsor’s favor. Facts […]
First Rule of Safety: Know Your Job
Knowing how to perform a job properly includes knowing how to do it safely. To protect themselves and their coworkers, new employees have to get to know their jobs inside out. In fact, OSHA requires it. The General Duty Clause says that employees must “comply with occupational safety and health standards” and all OSHA rules […]
Can Employees Agree to Waive Overtime?
Yesterday’s Advisor reviewed how to calculate the “regular rate” of pay. Today, can you waive overtime rights, plus an introduction to BLR’s unique 10-minutes-at-a-time training system. Here are some little-known facts about overtime. Actually, it’s not so much that they are little known as oft ignored. Agreements to Waive Overtime Barred Employees may neither waive […]
What should be included in payroll records in California?
Payroll records are records that show the compensation information for all your employees. The California Employment Development Department (EDD) requires that records must provide a true and accurate account of all workers employed, no longer employed, on a leave of absence, and independent contractors.
How Effective Are Your Safety Orientation Training Sessions?
Too often, orientation training is considered a necessary evil. It’s not given sufficient attention by some employers, who see the time employees spend in orientation as lost production rather than as an investment in safety and protection. For their part, new workers are frequently bored and distracted during tedious “talking head” sessions. Even if they […]
States Try to Impose Tougher Stop-loss Limits on Self-insured Health Plans
Recently, four bills were introduced in state legislatures that would make self-funding less attractive by limiting stop-loss coverage for self-insured health plans. Many such proposals would raise minimum specific deductibles above the standard $20,000 seen in most enacted laws. This and other measures are intended to rein in self-insured plans, observers in the self-insured industry […]