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Plan Participants Again Sue Fidelity for Alleged ‘Self-Dealing’

Current and former 401(k) plan participants have sued Fidelity Investments on behalf of thousands of other plan participants and retirees to recoup account losses they say resulted from “self-dealing” by the huge asset manager. The case is worth plan sponsors’ attention because it closely resembles a widely watched 2012 ruling against Fidelity, Tussey v. ABB […]

Karma in the C-Suite? Readers Respond

Does “what goes around come around”? BLR® CEO Dan Oswald shared his thoughts on the subject in a recent edition of The Oswald Letter. Many readers agreed with Oswald; others were concerned about his state of mind. Oswald’s original column concluded: “Don’t spend your time thinking about how unfair life is because some people seem […]

Reform’s Essential Health Benefit Rule Clarifies Employer Plan Obligations

Health reform’s final essential health benefits rule makes it clear that self-insured and large group health plans do not need to comply with limits on growth in employee cost-sharing, offer all 10 categories of essential health benefits, or meet actuarial minimums like small-group and individual policies. However, the regime explained in the rule is still […]

Merit Increases—Performance or Place in Range?

Neelman, who is principal and senior consultant with Compensation Resources, Inc., in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, shared her tips at a recent webinar sponsored by BLR and HR Hero. Working with Salary Ranges Neelman’s charts below describe the segments of the range and who is typically in each segment. Below Incumbent’s salary falls below […]

Feds Focus on Cost-Sharing, Preventive Services in Latest Reform FAQs

Along with newly issued health reform rules finalizing essential health benefits provisions comes a new series of FAQs from the U.S. departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Treasury. This guidance addresses specific questions raised about the scope of reform’s cost-sharing and preventive services provisions, and provides some transition relief for large group and self-insured […]

ACA May Push Employers to Strengthen Wellness Programs

Your wellness program may get way more important under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), says Morris, a member of the firm Epstein Becker Green in its Washington, D.C., office who specializes in benefits. There are already many benefits to wellness programs, but Morris is convinced they will become even more crucial as the ACA unfolds […]

3 steps to effective HRIS system implementation

HRIS systems can be critical in managing employee data. An HRIS – human resource information system – is an integrated system providing information to be used by HR and management in decision making. HRIS typically use one or more interrelated databases to track employee info. In order to get the most out of HRIS systems, […]

‘Want to Take a Ride in My New Car?’

We recently covered weird interview questions on the part of the hiring manager. This week we look at some odd questions asked on the other side of the desk. Here are a few responses from a recent OfficeTeam survey that collected weird inquiries from the interviewee. Here are a few: “Do I have to be […]

7 Most Common Misconceptions Around Exemptions

Exemption mistakes mean enormous liability for employers, yet many put surprisingly little effort into their classification decisions. Even when they are sincerely trying to comply with the law, many employers misunderstand or misapply exemptions. To identify the most common exemption myths, we turned to BLR’s Wage & Hour Compliance—Practical Solutions for HR. It offers the […]

Breaking This Workplace Ban Is So Stupid, It’s Criminal

This HR Strange but True story has a happy ending for 117 workers but not for the person who didn’t follow a workplace policy. Well, actually the employee didn’t just allegedly break a workplace ban; he could be guilty of criminal violations of a state law—and risking a catastrophe. Hard as it is to believe, […]