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Watch your back, Oscar

Litigation Value: $250,000 in attorneys’ fees and to settle Oscar’s claims–unless his guilt and his desire not to embarrass himself or out the Senator by disclosing their affair keeps him from making a big deal out of it. A holiday season rerun of “The Target,” first covered by my colleague Brian Kurtz a few weeks […]

What is comprehensive immigration reform?

by Elaine Young Following November’s election, a number of conservative leaders called on the GOP to embrace some practical approaches to resolving America’s immigration problems. If you’ve been following those stories, you’ve heard talk of “comprehensive immigration reform,” or CIR. What does the current immigration system look like? Each year, Congress allocates a fixed number […]

Health Insurance 2013—What’s Really Happening?

It’s going to be a crazy year for health insurance—that’s for sure. How are your competitors going to handle it? How do you match up? Let’s find out. Participate in this brief survey and see how your health benefits stack up against those of other successful companies. The survey takes only a few minutes to […]

How Employers Can Participate in National Mentor Month

January 2013 is National Mentoring Month, which is the perfect time for employers that may be interested in establishing an external mentoring program to learn about how they can get started and enjoy the benefits of providing employee-mentors while helping their local community. In this video, BLR interviews an expert on internal and external business […]

Up to 88 Hours per Week Without the Paycheck to Prove It

A broadcasting company is in hot water after allegedly failing to pay certain employees minimum wage and proper overtime, according to a U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) press release. The DOL has filed a lawsuit against the company and its owner, alleging that six employees are due $79,445 in unpaid overtime and minimum wages, plus […]

Another Ruling in the Business Tryst Injury Case

Earlier this year, we reported on a business trip tryst that ended up in court. If you missed it, here’s what happened. An Australia public servant (we’ll call her “Susan”) worked in the human relations section of a government agency. On a business trip, Susan had a rendezvous with a male friend in her motel […]

Hair Do = Don’t When Employee Violates Socmed Policy

A television meteorologist who took to social media to defend a comment on her hairstyle ended up trying to defend herself from termination for violation of the station’s social media policy. Or was it just “guidance”? According to media reports, the weatherperson for KTBX in Shreveport, Louisiana, who is a black woman, responded, albeit in […]

New IRS Rule Consolidates and Clarifies Guidance on Employer Play-or-pay Mandate

Employers trying to comply with health reform’s play-or-play mandate — and calculate their exposure to penalties — now have more insight based upon a new notice of proposed rulemaking and a new set of questions and answers from the IRS. Under reform, employers have to calculate full-time equivalent employees for one or more of the […]

Train Employees to Turn Customer Complaints Into Opportunities

It’s estimated that a sincere, concerned, and skillful response to a problem can retain the business of about 95 percent of customers who complain. Below are some important points to convey to your employees: Most customers who complain are reasonable. They just want you to take their complaints seriously. They want you to demonstrate concern […]