Archives

Scheduling, seniority issues, and holiday pay

by Jennifer L. Anderson Ebenezer Scrooge is the most infamous of employers — overworking and underpaying his employees, denying their vacation requests, and spreading holiday misery rather than holiday cheer. Fortunately, A Christmas Carol is fiction, and times have changed. These days, most of you decorate your offices, accommodate employees’ vacation requests, provide standard holidays […]

Outlook for 2013 and Beyond: EEOC, DOL … and You

Special from the Advanced Employment Issues Symposium, Las Vegas Sweeping developments at DOL and EEOC took top billing at the Employment Law Outlook panel which kicked off the Advanced Employment Issues Symposium in Las Vegas. Panelists included Susan Webman, Of Counsel with FortneyScott in Washington, DC; John Husband, senior partner with Holland & Hart in […]

Employers Will Bear Burden of Filling Reform Fund to Stabilize Individual Market

Employers that sponsor health plans are bracing themselves for a significant tax hit under health reform. Health reform’s transitional reinsurance program, which will require insurers and self-funded plans to pay billions of dollars to partly reimburse commercial insurers writing individual policies for patients with very high medical costs, imposes large costs on employers to further […]

What Your Colleagues Think About Safety and Health Training

Here’s what your colleagues think about safety and health training: How effective is your safety training? 61%    Somewhat effective 29%    Very effective 10%    Not very effective at all How much of your training sessions involve hands on participation? 50%    Less than half of it 18%    All of it 18%    None of it 14%    More than […]

CEO to HR—Show Me the Money!

Show Me the Money Oswald, author of the Oswald Letter, suggests that HR can start by concentrating on three areas: turnover (see yesterday’s Advisor), productivity, and absence. Here’s how to present to him: Tell me how much your plan would save. Tell me how much your plan would cost. (That tells me what my ROI […]

12 steps to implementing an effective job rotation program

Have you been considering implementing a job rotation program but don’t know how to get started? Job rotation programs can be a great way to reduce the cost of turnover and improve customer loyalty. Having a good plan in place is a good place to start. In a recent CER webinar titled “Job Rotation Programs: […]

Lack of trust was the main ingredient in Hostess’ demise

by Dan Oswald It’s a sad day for me. Hostess Brands, the maker of Twinkies, Ho-Hos, and Ding Dongs, is going out of business. While my midsection may not look like it, I haven’t had a Twinkie—or any other Hostess product, for that matter—in more than 30 years. But I hate to see them go. […]

HR–Show Me the Money!

Special from the Advanced Employment Issues Symposium, Las Vegas In yesterday’s Advisor, BLR CEO Dan Oswald offered tips for getting a seat at HIS table. Today, more on how to interact with the C-Suite, plus an introduction to the all-HR-in-one site, HR.BLR.com Show Me the Money Oswald, author of the Oswald Letter, suggests that HR […]

New Washington marijuana law doesn’t require employers to change policies

by Javier F. Garcia Washington’s new law concerning recreational marijuana use takes effect December 6, but it doesn’t require changes in employer policies. Initiative 502 (I-502), approved in the November 6 election, is intended to make the production and sale of marijuana a regulated, state-licensed system similar to that for controlling hard alcohol. It means […]

COBRA Penalties and Legal Costs Due to Notice Failure, Evasive Answers Rise to $126K

An employer/plan administrator continues to get an expensive lesson on the risks of having both inadequate COBRA notice procedures and poor explanations of how those procedures work. An “inefficient, unwieldy” notice process — coupled with evasive and contradictory answers from employees on why a qualified beneficiary did not receive a COBRA election notice — led […]