Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
A victory by the health plan participant in US Airways v. McCutchen, now before the U.S. Supreme Court, may erode ERISA plans’ ability to enforce plan terms as written, a legal expert tells the blog. In McCutchen, the Court has a very difficult balancing act to answer whether: (1) an ERISA health plan administrator is entitled […]
Federal guidance on the Americans with Disabilities Act states that all employee medical information must be kept confidential, but that goes above and beyond what the statute requires, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Nov. 20. Despite what the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says, ADA protects only information obtained in response to […]
Being a good manager is a delicate balancing act, says business and leadership blogger Dan Oswald. You have certain responsibilities, and the buck often stops with you. Assigning tasks, monitoring progress, and measuring results come with the territory. Oswald, CEO of BLR, offered his thoughts on “loose” control in a recent edition of The Oswald […]
Panelists included Susan Webman, Of Counsel with FortneyScott in Washington, DC., John Husband, senior partner with Holland & Hart in the firm’s Denver, Colorado office, Linda Walton, attorney with Perkins Coie LLP in Seattle, and panel moderator Charles Plumb, partner with McAfee & Taft in the firm’s Tulsa, Oklahoma office. Hot Topic: Fallout of Christopher […]
Dominium (www.dominiumapartments.com), an apartment community management and development firm, has been running Dominion University for several years. A key program offered through Dominium University is Community Manager Continuing Education, which is similar to the orientation course, but geared toward upper-level, advanced supervisors as a refresher course, she says. Dominium University also features other classes that […]
by Charles S. Plumb Employers requiring employees to submit disputes to mandatory arbitration rather than filing a lawsuit got a boost from a November 26 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in an Oklahoma case. In the case, two employees of Nitro-Lift, a provider of services to oil and gas well operators, left their jobs to work […]
Just when you may have thought the road was clear to an “honest belief” defense that linked employee termination to suspected leave abuse under the Family and Medical Leave Act, a ruling has put the brakes on that notion. A California appellate court has issued a decision against a large auto retailer that should cause […]
A recent Illinois federal bankruptcy court ruling is an important reminder to ERISA plan fiduciaries that violations of fiduciary duties under ERISA can result in personal liability from which Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings cannot protect the fiduciary. The case is In re John Dombek III, No. 11-40894 (Bankr. N.D. Ill. Oct. 16, 2012); In re John […]
Yesterday’s Advisor addressed the challenge of managers who won’t manage. Today, what to do about it, plus an introduction to an easy-to-use checklist-based HR audit system. Here are three steps you may take to help your managers manage: 1. Make Responsibilities Clear To start with, of course, you need good, clear policies and procedures. Then […]
Double the Donation, a website with the mission to “help nonprofit organizations and schools increase fund-raising from corporate matching gift and employee volunteer grant programs,” recently featured 10 companies that triple—or even quadruple—employee donations. Here are a few interesting employee matching programs from the list: Time of the year—Tiffany & Co.’s matching gift ratio varies […]