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Who’s in Control: 3rd Circuit Looks at FLSA’s Joint Employer Test

When a worker is employed by two or more separate employers, this normally presents no special problems under the Fair Labor Standards Act. But even where the employee works for an entirely separate employer, there may still be a question of whether two employers are so entangled as to create a “joint employment” relationship where […]

Considerations When Implementing a PTO Policy

What are your considerations when deciding whether to implement a paid time off (PTO) policy? Do you know all of the pros and cons? PTO policies typically combine vacation days and sick days together into one bank of available days. In a CER webinar titled “Paid Time Off: How to Draft and Administer an Effective […]

Significant Lumpsum Payment Beats Merit Increase

Special from Atlanta–SHRM Annual Conference and Exhibition Yesterday’s Advisor featured consultant John Rubino’s plea for employers to eliminate merit base pay increases and replace them with lumpsum pay-for-performance awards. Today, more of his tips, plus an introduction to a new, reasonably priced, total training resource. Rubino, who is founder and president of Rubino Consulting Services […]

House Leader Schedules Vote to Overturn Health Reform

Expressing strong concerns about health reform’s negative impact on health costs and people’s ability to choose health care options, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., set a July 11 date for the House of Representatives to vote on legislation that would repeal the health care reform law. He said health reform is precluding people from […]

Hope Dims for Transit Benefit Parity

Employers may not have to adjust their qualified transportation fringe benefit programs after all — at least not just yet. A legislative provision that would have affected QTFBs by boosting the mass transit exclusion to the same level as that for qualified parking — the so-called “mass transit parity” provision — did not make it […]

Texting While Driving Now Illegal in West Virginia

West Virginia has become the 41st state to ban texting while driving. The law, which went into effect July 1, makes it a primary offense to text with a handheld cell phone while driving. Because it’s a primary offense, violators can be pulled over and cited. Texting already was a secondary offense, meaning someone violating […]

Team in Sync

What Makes a Team, “a Team”?

Recently, the Miami Heat won the NBA championship. It was the team’s first title since the “Big Three” — LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh — joined forces, with great fanfare, predicting a multitude of championships for the Heat a few years back. This year’s championship silenced a lot of critics who, after a […]

Employers Take Note: Canadian Immigration Process Changing

By Isabelle Dongier Winds of change keep blowing on Canadian immigration lands. The federal government has recently taken several steps to rationalize and centralize its operations. Here are the latest changes, announced in May and June, of interest to companies employing foreign workers in Canada: Restructuring of the visa office network: This includes the closure […]

Unintended Consequences of Sales Comp Programs

For example: If salespeople don’t view your program as competitive, your best salespeople will seek greener pastures. If salespeople don’t view your program as fair, there will be morale issues. (For example, if plans aren’t carefully thought through, some territories may experience a high volume of easy sales, while other territories have little opportunity to […]

U.S. Supreme Court Building

What the Supreme Court’s Upholding of the PPACA Means for Employers

By Jacqueline R. Scott, David S. Fortney, and Cynthia Ozger-Pascu Fortney & Scott, LLC In a historical ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the significant healthcare reform provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), enacted by Congress in 2010 in a sharply divided vote along partisan political lines and subsequently challenged […]