Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
On December 21, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced the adoption of a final rule that is expected to allow quicker union representation elections. The rule was published in the Federal Register on December 22. The rule, which is to take effect on April 30, 2012, is a scaled down version of amendments proposed […]
Caraway is a member of Miller & Martin PLLC in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Her remarks came at BLR’s Advanced Employment Issues Symposium, held recently in Nashville. [Go here for yesterday’s policy recommendations] Intermittent Leave Describe the smallest increment in which FMLA leave can be taken (hourly, etc). Note that the amount cannot be greater than hourly, […]
Consider the employee who’s always out on Mondays, Fridays, or the days before and after holidays. Suspicious? Perhaps. But what to do about it?
Just when you thought you’d figured out all the new regulations set to go into effect for 2012, some government agency changes them up on you. At least with last Friday’s announcement from the IRS, you can breathe easy: its changes won’t take effect until Feb. 1, 2012, or later. The Service’s Announcement 2011-82 changes […]
Advance copies of the 2011 Form 5500 annual return/report and related instructions are now available for your viewing pleasure — the issuing federal agencies note the forms are for “informational purposes” only, so don’t use them to get a head start on your filing responsibilities. The advance copies were jointly issued by the U.S. Department […]
Beginning Jan. 1, 2012, Forms 5500 and 5500-SF must have electronic signatures. The consequences of filing without them are serious: it will result in a form not being processed at all, and could result in penalties being imposed on the plan. Forms 5500 and 5500-SF that have no electronic signature will be given a filing […]
Communication is the Key Caraway reminds employers that communicating the rules is key to successfully managing FMLA. When employees ask about FMLA, they are already stressed by whatever is underlying the request for leave. If you hit them with a rule they don’t know about (they’ll call it a “technicality”) their reaction is going to […]
A consistent employer complaint in administering the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) is the tendency of certain employees to abuse intermittent leave taken to care for their own or a family member’s serious health condition—and the difficulty of managing that abuse.
Keep the FMLA documentation flowing, says attorney Stacie Caraway—You want to be able to show multiple times that you advised the employee of his or her obligations. If you use a cover letter with your DOL designation notice, Caraway suggests it include the following: Leave status update/reminder. If planned intermittent FMLA leave is being approved […]
FMLA—HR’s own personal migraine. (Migraine people, says attorney Stacie Caraway, may have terrible headaches, but never so bad that they don’t know exactly how many days and hours of FMLA they have left.) Successful management of FMLA is very much about careful attention to forms and schedules. In today’s Advisor, Caraway offers tips for getting […]