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Top 10 Potential Perils of Employment Policies

The employee handbook: Probably not the most enjoyable part of your job. It’s even less fun when a judge rules a policy unenforceable for some reason, forcing your company to hand over thousands of dollars to a disgruntled employee or former employee.

Interviewing Candidates with Disabilities—Follow the Guidelines

For everyone who interviews applicants, there is a long list of pitfalls, but surely some of the most challenging and confusing to avoid are those relating to interviewing applicants with disabilities. Determining just what is a disability has always been a challenge, but recent court rulings indicate that the focus should be on the accommodation […]

Harassment Is a Diversity Issue (Men and Women Are Different)

In yesterday’s Advisor, attorney Jonathan Segal illuminated the risks in office romances; today, three women and a man discuss sex in the office, plus we learn about a unique 10-minutes-at-a-time training system. Harassment is a diversity issue, says Segal, who is a partner in the Philadelphia office of law firm Duane Morris LLP, because our […]

‘Competition’ from ‘Exchange’ Plans Won’t Incite Employers to ‘Desert’ Health Benefits, Optimists Say

As the government fulfills its promise to create an essential benefit package, employers can be forgiven for thinking the government’s putting a competitor plan out there to lure plan members away from employer-sponsored plans. And it is tempting for them to just say: “Fine! You asked for it; no more funding health benefits!” But paradoxically […]

Hiring Athletes as Employees

Once a colleague told me that he thought hiring former athletes was a risky proposition. His take was that while they were often charismatic, on average they just weren’t as smart as most. I politely reminded him that I considered myself a former athlete (with the emphasis on “former”), to which he had to think […]

Office Romance Hypotheticals … and The Real World

Office romances are one of the biggest legal risks managers can take, says attorney Jonathan Segal. Even when relationships appear to be totally consensual, they’re dangerous from a legal standpoint. Segal, who is one of SHRM’s most popular speakers, is a partner in the Philadelphia office of law firm Duane Morris LLP. His remarks came […]

FMLA/CFRA certification: Process and potential problems

FMLA/CFRA certification is an important step in the FMLA/CFRA leave administration process. The medical certification is often the basis of whether a leave request is granted (assuming the employee is otherwise eligible) or denied. As such, it is important for employers to understand:

More Investment Advice from Fiduciaries Deemed Trustworthy by DOL

Retirement plan investors will save between $5 billion and $13 billion annually, thanks to new exceptions to DOL’s prohibited transaction rules, DOL estimates. The DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) opened the door to allowing fiduciaries to offer investment advice in a final rule published to become effective Dec. 27, 2011. DOL estimates this new rule […]

Dependent Coverage Won’t Explode Military Health Expenses

Health reform’s expansion of dependent health coverage may not have a profound effect on expenses in the Dept. of Defense (DoD)’s TRICARE program, according to a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) study. Background Employees’ dependents can be covered by their parents’ employer-provided insurance up to age 26 under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). […]