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Mini-Med Health Plans to the Rescue!

If traditional health insurance plan costs have skyrocketed out of sight but you still want to help your workers, mini-med plans may be the answer. Here’s what you need to know about them. Perhaps you’ve seen the TV ad where the actor on-screen says, “I’m thinking of a number. Can you guess what it is?” […]

Youth Workers: New Law Will Bar Cell Phone Use by Teen Drivers

Governor Schwarzenegger has signed a new law that will prohibit teen drivers from using cell phones. Come July 1, 2008, the new measure, S.B. 33, will make it illegal for teens under age 18 to use wireless phones or other wireless communication devices while driving, even if a hands-free device is used. Note that this […]

Wage and Hour: California Supreme Court Limits Use of Class Action Waivers

Although employers have received some welcome rulings from the California Supreme Court over the past few weeks, a new decision from the high court squelches a tool some employers had used to prevent class action lawsuits in the wage and hour context. In particular, the court ruled that class arbitration waivers in employment arbitration agreements […]

Employment Law Tip: New EEO-1 Report Due This Month

Employers take note: Sept. 30, 2007, is the deadline to file the annual EEO-1 Report with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). This year, employers must use the new and revamped version of the form (Standard Form 100, rev. 1/06). The EEO-1 form must be filed annually by employers with 100 or more employees or […]

The 6 Employee Types: What Jobs Do They Match?

Author Richard Warner says you must know what personality types employees are before you can match them to the right jobs. He outlines 6 types in a recent book. There’s been a lot of talk in business circles lately about “alignment,” which basically means getting all the assets of your business pointed toward the same […]

Recordkeeping: What Should We Do About a Lost Personnel File?

My question is embarrassing. We have lost an employee’s file. We just can’t find it. We’ve been able to reconstruct the standard HR paperwork like appraisals. But what about the forms and agreements the employee fills out and signs? Should we give them the paperwork all over again to fill out? If they refuse, what […]

Beach Day Revisited

Companies that use pre-employment tests to screen applicants should, at the very least, make sure that the skills being tested are those skills that the position requires. Holding a Survivor-like contest to determine who will be recommended for a promotion to regional manager does not pass this test. Not even a little bit. Indeed, tests […]

You Need to Fire More Employees!

By Kyle EasthamJust My E-pinion Given a choice of using the carrot or the stick in their organizations, many guest columnists favor the carrot. Today’s says we need more stick … or, since he’s known as “the Black Belt Speaker,” perhaps more kick. Canned. Fired. Terminated. Bounced. Let go. Drummed out. Whatever term you use, […]

Workplace Violence: Warning Signs to Watch For … What to Do if You See Them

Workplace violence is increasing, especially against employers. Here’s an article … and a special audio conference … to help keep it from happening at your organization. What, after motor vehicle accidents, would you think would be the greatest cause of death in the workplace? Falls from construction sites perhaps? Or work with dangerous chemicals? In […]

Anger at Work: Causes and Cures

Whether caused by actual abuse or simple annoyance, anger saps your workers’ energy and hampers their productivity. Here are reasons it happens and ways to curtail it. If you’re like most people, you’re going to spend more than 40 years of your life working. Wouldn’t it be nice if it was always a pleasant experience, […]