Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
This topic provides guidance on how to handle compensation issues in a way that attracts and retains the best talent and advances the strategic goals of your business. You get news and tips on what’s going on nationally and in the states, and updates on changes in regulations, possible governmental action, and emerging compensation trends.
An appeals court decision coming on the heels of a recent Supreme Court stripping the presumption of prudence for fiduciaries may raise the stakes even higher for plan sponsors. A panel of judges in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals required that fiduciaries make a decision about company stock in their retirement plan based […]
The U.S. Department of Labor on Aug. 14 issued a new set of guidance for plan sponsors about tracking missing defined contribution retirement plan participants and distributing their assets. It takes into account vastly improved Internet search capabilities that have emerged in the decade since its last instructions about obligations to missing participants. Field Assistance […]
Barton, chief operating officer, Willis North America Human Capital Practice, made her suggestions at the recent SHRM Annual Conference and Exposition in Orlando. She offers the following chart to help you classify your various reward elements. Measuring the Effectiveness of Your Current Total Rewards Strategy Barton offers a 13-part review for your total rewards strategy. […]
In a decision that overlooked key COBRA guidance, a federal district court ruled that an employer/plan administrator fulfilled its notice obligation by verbally providing a notice of COBRA rights and accepting premium payments — which apparently the qualified beneficiary had to pay a few days after her employment termination. In dismissing a COBRA notice claim, […]
Fidelity Investments agreed to pay a class of its own employee 401(k) plan participants and beneficiaries $12 million to settle ERISA violation allegations of excessive fees and committing prohibited transactions with their retirement accounts. The settlement, filed July 3 with the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, ended two lawsuits brought by employees: […]
Dear Readers, The article’s authors—Amy Wrzesniewski, a professor of organizational behavior, and Barry Schwartz, a professor of psychology—had conducted a study about motivation. According to them, there are two types of motivation: internal and instrumental. Internal motivation, as you would guess, comes from within. People are motivated to do something based on the feeling of […]
Employer preparation for preparing for health care reform’s pay-or-play provisions, especially data reporting (under Sections 6055 and 6056) to the IRS, can be complicated by: (1) changes in workers’ employment status (from part-time to full-time); (2) an organization’s switching from one measurement method to another; and (3) the structure of controlled groups and subsidiaries, speakers […]
[Go here for the first part of the discussion on pregnancy discrimination] Requiring Leave May an employer require a pregnant employee who is able to perform her job to take leave at any point in her pregnancy or after childbirth? No. An employer may not force an employee to take leave because she is or […]
On July 14 the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued enforcement guidance on pregnancy discrimination accompanied by an extensive and practical Q&A. The new guidance, the first to address pregnancy discrimination since 1983, focuses on how the 2008 amendments to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) may apply to employees with pregnancy-related disabilities. Is EEOC […]
[Go here for 2014 data and the rest of the survey results] 2015 Merit Increases A mere 13.8% (down from 14.1% in 2013) of survey participants have decided and/or approved their pay budgets for 2015, leaving 86.3% undecided as of the end of June. Of those who have decided, on average across all employee types, […]