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Zero tolerance for stalking on company time

by Chuck Harrison A single incident of misconduct can still justify the termination of a unionized employee’s employment. So ruled a labor arbitrator in British Columbia recently. In Fortis Energy Inc., (February 16, 2015) the employee had engaged in an incident of stalking and intimidation of his wife’s supervisor. Compounding his offense, he did this […]

PBGC Wants Thoughts about Missing Participants

The U.S. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation may start providing new services to help plan sponsors spend less time identifying, locating and corresponding with missing plan participants. The agency is seeking public comment until Aug. 20 on several aspects of administering a missing participants program when terminating individual account plans, according to a June 21 Federal […]

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Business Readiness—The New Mindset for Thriving in Changing Times

By Kelli Hinshaw, vice president, Strategic Development, Reality-Based Leadership Change management is a topic that’s been studied for over 30 years, and organizations are spending more time and resources than ever to train employees to better endure change. Conventional change management wisdom often promotes ways to “make change easier” for employees so it sticks.  Leaders […]

5 Reasons Why You Need a Green Program

You know that green programs are good for business, so why is it so hard to get upper management buy-in? Maybe it’s because they don’t fully understand all of the benefits of a green program. BLR’s newly-published Top 10 Best Practices in HR Management for 2012 offers help. Here are some convincing reasons to help […]

Self-Funded Health Plan Can’t Shake Down Providers for Benefits Paid for Non-Enrollee

The sponsor of a self-funded health plan cannot escape its responsibility to ensure that only fully eligible people are enrolled. Illustrating this maxim is a self-funded plan’s sad quest to recover gigantic sums from health providers for services it paid on behalf of a non-beneficiary. The plan paid more than $1 million in claims for a […]

Good Managers Listen More Than They Speak

A well-known cellular network’s ad once asked, “Can you hear me now?” The famous line is one we all seem to ask. We wonder if anyone is listening. We’re talking, but does anyone hear us?

Employment Law Tip: Protecting Exempt Status: The Seven Deadly Sins

While California law generally requires employers to pay overtime when employees work over eight hours in a day or 40 in a week, certain executive, administrative, and professional employees are exempt from this requirement if they meet three conditions: 1) the employee is paid on a salary basis; 2) the employee earns a certain minimum […]

Healthcare reform and state exchanges

by Gary S. Fealk Employers should be aware that big changes are on the horizon as a result of the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the law as constitutional last year. This article briefly discusses provisions addressing state health insurance exchanges and the mandate that employers […]

Predictive Scheduling—Coming Your Way

In industries with part-time, seasonal, or variable labor demand—such as food and beverage service or event management—employees are often frustrated by the inability to know when they’ll be scheduled to work more than a week or two in advance. Does predictive scheduling cure that?

It’s not you, it’s the economy: making difficult employment decisions during a downturn

by Kyla Stott-Jess and Claire Himsl In the face of an economic downturn, some employers across Canada are being forced to tighten their belts and make hard choices about workforce downsizing. However, what may initially begin as a cost-cutting exercise can quickly turn into a legal quagmire if the process is not executed properly and […]