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Ranking the high court

When football season kicked off earlier this year, I took the chance to glean some insights for HR professionals from the difficult job facing the new college football playoff selection committee. Now that we’re coming up on the end of the football season, I’m turning to the committee once more for inspiration. As I write, the […]

Leave Banks: Can We Deduct Partial-Day Absences from Exempt Employees’ Leave Banks?

We seem to have come across a conflict related to exempt employee leave banks. We want to deduct from our exempt employees’ leave banks for partial-day absences. We understand that the California Labor Commissioner has indicated that accrued leave time may not be used to replace salary for partial-day absences. However, I see that a […]

New NLRB website highlights “protected concerted activity”

by Tammy Binford The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is continuing efforts to broaden its impact on the workforce with the launch of a webpage aimed at communicating to workers how they can use the law in disputes with their employers. The webpage is the latest of several recent NLRB moves that many employers find […]

EEOC Claims Reach Record Level, What Employers Can Do

When the economy declines, it’s a safe bet that the number of discrimination claims filed against employers will increase. And as we are currently in the worst economic climate since the Great Depression, employment law attorneys weren’t surprised when the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) reported this week that it received an unprecedented number of […]

Are rules for same-sex marriage about to change in Texas?

by Jacob M. Monty The Texas Supreme Court recently announced that it will review a case arguing that Texas employers shouldn’t be required to spend taxpayer funds to provide benefits to employee spouses in same-sex marriages, even if they do offer benefits to employee spouses in opposite-sex marriages. Depending on the outcome of the case, […]

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 […]

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?

ACA Proposal Addresses Balance Billing and Narrow Networks

Employers that purchase small group coverage that is federally regulated under the Affordable Care Act will have additional assurances that their plan members will not be balance billed in certain situations, under proposed rules issued in pre-publication form on Nov. 22. The rule also plans for the adoption of network adequacy provisions to compensate for […]

2016—HR Under Siege

Yesterday’s Advisor presented tips from a distinguished panel of employment law experts on the “perfect storm” that’s brewing for HR in 2016. Today we present more, including NLRB’s aggressive march into HR territory. Attorney John Husband, with Holland & Hart LLP, moderated the panel at BLR’s Advanced Employment Issues Symposium held recently in Las Vegas. […]

I Love My iPod® … But there’s this thing called Work!

By BLR Founder and CEO Bob Brady BLR’s founder ponders whether workers can really give full attention to their jobs when they are listening to talk radio or music. The iPod has changed my life. Well, maybe that’s overstating it, but it is certainly one of the best toys of recent years. For example, regular […]