Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
One of the most difficult tasks for a job applicant coming off a period of unemployment is to explain that gap in dates on their résumé. This was a common challenge for many jobseekers following the Great Recession.
There’s consternation about the future solvency of multiemployer plans and concerns about whether plan sponsors should expect higher insurance premiums as a result of three new reports from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. On Jan. 29, PBGC sent to Congress reports on the status of multiemployer pension plans it insures, the current effects of pension […]
In yesterday’s Advisor, we found attorney Kevin Troutman’s first five threats and traps for HR managers; today, three more plus an introduction to the all-in-one HR website, HR.BLR.com. Troutman, who is a partner in the Houston office of law firm Fisher &Phillips LLP, blogged his threats and traps on Mondaq.com. [Go here for Traps 1 […]
Sports Illustrated has come out with its annual list of the top 50 highest-earning athletes in American sports. And who is missing? It’s obvious, but it may surprise you. You can probably guess who is in the Top 10, but the top jock is not who you may think. It is someone who has been […]
By Dr. Jan Ferri-Reed All we seem to hear in the news is the doom and gloom of unemployment and the continuation of the economic downturn in housing, industrial expansion and job growth. On the other hand, there are still good news stories out there of companies that are expanding, hiring and growing. And, even […]
Eliminating a participant option to switch to a defined benefit plan from a defined contribution offering does not violate ERISA anti-cutback provisions, even if participants’ accrued — but unclaimed — benefits are reduced. The recent ruling in Andersen v. DHL Retirement Pension Plan (Case No. 2:12-cv-00439-MJP WL 5389141, U.S. Dist., Western District of Washington Nov. […]
Two specific types of limited wraparound coverage could qualify as “limited excepted benefits,” under health care reform rules proposed Dec. 19 by the U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and the Treasury. “Excepted” status would be available on a temporary “pilot” basis to coverage that: wraps around a Multi-State Plan offered by the U.S. Office […]
Plan participants can recover personal, rather than plan, losses under arguments of “surcharge,” the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled, reversing an earlier opinion, which had been at odds with other federal circuits. On Dec. 16, the circuit court handed down the new ruling in Gabriel v. Alaska Elec. Pension Fund, 2014 WL 7139686 (9th […]
When you strategize, you design a plan to help you achieve a specific goal or set of goals. Sometimes you’ll know the obstacles that will come your way as you follow your plan to achieve that specific goal or set of goals, and sometimes you won’t. And sometimes your preconceived notions about your plan will […]
If a picture is worth a thousand words, a videotape can be worth many times more when a surveillance camera catches an employee in the act of dramatizing a phony workers’ comp injury. That’s what happened in a recent case that resulted in the criminal conviction of a malingering employee who was also ordered to […]