Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Cellular phone-toting employees can be quite a liability, as we saw in the last issue of the Advisor. Today we’ll look at some cell phone safety policy points and share some good news—your policies are already written! Here, from BLR’s SmartPolicies on CD, are crucial points to consider in creating your cell phone policy: Training. […]
An insurer won recovery of health expenses paid from a member’s $255,000 settlement after said member refused to reimburse the insurer for medical payments it made. It did so in spite of an affidavit from the company plan administrator saying the insurer was not authorized to collect the funds from the member’s settlement proceeds. It […]
A federal district court judge on Aug. 12 dismissed a suit by current and former employees of a Maryland construction company who alleged that the company failed to comply with ERISA disclosure requirements and to provide retirement plan documents upon request because the Spanish-speaking plaintiffs couldn’t understand the English documents. ERISA requires that plan sponsors […]
I’m always intrigued with presidential politics. Specifically, I like to watch how politicians — often with track records in a governor’s mansion, Congress, or even the White House — go about getting elected or re-elected. Maybe it’s the marketer in me, but I’m fascinated by the way the candidates position themselves to win an election. […]
Flexible spending accounts (FSAs) are a common feature of employee benefit plans. But why would an employer offer an FSA plan to its employees? Well, it’s extra money in your workers’ pockets that you and your employees probably don’t want to leave lying on the IRS’ table. Karen Kirkpatrick, senior compliance adviser for Infinisource, explained […]
Before you examine your employer branding strategy, it’s a question worth considering—especially in an environment of ever greater scrutiny.
The debut of a new I-9 form brings the opportunity to review some of the basics on handling the document, which has been around since the 1980s. The new form now conforms with regulations issued in 1997 (yes, you’re reading that correctly) and alters the list of documents employees may use to establish their eligibility […]
By BLR Founder and CEO Bob Brady BLR CEO Bob Brady’s “Commitment” column generated some surprisingly strong backlash. Here’s his response. In last week’s column I wrote about “commitment” in the workplace and tried to make a joking comparison about male-female relationships. My offhand attempt at humor backfired and provoked a mini-controversy. In the column, […]
The Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act (H.R. 2847), a jobs bill President Barack Obama signed into law on March 18, 2010, provides tax breaks to employers that hire unemployed workers or individuals who were only working part-time in 2010. Under the HIRE Act, qualified employers could receive a payroll tax incentive and a […]
The new season of The Office starts Thursday. The first episode is entitled “Weight Loss,” and the promo features Michael in some sort of fat suit. I can already see we’re going to have some issues. On the bright side, Michael and the new HR gal Holly are apparently going to continue developing their friendly […]