Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Over the last few weeks, several multimillion-dollar race and national origin settlements and verdicts have hit the headlines. The recent developments—all involving cases brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)—serve as reminders to all employers of the need to train managers on preventing workplace bias and to respond promptly and effectively to employee […]
Beginning August 1, federal contractors must use the new VETS-4212 report to provide information to the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS) about their affirmative action efforts in employing veterans. The VETS-4212 report replaces the VETS-100 and VETS-100A forms required by the regulations implementing the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance […]
A wave of strikes by fast-food and other low-wage workers continues to spread in major cities around the country as employees take action to increase their pay and gain other workplace rights and benefits. Strikes have taken place in New York City, Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit, and Milwaukee as the movement appears to be gaining […]
Pension plan sponsors that offer to “cash out or annuitize benefits” for former employees would have to report this to the U.S. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., the agency has proposed. In a routine information-collection change request to the Office of Management and Budget posted Sept. 23 (79 Fed. Reg. 56831), PBGC said it intends to […]
The federal government seems to be fishing around for evidence showing that self-insured health health plans will siphon off healthy lives from state-run insurance exchanges (a cornerstone of reform). On April 26, the U.S. Departments of Labor (DOL), Health and Human Services (HHS) and IRS/Treasury issued a set of questions about the use of stop-loss […]
By Zachary D. Morahan, Coughlin & Gerhart, LLP “Prevailing wages” are the premium wage rates paid to employees who perform labor on a “public” project, often a construction or highway project. Employers in the construction trade know all too well that the failure to pay the correct prevailing wage can have dire consequences, regardless of […]
McCarthy Tetrault Q. When a company holds a social outing for employees and alcohol is served, what are the legal risks? How can potential liability be minimized? A. Parties and other social events provide employers with an opportunity to reward employees and let them interact with coworkers outside of the office. Unfortunately, they also create […]
In a joint poll released by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and AARP, 72% of HR professionals report that the loss of talented workers is “a problem” or a “potential problem” for their organizations. And that is no surprise when, as SHRM and AARP point out, Pew Research Center data indicate that 10,000 […]
One simple line requiring that group health plans and insurers describe “continuation of coverage provisions” in summaries of benefits and coverage (SBCs) actually raises several complex issues for COBRA administrators. The health care reform law requires that group health plans and insurers accurately describe in SBCs the benefits and coverage under the applicable plan or […]