Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
A couple of phrases are making the rounds in retirement plan circles; perhaps you’ve heard them. They are “retirement readiness” and “independent fiduciary.” While they have different meanings, they are more connected than you may suspect. We spoke with Jason Chepenik of Chepenik Financial, who advises clients about their benefit programs and specializes in retirement […]
Midsummer brings special workplace issues, relating to, among other things, workers on-call and operating with a skeleton crew. Here’s how to keep things both legal and moving. Get out the Milk Bone and Kibbles’n Bits, because here they come –the “dog days” of summer. It’s that lazy time from now until Labor Day when half […]
“Let’s talk about how to handle abuse of intermittent leave rules,” says attorney Jeffrey A. Wortman. Then he chuckles, underscoring the near impossibility of easily managing intermittent leave under the FMLA. Wortman, a partner in the Los Angeles office of Seyfarth Shaw LLP, and Nancy M. Cooper a partner in the Portland, Oregon, office of […]
Employer group health plans must eliminate waiting periods of more than 90 days before enrolling otherwise eligible employees (or dependents) into health coverage, under proposed rules issued on March 18 by the federal agencies implementing health reform. For Clear Full-time Hires, It’s 90 Days Group health plans and health insurers in the group plan setting […]
Employers that sponsor health plans might get rebates from their group health insurers thanks to health reform, but if they do, they are required to pass the proper amount of the rebate on to employees. Under the medical loss ratio (MLR) rule (mandated by the 2010 reform law), health insurers must spend a minimum percentage […]
With terrorism has come increasing discrimination. Here’s a way to prevent it in your workplace. Since the horrors of five Septembers ago, Americans have lived in a charged atmosphere about race and religion. Despite long-standing ideals of tolerance, the actions of a violent few are often blamed on all the members of certain races or […]
Last October, we launched Resources for Humans: A Review of the Best Books for HR. So this week, we are taking a look back at the five most popular reviews. We hope you have enjoyed this first year and found many helpful books. We look forward to bringing you another year full of great reading. […]
A longtime employee who gets a “24-hour bug” every other week, usually on a sunny Friday. A sales rep who smashes quota one month but slacks off the next. The line supervisor who is “just a few minutes” late most days. Recognize any of these folks? If you’re in HR, you do. Problem employees. You’re […]
“Prison terms of up to 10 years could be imposed on officers and directors of companies that knowingly violate OSHA rules under a proposed revision to the Occupational Safety and Health Act now advancing through Congress,” reported Jim Stanley, a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor, on his Workplace Safety blog. He said that the […]
They say to never talk about religion or politics, but I’m going to risk it today. The President gave his State of the Union speech last Tuesday night. I was at a dinner event and missed it. And, I’m sad to say, I really don’t care that I didn’t hear it. You see, I’m incredibly […]