Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
By Nov. 15, 2005, employers or their group health plans that offer prescription drug coverage to active employees and retirees who are eligible for Medicare must provide these individuals and their dependents with a notice indicating whether the plan’s coverage is “creditable coverage” under Medicare Part D. The notice must be provided regardless of whether […]
This content was originally published in April 2009. For the latest FMLA regulation changes, visit our FMLA article archives or try our practical FMLA compliance guide. As predicted, paid leave initiatives have continued on the move, most recently to the District of Columbia, the city of Milwaukee, the city of Philadelphia, and for federal government […]
I have been instructed to look into an employee assistance program (EAP) for our facilities. Do you recommend these programs, and, if so, how should we go about deciding what services to offer and picking a provider? — Rachael, HR Director in Petaluma
A recent case dramatically illustrates the financial incentive employees have to blow the whistle on their employer. A federal judge has awarded $24 million to Robert Merena, a former SmithKline Beecham billing analyst who charged that the company defrauded the government by billing for unauthorized and unnecessary lab tests under Medicare and other government programs. […]
Employers that retaliate against employees for reporting violations of certain health reform requirements could be subject to government investigations and hearings, as well as damages that include back pay awards and compensatory damages, under interim final rules issued Feb. 22 by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The rules flesh out […]
What are diversity managers paid? A recent Altman Weil Flash Survey of 80 large law firms revealed that the median annual total cash compensation for diversity managers at those organizations is $184,000, up 5.1 percent from 2007. Other findings: diversity managers who are lawyers take home a median $195,000, and nonlawyer professionals earn $162,500; the […]
On Friday, August 12, the Eleventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta held 2-1 that the individual health insurance mandate provision found in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), the comprehensive health care reform legislation that President Barack Obama signed into law in March 2010, is unconstitutional. More specifically, the court found […]
Federal Contractors Beware: Employees Can Sue For Additional Wages in California If you’ve ever contracted to do work for a federal agency, then you’re probably intimately familiar with the federal Service Contract Act of 1965 (SCA)—which spells out what employers working on federal contracts have to pay their employees. Now a California Court of Appeal […]
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, President Lyndon B. Johnson was authorized by Congress to declare National Hispanic Heritage Week in 1968. In 1988, Congress expanded the celebration, and September 15 was chosen as the beginning of the monthlong event because it is the anniversary of independence of five Latin American countries: Costa Rica, El […]
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced on December 1 that it will appeal a court’s injunction temporarily halting its new overtime regulations. A federal judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas blocked the rules on November 22, calling the regulations “unlawful” and noting that the changes in the rules […]