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News Notes: Workers’ Comp Rates Headed Up Again

The California Department of Insurance has approved a 10.1% hike in the average workers’ compensation pure premium rates. The increase takes effect July 1, 2002, and follows on the heels of a 10.2% increase that took effect in January 2002. Although the pure premium rate is only advisory and insurers aren’t required to follow the […]

Another NLRB recess appointment ruled invalid

Nearly four months after an appeals court ruled that recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) made in 2012 were invalid, another appellate court has ruled a previous recess appointment unconstitutional. The U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled May 16 in NLRB v. New Vista Nursing & Rehab. that President Barack Obama’s […]

Retirement Benefits: Auto 401(k) Enrollment Good for Employees, New Survey Shows

Employers that offer automatic enrollment for their 401(k) plans significantly increase employee participation, according to an annual study conducted by Hewitt Associates. The study, which examined the savings and investing habits of over 2.6 million employees, found that the overall participation rate of employees in companies offering automatic enrollment was 14 percent higher than the […]

News Notes: EEOC Backlog Reduced; Race Bias Charges Most Common

Although the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has receivedan average of more than 85,000 charges a year since 1992, the agency recentlyannounced it has slashed its pending caseload by nearly half in the lastthree years, partly by offering more mediation-based alternative disputeresolution. Complaints of race discrimination top the list (36% of allcharges filed), followed by […]

News Notes: Jury Awards $19 Million To Disabled Employee Fired For Absenteeism

A jury in Sacramento recently awarded a staggering $19 million—$15 million of it in punitive damages—to a McKesson Corp. employee who claimed her employer violated disability bias and family and medical leave laws. Charlene Roby allegedly was fired under the company’s no-fault absence policy after several unexcused absences because of a panic disorder. She also […]

Supreme Court Upholds Healthcare Reform Law

Reporting by Kyle Emshwiller and Jessica Webb-Ayer The wait is over: The U.S. Supreme Court has decided that the massive healthcare reform law (also known as the Affordable Care Act, or ACA) enacted in March 2010 is constitutional. So what happened, and what does this mean for employers? The wait is over: The U.S. Supreme […]