Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass) has laid out a series of labor proposals for the coming year. They include expanding the federal family leave law to cover employers with as few as 10 workers; requiring employers to contribute to the cost of health insurance for employees and their families; and increasing the federal minimum wage by […]
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has ruled in two separate cases that it is illegal to exclude coverage for contraceptive prescriptions in an employer-provided health plan that also covers a wide variety of other preventative services, including vaccinations, preventative dental care and surgical sterilization. Prior to these rulings, the issue of whether excluding female contraceptives […]
The Small Business Administration has partnered with insurer Nationwide to publish a guide to inform business owners about their pension plan options and compliance responsibilities. The guide includes information on: how to determine whether to offer a plan and what type of plan to offer; fiduciary responsibilities; and how to find a qualified pension plan […]
If you’re planning a holiday party for employees, be sure to check out the U.S. Department of Labor’s Working Partners for an Alcohol- and Drug-Free Workplace website, which offers nine important tips for planning a safe holiday party and preventing impaired driving.
Mandatory arbitration of employment disputes continues to be controversial. One unresolved issue has been whether union contracts can require workers to arbitrate all employment disputes. The U.S. Supreme Court has now agreed to rule on this question.11 Although arbitration clauses for various workplace disputes have been used for years in union contracts, courts have disagreed […]
If you hire an employee who later turns out to be violent—and maybe injures a co-worker or a customer—you could get slapped with a negligent hiring lawsuit. How can you avoid this situation? Here are some steps to take:
In California, meal periods of no less than 30 minutes must be provided for an employee who works at least five hours, and two 30-minute meal periods are required for work shifts of more than 10 hours. Are employers responsible for making sure employees take their meal breaks? Or can employers just offer the meal […]
Due to some ambiguity in model government language explaining the interplay of the Affordable Care Act with COBRA coverage, the Obama administration has both proposed an update to model COBRA notices and provided a new special enrollment opportunity for COBRA qualified beneficiaries (QBs) to enroll in marketplace coverage. Last year, the U.S. Department of Labor […]
Can my employee take FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act) leave to care for a domestic partner’s child?