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PTO

Are Leave-Sharing Plans a Good Idea?

Q. We have employees who accrue paid time off (PTO) each pay period. A number of them don’t use all their PTO and would like to donate some of it to coworkers who have exhausted their own PTO. Does that violate any federal or state laws? Are there any special exceptions or issues we need […]

New York

New York Adopts Higher Salary Thresholds for Exempt Employees

by Charles H. Kaplan, Sills Cummis & Gross P.C. Employers in New York must increase the salaries of exempt executive and administrative employees by December 31 to meet the requirements of recently adopted regulations. Employers also must decide whether to increase exempt employees’ salaries each year to match annual increases required by the new regulations.

The 3 Leadership Imperatives: As the Leader Thinketh

This is the first in a series of three articles dedicated to the wonderful men and women who likely have not read the latest bestseller on leadership but still get up every morning committed to making a real difference in the work, careers, and lives of others. This series will explore the universal, timeless principles […]

benefits

An Introduction to Cafeteria Plans: Permitted Tax-Exempt and Taxable Benefits

By definition, cafeteria plans allow employees to choose between cash and a variety of employer-provided benefits without having to include the value of their chosen benefits as taxable income. Cafeteria plans are popular because they allow employees to design individualized benefits programs that suit their own special needs.

bully

Taming the Workplace Bully: 10 Signs Your Employees are Being Bullied

There are effective strategies employers can use to investigate complaints of workplace bullying, according to Karen Michael, Esq. of KarenMichael PLC, a presenter at SHRM’s 2017 Annual Conference & Exposition in New Orleans.

Nolan Church on the Value of Coaching, Technology, and Failing Forward

Nolan Church, Cofounder and CEO of Continuum, has been involved in the field of human resources (HR) for nearly a decade. For our latest “Faces of HR” profile, we sat down with Nolan to discuss how he got his start in the industry, his biggest influence, as well as his thoughts on best practices and […]

roles

Boss, You Can’t Say That—It’s Retaliation

When a federal jury in a retaliation case hands a $1.5 million verdict to a Phoenix police sergeant, the case gets my attention. The April 10, 2019, verdict made headlines in the Arizona Republic, where the lawyer for Sergeant Jeffrey Green extolled the “big and worthwhile victory.”

Reader’s Story: Toilet Talk or Dirty Seat? Clean It Up

Bathrooms have been the setting of many Strange but True! tales. From applicants taking telephone interviews on the toilet, to ex-employees swiping tissue paper, bathrooms bring out some bizarre behavior. This week, we’re sharing a reader’s story about how HR had to clean up a messy issue. “We had a female employee that was urinating […]

conflict resolution

Best Practices in Issue Escalation

While a “flat” organizational structure has become trendy in recent years, traditionally, most organizations have a hierarchical structure with employees reporting to managers, who report to directors and on up through vice presidents, CEOs, and boards of directors. Within that broadly consistent structure, there is a considerable amount of variation in terms of how detailed […]