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Self-funded Plans and TPAs Affected by Top Court’s Hobby Lobby Ruling

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling that “closely held” for-profit companies can — on religious grounds — opt out of a federal requirement to provide certain contraception coverage is rife with implications for self-insured and other employer-sponsored health plans. The ruling is unlikely to lead to a wide variety of religiously inspired opt-outs, benefits attorneys held, […]

How to Attract ApplicANTS

Pests can cause some people to just plain “bug out,” so I bet companies like Orkin don’t have people busting down the doors to get a job. Employers may face a challenge in hiring people for an industry where many people would rather have someone else kill the giant spider. So what does a company […]

How Do You Compare? Training and Development Survey Results Are In

Thanks to all 1,052 participants in the 2014 Training and Development Survey! Here are the detailed results: HR’s Role HR wears multiple hats when it comes to implementing training programs. What Is HR’s Role? Helps supervisors with training for employees as needed 86.9% Decides what training is needed 86.2% Evaluates training materials/options 83.5% (59% in […]

Termination Danger Zones 7 to 10

Yesterday’s Advisor featured termination sins 1 to 6; today, we have sins 7 to 10, including the old favorite, documentation, documentation, documentation. [Go here for sins 1 to 6.] Sin #7. Terminating Without Proper Documentation Boss: Documentation, schmockumentation; this guy’s a poor performer and I want him gone today. The trouble with this scenario—terminating with […]

Are Your Workers Effectively Trained on Hazardous Waste Decontamination Procedures?

Decontamination is a vital process for employees who handle hazardous wastes because it removes or neutralizes contaminants that have accumulated on personnel and equipment. Decontamination serves the following purposes: It protects workers from hazardous substances that may contaminate and eventually permeate the protective clothing, respiratory equipment, tools, vehicles, and other equipment used on-site. It protects […]

Don’t Back-Burner Employee Communications

Ask employees what they like least about their jobs, and they typically cite a problem with communication. In fact, in many national employee attitude surveys, participating organizations across the board were rated lowest on questions related to communication. This is particularly unfortunate given that employees who took the survey said communication was very important to […]

A not-so-constructive constructive dismissal decision

By Fréderic Parisien A Canadian employee may claim that his or her employment is constructively dismissed when his or her employer makes a unilateral change to a fundamental term or condition of employment without appropriate notice. What about a change in the employer with no other change? Surely that can’t be a constructive dismissal. Apparently […]

OSHA Releases New Interactive Training Tool

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently released a new interactive training tool to help small businesses effectively identify hazards in the workplace. Employers and workers can virtually explore how to identify common workplace hazards in the manufacturing and construction industries. Users of the new training tool will not only learn hazard identification skills […]