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Want Benefit Savings? Take a Close Look at Your PBM

Looking for healthcare savings? (Who isn’t?) Start with a look at your prescription drug costs, says Scott Haas, CLU, RHU, vice president of Wells Fargo Pharmacy Consulting. Haas and his colleagues sought a way to get drug costs down for clients. They peered beneath the surface and didn’t like what they found, Haas said in […]

Deaf Lifeguard Was Entitled to Accommodations, Says 6th Circuit

A reasonable jury could conclude that an employer violated the Americans with Disabilities Act when it failed to hire a deaf lifeguard, said the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, overturning a lower court’s decision. The case, Keith v. County of Oakland (2013 WL 115647, No. 11–2276 (6th Cir. Jan. 10, 2013)) involved Nicholas Keith, […]

Top 10 trends in background checks for employment

Should you conduct background checks for employment? California employers are understandably wary, with recent lawsuits alleging that background checks can have a disparate impact on protected groups. However, background checks can be a great resource. They provide an opportunity to learn more about potential employees and to investigate whether applicants have lied, stolen, or otherwise […]

The Return of the Nard Dog

Litigation Value: $0. Though there is all sorts of questionable stuff going on, none of it should expose Dunder Mifflin itself to any claims or liability. In tonight’s episode, “Couples Discount,” no one really covers themselves in glory.  You’ve got The Office denizens seeking to goof off one last time before Andy returns, and pretending […]

Guns do not belong in the workplace

by Al Vreeland In these pages, we try―often ham-handedly―to infuse a little humor into the very real workplace dilemmas you face on a daily basis. When we first conceived this article, obvious redneck gun jokes were, well, obvious. But the recent massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, has left us humorless, while recent events in several state […]

PBGC Presages Solvency Trouble for Multiemployer Plans

There’s consternation about the future solvency of multiemployer plans and concerns about whether plan sponsors should expect higher insurance premiums as a result of three new reports from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. On Jan. 29, PBGC sent to Congress reports on the status of multiemployer pension plans it insures, the current effects of pension […]

Retirement Benefits 2013—What’s Really Happening?

Retirement benefits, always a challenge to manage—and to fund. What’s happening with pensions and 401(k)s in 2013? What are your competitors up to? Help us find out! Please participate in our brief survey and see how your retirement benefits stack up against those of other successful companies. We’ll get answers to these questions and more: […]

DOL Finalizes FMLA Military Exigency Rules, Including Intermittent leave

The U.S. Department of Labor on Feb. 5 finalized a long-awaited rule ensuring that families of eligible veterans have the same right to job-protected FMLA leave as families of military service members. The final rule also ensures the rights of military families to take leave to attend to financial matters and other types of day-to-day issues […]

The FMLA Comes of Age: New Rights for Military Families

Employers have expand job protections for military members and their families who need time off, to comply with regulations finalized by the U.S. Department of Labor Feb. 5. Major provisions, which implement changes to the Family and Medical Leave Act, include: Defining a covered veteran, consistent with statutory limitations, as limited to veterans discharged or […]