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The Playbook for Refereeing Employee Disputes

The conflict-free workplace…alas, it simply doesn’t exist. Because workplace conflict disrupts morale and performance, and affects everyone in the organization, it’s important to be able to referee these disputes to a peaceful conclusion. Here are some tips for doing just that.

Careless Documentation: Key Evidence Against You in Court

If you’re not careful with your documentation, says Attorney Allison West, you’re probably creating evidence that your employee’s attorney can use against you in court. In today’s Advisor, her do’s and don’ts. Employment law attorneys aren’t allowed to say “document,” West says; they are always required to say “document, document, document.” There’s a good reason […]

UCLA Hospital to Pay $865,500 in Latest HIPAA Privacy Settlement

In the latest big-ticket enforcement action for alleged HIPAA privacy and security violations, the University of California at Los Angeles Health System (UCLAHS) has agreed to pay the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) $865,500 to settle allegations the hospital violated HIPAA’s privacy and security rules. The settlement, announced July 7, resolves two […]

Consumer-Directed Health Plans Like HSAs/HRAs Continue to Grow

Does your computer’s spelling function auto-correct “HSA” to “HAS”? Mine used to, not recognizing that this abbreviation is no longer an error, but represents health savings accounts (HSAs), one type of consumer-directed health plan that is fast becoming mainstream in the health benefits industry. Health savings accounts couple a tax-favored savings account that is used […]

Service Dog

Endangered (Service) Animal Species

by Karen McAndrew As of March 15, 2011, boa constrictors, ferrets, wildebeests, and rabbits are no longer considered “service animals” under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), so assuming the Attorney General’s Office of your state concurs, you will not have to let those animals dine in your restaurant or hang out in a cubicle […]

Managers Don’t Need Answers—They Need Questions

In today’s Advisor, Dan Oswald suggests that managers shouldn’t try to have all the answers; the real key to great management is asking the right questions. Oswald writes on Business and Leadership at the Oswald Letter blog. Before I headed to the airport today, Bob Brady handed me a book and said something like, “This […]

5500 Deadline for 403(b) Plans: Ready or Not, It’s Almost Here

Editor’s note: For purposes of this article, we are going to assume you know the basics. If you don’t, read BLR’s previous news coverage here and here. Sponsors of 403(b) plans, we really, really hope that by now you know whether or not you need to file Form 5500 for the 2009 plan year and […]

Verizon to Pay $20 Million in Largest ADA Settlement

In the largest disability discrimination settlement in U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission history, Verizon Communications has agreed to pay $20 million to hundreds of employees. The settlement resolves allegations that the company violated the Americans With Disabilities Act by implementing an unlawfully rigid attendance policy. Verizon denied reasonable accommodations to employees and disciplined and/or fired […]

He Creeps Me Out, But He Might Be a Genius

Litigation Value: likely to skyrocket with Robert California’s new sex-fueled approach to paper sales. The word around The Office is that James Spader will be returning next season as Robert California, a character Paul Lieberstein (a.k.a. Toby) has described as “this uber-salesman that has a power to convince and manipulate like a high-class weirdo Jedi […]