Author: Margaret Miller

FLSA Overtime Case Settles for $5M

If employees in a brokerage company merely comply with client wishes by executing transactions for them, the brokerage must properly classify their status under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and pay them overtime, when they work more than 40 hours in a work week. If the brokerage wants to exempt employees from the law’s overtime […]

Resuscitate COBRA Premium Subsidies to Help Unemployed, Commonwealth Fund Says

In the waning days of the COBRA premium subsidy, The Commonwealth Fund is calling for the program to be resuscitated as a way to help unemployed and uninsured workers until health care reform is fully implemented. In an Aug. 24 issue brief,  the Fund noted that “the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression has […]

Daniel Pink: Is Management an Anachronism?

Pink, author of popular management books including his latest, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, offered examples of how employers give today’s employees the autonomy they want—and that you need them to have.  Is Management an Anachronism?  Management is not a God-given mandate, says Pink, it’s a technology from the 1850s. It’s designed […]

Creating an Evacuation Plan in Light of the Earthquake? Don’t Forget the ADA

Employers are not required by law to prepare an emergency evacuation plan but if one exists, a plan for building occupants with disabilities must be included. Importantly, the Americans With Disabilities Act permits employers to ask employees whether they will require assistance in the event of an evacuation because of a disability. However, the law […]

Daniel Pink: Money’s Not the Motivator We Think It Is

Pink, author of popular management books including his latest, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, offered examples of how employers give today’s employees the autonomy they want—and that you need them to have.  Is Management an Anachronism?  Management is not a God-given mandate, says Pink, it’s a technology from the 1850s. It’s designed […]

Should You Offer Trainees a Bonus to Quit? Zappos Does

Special from SHRM Las Vegas Focus on your culture, and the profits will follow, says Zappo’s CEO and author of Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose Tony Hsieh. And the culture at Zappos is all about customer service. The company, known primarily for its Internet shoe business, does very little advertising, Hsieh […]

Washington D.C. Earthquake! HR Managers at ‘Epicenter’ of Emergency Planning, Response

As the earthquake that shook Washington, D.C., area today demonstrates, damage to your primary place of business can occur suddenly and without warning. Having a crisis management plan on the ready is essential to minimizing the interruption to your business. The business continuity plan improves the company’s capacity to return to business, thereby minimizing financial […]

Special Issues in Conducting Workplace Investigations

The truth is rarely pure and never simple (Oscar Wilde once said), and nowhere is that more true than when investigating workplace allegations of harassment, theft, discrimination, safety violations or substance abuse. Here are a few tricky situations that pose challenges investigators need to understand so as not to let the process derail. The Reluctant […]

The 5 Key Comp Trends for 2011

Wudyka, who is founder and managing principal of Westminster Associates, a Wrentham, MA based, full-service HR and compensation consultancy, forecast the following trends at a recent webinar sponsored by BLR. 1. Fewer Salary Freezes The number of employers freezing salaries continues to decline: 32 percent froze salaries in 2009. 12 percent did so in 2010. […]