Author: Stephen Bruce, PhD, PHR

10 Mistakes that Spell Doom for Your Wellness Program

Wellness programs seem like no-brainers, but easy-to-make mistakes can doom your program before it can gain traction. Here are experts’ Debra Wein and Courtney Hernandez’ 10 key wellness mistakes to avoid. Wein is founder and president of Wellness Workdays where Hernandez is senior wellness account manager. In their WellNews they refer to their top 10 […]

Schumer to Introduce Transit Parity Bill

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that he was planning to introduce a bill to make permanent the parity between parking and transit tax breaks. Schumer argues that programs that make commuting less expensive should be protected, particularly in a time of economic hardship. The matter strikes close to home for Schumer, since his constituents include […]

73% of Wage/Hour Investigations Result in Findings

It’s a sobering realization, says attorney Kara Shea, that DOL statistics show 73 percent of its investigations result in findings of violations, but you can push the odds in your favor. Shea, who is a member of Nashville-based law firm Miller & Martin PLLC, made her remarks at BLR’s Advanced Employment Issues Symposium, held recently […]

Social Media: Don’t Get Off Track With the Law in Monitoring Employees

Recently, we posted survey results from the Society of Human Resource Management showing that almost a third of respondents monitor employees’ use of social media platforms. Hopefully, they are also tracking the laws that could limit the extent of such monitoring. “Social media monitoring that runs afoul of the employee’s privacy interests will subject the […]

Supreme Court to Rule on Whether Health Reform Stands or Falls

Fast on the heels of the latest pertinent appeals court ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court definitively announced on Nov. 14 it will decide the question of whether Congress exceeded its powers to regulate commerce when it required people to buy health insurance as part of health reform (or in the converse, whether the individual mandate is allowed […]

9 Ways NOT To Hire the Best and Brightest

Hiring is such a critical role for managers and supervisors, yet many of them take a casual or mistaken (read legally dangerous) view of the job. In today’s CED, we share a few of the worst interview approaches we’ve come across.

Wage/Hour—Good News (Courts Losing Patience), Bad News (No One’s in Compliance)

There’s good news (sort of) and bad news for employers in the outlook for 2012, say attorneys from theEmployers Counsel Network. They covered new developments in wage/hour compliance during a presentation at BLR’s Advanced Employment Issues Symposium, held recently in Nashville and Las Vegas. Wage and Hour—‘No One Is in Compliance’ No one is in […]

Social Media: SHRM Reports How More Employers Are Plugging in

Nearly 70 percent of organizations are using social media to reach external audiences and build relationships with current and potential customers, and/or potential employees, with Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter being the top three sites used, according to a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). This survey is part three in a series […]

Staffing Agency Forced to Pay $30K After Refusing to Provide Alternative Drug Testing Method to Disabled Applicant

An Irving, Texas-based staffing company will pay $30,000 and furnish other relief to resolve a disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today. The EEOC sued G2 Secure Staff, LLC in September 2011, charging that the company unlawfully refused to accommodate a disabled applicant who needed an […]