Author: Dan Oswald

death by meeting

Death By Meeting

OK, I’ll admit it, I don’t like meetings. I’ve never been a big believer in meetings. And while I know that sometimes meetings are necessary, I avoid them as much as possible. You see, I think Peter Drucker had it right when he said, “Meetings are a symptom of bad organization. The fewer meetings the […]

Health Care Reform Gives Employer Wellness Programs a Boost — But Be Careful

by  Susan Fahey Desmond Well, here it is — the Health Care Reform and Control Act. Beginning January 1, 2014, every individual will be required to have “minimum essential coverage” through individual market, employer-provided or certain other coverage (e.g., Medicare or CHIP).  Also, beginning January 12, 2014, any employer who employed an average of 50 […]

September 23: The First Step on Road to Health Care Reform Compliance

By Tamara S. Killion Groom Law Group, Chartered On March 23, 2010, President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law. Among other things, the Act dramatically changes health insurance coverage, including employer-provided health insurance and employer-sponsored group health plans (together, “group health plans”). The law is complex and has many […]

Terminating Long-Absent Employees: ‘Frustration’ Isn’t Just a Legal Term

By Gulu Punia and Kyla Stott-Jess When an employee is absent because of long-term disability, employers naturally wonder how long they must wait before the employment contract has been “frustrated.” If it has, the employment contract can be terminated. According to the recent Ontario decision of Naccarato v. Costco Wholesale Canada Ltd., however, the question […]

Hot List: Bestselling “Business Life” books on Amazon.com

Amazon.com updates its list of the bestselling books every hour. Here is a snapshot of what is hot right now, this Monday morning, September 13, in the “Business Life” section of the “Business and Investing” category. 1. Winners Never Cheat: Even in Difficult Times, New and Expanded Edition by Jon M. Huntsman and Glenn Beck. […]

Like Brett Favre, Mark Hurd Takes His Game Elsewhere

I was intrigued to learn this week that Hewlett-Packard had sued to prevent its former CEO, Mark Hurd, from joining Oracle Corp. as co-president. You may recall that a few weeks ago I commented that I thought HP had done the right thing by parting ways with Mr. Hurd after he violated the company’s standard […]

Five Steps to Protect Your Company from Claims under New ADA

by Jonathan R. Mook Even though the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) hasn’t issued final regulations on the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) yet, you still must comply with the ADAAA, which took effect at the beginning of last year. In this article, we’re addressing the defense of claims under the new Americans with Disabilities Act […]

Maine Fire Department Pays $850K to Settle Sexual Harassment Cases

by Daniel C. Stockford The long-running saga of sexual harassment in the City of Westbrook Fire Department has come to an end with large settlement payments to two female firefighters. Under the settlement agreement, firefighter Kathy Rogers is set to receive about $480,000, while her colleague, Lisa Theberge, will receive about $370,000. Rogers and Theberge […]

IRS Issues Guidance on 2011 Health Care Account Changes

On September 3, 2010, the IRS issued guidance addressing the changes made by the health care reform package (the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010) to the use of certain health care accounts. More specifically, effective in 2011, the health care reform legislation limits […]

Quick, Name Biggest Workplace Legal Issue of 2010 So Far

What is the biggest employment law challenge employers have been facing thus far in 2010? An easy answer might be health care reform since companies have indeed started wrestling with whether to grandfather their benefits plans or strike off in a new direction under new sets of rules and regulations. But for many employment law […]