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Leadership Practices that Work Regardless of Company Size

From Dan Oswald: As a way to honor the individuals who have taught me critical life lessons about people and business, I’ve invited several to write guest columns to run in this space over the next few weeks. Today’s voice of experience is provided by a mentor whose business acumen and people skills have guided […]

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Ask the Expert: Workers’ Comp, Unemployment, Disability Benefits Generally Not Allowed at Same Time

Q           Can employees collect workers’ compensation at the same time as unemployment or state disability insurance payments? The short answer is no. In Wisconsin, workers’ compensation, unemployment benefits, and disability insurance are distinct forms of support, each designed to address specific situations. Workers’ comp provides financial and medical benefits to employees who suffer work-related injuries or […]

ADA and Batman—by Robin

Recently, Ben Affleck stepped down from directing the new Batman movie to focus on his recovery following recent treatment for alcoholism. His reason for stepping down was due to his belief that he was unable to give the directing role the focus and passion it requires.  Alcoholism and drug addiction present complicated issues under the […]

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Hiring Your First Support Person in a Remote Work Start-Up

In the early days of running your start-up, the founders don multiple hats. Customer support is inevitably one of them. This is for good reason. Besides the fact that you do not have the money to fund a customer support rep, taking over this role also allows founders to directly work with customers in understanding […]

Think You’re Working for Peanuts? How About Working for Pizza?

Compensation. It’s at the forefront of everyone’s minds, especially HR professionals looking to recruit top talent with a competitive salary and to keep current employees sticking around. Recently, a supermarket in Australia came under fire for offering its employees pizza instead of paying them overtime … Which every U.S. employer should know is illegal under […]

Beach Games

LITIGATION VALUE: $300,000+ Holding a Survivor-like contest to determine who will be recommended for a promotion to regional manager is not going to end well for Dunder Mifflin. At all. If the decision is challenged (which it almost certainly will be) then the company is going to be asked to articulate a legitimate nondiscriminatory reason […]

Independent contractor’s behavior can lead to criminal liability for employers

By Antonio Di Domenico On Christmas Eve 2009, a swing stage (a work platform) suspended on the 14th floor of an Ontario apartment building collapsed. Four workers including the site supervisor died after falling to the ground. Metron Construction was charged with criminal negligence causing death under Canada’s Criminal Code. The company’s owner and sole […]

Changes Loom for HR Structure, Pay Practices

Compensation laws are changing, and the changes will likely mean you’ll do things differently. The Ledbetter decision, covered here in recent issues, may have you scrambling to document pay decisions better and keep the records longer (or indefinitely). What you may not know is that these decisions could have an impact on your overall human […]