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States Try to Impose Tougher Stop-loss Limits on Self-insured Health Plans

Recently, four bills were introduced in state legislatures that would make self-funding less attractive by limiting stop-loss coverage for self-insured health plans. Many such proposals would raise minimum specific deductibles above the standard $20,000 seen in most enacted laws. This and other measures are intended to rein in self-insured plans, observers in the self-insured industry […]

arbitration

1st Circuit Reminds Employers to Ensure All Parties Have Agreed to Arbitration

Recently, the United States Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit—which covers Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island—held that an arbitration agreement between a company and a vendor wasn’t enforceable against one of the vendor’s delivery drivers who didn’t have notice of the agreement. The court’s ruling is a reminder that companies seeking to […]

Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose

Sarah Hulsey, PHR, reviews Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh’s book Delivering Happiness and finds it uplifting and motivating but not necessarily belonging in the business section of the bookstore. You’d have to be living in a cave to not have heard about Zappos and the work CEO Tony Hsieh is doing to improve customer and employee […]

IRS: Bike-share Is Not a Qualified Transport Fringe Benefit

Bicycle share expenses — incurred, for example, when one dips a credit card into a pay kiosk on the street in order to rent a bicycle from a public bike rack — do not qualify as payment for transportation on “mass transit facilities,” as some have argued, nor do they constitute a “qualified bicycle commuting […]

California Updates Leave Laws

by Susan Schoenfeld, JD 2016 has already seen updates in California leave law, specifically laws related to the use of paid sick leave for kin care and leave for child-related activities. Continue reading to get up to speed on these important new rules in the Golden State.

Healthy Teams Don’t Happen by Accident

After a uniquely challenging and disruptive year, many employees are struggling. In January, an employee trends study found that 34% of respondents reported feeling burned out, a 7% year-over-year increase. What’s more, the latest Household Pulse Survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) discovered that 37% of survey respondents feel anxious or […]

coworkers

Training for Constructive Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management

While we’d all love to work in an environment where everyone gets along and everything always runs smoothly, the reality is that conflict and disputes are a regular part of life in any organization. Shared resources— human and nonhuman—get scarce, priorities differ, and differences of opinion over the appropriate goals of the organization and how […]

Despite Popularity of Remote Work, Employer Comfort Levels Still Shaky

Legions of office workers have been skipping the commute for a few years now, working remotely in the comfort of their homes and relying on technology to keep them connected to their colleagues. Especially during the pandemic, employers and employees alike were relieved that work could go on without people gathering in the office. But […]