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Disaster Preparedness Checklist for Employers: Part 1

As the 2007 hurricane season starts today (June 1), it’s time for employers to review and update their disaster preparedness and response plans. And it’s time to review our updated checklist, originally prepared following our own and others’ experiences from the 2005 hurricane season, including Hurricane Katrina. The time is right for all employers to […]

Meal and Rest Period Class Should Have Remained Certified

On November 21, 2016, the California Court of Appeal for the 2nd Appellate District determined that it was improper for a trial court to grant an employer’s motion for decertification of class claims that it failed to provide employees proper meal and rest periods and related wage statements.

IRS Again Leaves Most Annual Retirement Plan Limits Unchanged

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) again left most annual threshold and benefit levels unchanged when it announced them for 2017 on October 27, 2016. Employers and retirement plan administrators can apply the new rates as they prepare their plans for next year and conduct nondiscrimination testing. Notice 2016-62 laid out the latest changes to cost-of-living […]

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 […]

Disability etiquette: It should be common courtesy

By Marcia Akers The rules of etiquette define those behaviors that are socially acceptable under particular circumstances. It is not a crime of legal consequence if these unwritten, but widely accepted, standards of proper behavior are broken, but anyone not adhering to them may be ridiculed or ostracized. The Disability Rights Movement popularized the expression […]

Prevent Workplace Violence through Training

All your employees should be trained so that they are aware of the potential security hazards at your facility and the means to protect themselves and coworkers. The training should include your workplace violence and prevention program and the procedures and practices to follow in the event of a violent incident.

Dress Codes at Work

Workplace Dress Codes and Employment Law

Because styles and new thinking about what’s acceptable attire in the workplace are ever changing, HR professionals continue to struggle with dress codes. Expectations of professional appearance differ among, and even, within professions. Some HR pros have found that allowing supervisors or department heads the ability to establish and enforce dress codes works better than […]

The good, the bad, and the ‘feo’ of the American workplace’s Latinization

by Glianny Fagundo The American workplace is becoming more diverse. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) calculated that 14.8 percent of the U.S. labor force was Hispanic in 2010. That number is expected to jump to 18.6 percent by 2020—which translates to roughly one in five workers. While many see such diversification as a […]

Obama Proposals Would Expand Access to Retirement Savings Accounts

In his recent State of the Union address, President Obama made his stance clear: More Americans should have the ability to save for retirement at work—and the ability to take their savings with them as they move from job to job. Obama’s proposals—which will be detailed further in his FY2017 budget—aim to ensure near universal […]