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Train Supervisors to Be Critical Thinkers

Use the following description to teach your supervisors how the critical thinking process works. You can also go over each step of the process in more detail by describing a common workplace situation and then discussing each step trainees would follow to think critically about it. The critical thinking process begins with defining questions clearly […]

IRS Adjusts Voluntary Correction Program, Including Fees

IRS on March 27 released a series of changes to its Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System that it said would improve the correction programs. Among the modifications to Revenue Procedure 2013-12  announced are new options for correction methods to recoup participant overpayments and lower compliance fees for participant plan loan errors. The 17-page Rev. Proc. […]

Employer Pays $50K for Refusing to Hire Worker in Methadone Treatment Program

A temporary staffing agency based in Baltimore has agreed to pay $50,000 to resolve claims that it refused to hire an applicant because of her participation in a methadone treatment program. Randstad, US, LP entered into the agreement to settle a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit alleging that its actions violated the Americans with […]

Holidays—What’s Happening? (And Are You Competitive?)

Please participate in our brief survey and see how what you are doing stacks up against what other successful companies are doing. We’ll get answers to these questions and more: Which days will be paid holidays in 2013? In 2014? How will you handle Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s holidays this year? Do you pay […]

“I meant, are you in here for drugs?”

Drugs are no laughing matter, except of course when it comes to the referenced exchange between Charlie Sheen’s character and Jeannie Bueller in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Yet, when it comes to our celebrity news cycle, drug use is as prevalent as steroid use has become in baseball. The latest scandal involves Nigella Lawson, most […]

Ruling gives employees more time to file constructive discharge claims

by Tammy Binford A May 23 U.S. Supreme Court ruling clears up questions about how long employees have to file constructive discharge claims, and the decision likely means more pressure for employers potentially facing such lawsuits. In Green v. Brennan, the Court ruled 7-1 that a U.S. Postal Service employee in Englewood, Colorado, filed a […]

The Dangers of Hiring Friends and Family

Hiring those from within our close personal network—i.e., friends and family—has been a common practice since the earliest days of specialized work. We feel like we can trust people we know, want to give them a means of income, and want to groom someone to take over after we, or other employees, leave the company. But […]

Stop-Loss Insurers Would Not Be Health Exchange ‘Navigators’ Under HHS Proposal

The health reform law provides that entities called “Navigators” will assist consumers and small businesses in researching health insurance exchanges — but stop-loss insurers for self-funded health plans won’t be one of them. Those insurers, as well as individuals and other entities with too close a financial relationship to such insurers, would be excluded from […]

Excessive Absenteeism: When Enough is Enough

By Keri Bennett Employers everywhere often wonder when an employee’s “innocent” or no-fault absences reach a level that warrants termination. Can these employees ever be fired? Yes, is the answer from one New Brunswick labor arbitrator in Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 1252 and Vitalité Health Network. Facts A nurse at a hospital in […]