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Employee Benefits: New Health Care Privacy Rules Released; How To Get Ready Now

After being flooded with more than 11,000 comments from the public about proposed changes to federal health care privacy rules, the government has now released new privacy regulations under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Generally, the new rules require health plans and providers to take steps to safeguard an individual’s PHI, or […]

Danger Zone—Myths and Assumptions Around Accommodation for Mental Disabilities

HR needs to be alert to the attitudes of supervisors and coworkers, says Eyres, who is managing partner of the Eyres Law Group LLP in Irvin, California. Here’s what your managers and supervisors are thinking: We only have to consider reasonable accommodations when the injury or illness is work-related. No, says Eyres, the source of […]

The 4-Page Mini-SPD: Coming to a Plan Near You

Health care reform is still alive and kicking. Employer-sponsored health plans have implemented many of its thorny provisions, but one provision now looks like the biggest thorn of all. We are talking about Section 2715 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). You must, of course, know all about this section … no? […]

Finding Market Data for Elusive Jobs

Trying to find market data for some jobs may seem a little like searching for a needle in a haystack—tedious, time-consuming, and marginally successful. Often, the problem isn’t that no data are available but in how we’re look for them, says BLR’s Senior Compensation Editor Sharon McKnight, CCP, SPHR.

The ultimate leadership challenge

by Dan Oswald The day after the 2012 presidential election, a colleague forwarded to me an interview with Michael Siegel, the author of The President as Leader. The interview was conducted by the Washington Post’s Tom Fox and centered around the top attributes of a great leader. In the interview, Siegel points to four leadership […]

New joint-employer guidance puts employers ‘on notice’

The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) new guidance on joint employment means employers must think ahead when they find themselves in relationships that may fit the definition of “joint employment.”  In a January 20 post on his blog, David Weil, administrator of the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD), announced new guidance related to joint […]

HR’s Worst Mistake—The Trigger-Happy ‘No’

Special from the Advanced Employment Issues Symposium, Las Vegas The number one mistake I see is untrained supervisors responding negatively to employees’ requests for reasonable accommodation, said attorney Mark Schickman, They just say “no” without any interactive discussion. Even if you’re sure there’s no hope of accommodation, you have to have the interactive discussion, he […]

Cocktails Revisited

Litigation Value: $75,000 (I’m sticking with my earlier assessment) A number of people have asked me whether Jan could really be fired for dating Michael. My answer? Probably. Well, at least in most states. Employers can, and often do, implement policies prohibiting their employees from engaging in romantic relationships with co-workers and, certainly, with subordinates. […]

Congress Approves Expanded Disability Bias Protections–Get Ready for the Changes

Last week, Congress approved important legislation, the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (S. 3406), to amend the Americans with Disabilities Act to provide broader protections for disabled workers and turn back the clock on Supreme Court rulings that Congress deemed too restrictive of disabled employees’ rights. President Bush is expected to sign the Act, and […]