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Are Sabbaticals Right for Your Company?

When the White House announced presidential daughter Malia Obama was taking a gap year between high school and college, many people thought it was a good idea. The break between schooling is usually used as an opportunity for young people to do something meaningful, pause from the routine, and return ready to focus on achieving […]

Garnishments: Understanding Orders to Withhold Wages

During tax season, some people may be excited by the prospect of receiving refund checks from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or their state’s respective Department of Revenue. For some, those expected payouts may never materialize if there are orders allowing that money to be surrendered to repay things like back taxes or owed child […]

Ground Rules for Workplace Friendships

By Dominique Jones, VP of Human Resources, Halogen Software Our social interactions affect our physical and emotional health, and even have an impact on workplace productivity. Research conducted by Gallup found that those with a “best friend,” at work, are seven times more likely to be engaged in their jobs with a subsequent positive impact […]

Experts Explain Top 5 COBRA Implications of Reform’s Summary of Benefits and Coverage

One simple line requiring that group health plans and insurers describe “continuation of coverage provisions” in summaries of benefits and coverage (SBCs) actually raises several complex issues for COBRA administrators. The health care reform law requires that group health plans and insurers accurately describe in SBCs the benefits and coverage under the applicable plan or […]

Disability Etiquette: A Primer

The Disability Access Office in San Antonio, Texas, has published The Disability Etiquette Handbook. The handbook, which is on the web, covers a variety of issues. We thought we’d give you a sample. Reception Etiquette Greeting someone with a disability often makes a person without a disability awkward and uncomfortable. That doesn’t make you a […]

Congress Delays ACA’s Cadillac Tax for 2 Years

By Jennifer Carsen, JD The Cadillac Tax is designed to help fund healthcare reform and reign in unnecessary spending by imposing a 40% excise tax on insurers of employer-sponsored health plans with total values that exceed $10,200 for individual coverage and $27,500 for family coverage, starting January 1, 2018.

Expert Advice on E-Learning

There are four key “land mines” that trainers might encounter when developing e-learning modules, but careful planning can help trainers sidestep those problems, says Jennifer DeVries, president and chief solutions architect of BlueStreak Learning (www.bluestreaklearning.com). The first problem deals with delivery. Even the most innovative, cutting-edge e-learning module won’t be effective if it is designed […]

DMEC provides strategies for dealing with paid leave ‘patchwork’

By Susan Schoenfeld, JD, Senior Legal Editor HR.BLR.com What a difference a year makes. The number of states and cities with paid leave rules is growing rapidly. In 2014, Connecticut was the only state with a paid leave law. In 2015, Massachusetts and California joined Connecticut with their own paid leave laws. The number of […]

Poor Performance and the FMLA

Questions about how the FMLA intersects with performance problems often arise. Let’s see how the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals addressed the issue in a recent case. Read more.

Senate confirms ‘proemployer’ Gorsuch to Supreme Court

The Senate has confirmed President Donald Trump’s nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch. Because Gorsuch is known for adhering to the letter of the law, his confirmation likely is good news for employers, experts say. Democrats initially filibustered Gorsuch’s confirmation, but Republicans invoked the “nuclear option” and changed the Senate rules to allow […]