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Pennsylvania: FMLA Settlement Proceeds Not Subject to Federal Tax Withholding

By Gregory J. Wartman A Pennsylvania federal court has ruled that an employer doesn’t have to withhold federal payroll taxes from a settlement payment resolving a discrimination claim under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The court reasoned that because the FMLA settlement proceeds weren’t wages, they weren’t subject to federal withholdings.

BLR’s 2013 perks survey results

From health insurance to stock options to paid vacation, employees love perks. They can help in efforts to recruit the best applicants as well as retaining and engaging your top performers. Recently, BLR surveyed 1,493 HR professionals about the types of perks they offer employees. Paid holidays is the number one perk provided by the […]

Top 10 Potential Perils of Employment Policies

The employee handbook: Probably not the most enjoyable part of your job. It’s even less fun when a judge rules a policy unenforceable for some reason, forcing your company to hand over thousands of dollars to a disgruntled employee or former employee.

Junior Employees Owe Duty of Good Faith, Too

By Stephen Acker and Ariel Thomas Canadian employment law imposes a number of legal duties on employers and employees. One of the key duties is the duty of good faith. The duty of good faith requires employers and employees to act in each other’s best interests. It begins when employment does and can last until […]

It’s Not Easy Being Green

Litigation Value: Front-row seat for the epic Michael v. Oscar battle of the wits = $0; coffee from the office coffee bar = a shocking $8 per cup;  watching Dwight fail miserably at drinking coffee with his toes = priceless. In this week’s episode, Oscar and Michael battle it out to see who is the […]

ball

Predicting success is hard

by Dan Oswald How good are you at picking winners? If you’re one of the 70 million Americans who filled out a bracket for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, you probably have a sense of how hard it is to predict success. You think you’ve done your homework. You do your research, looking at win-loss […]

Even the C-Suite Can Understand Why Wellness Works

The wellness agenda is surprisingly uncluttered, says Dr. W. Smith Chandler in California Employment Law Answers.  We can break it down, he says, by asking a simple question: “Why do people die?” The answer is not as complex as people think, Chandler maintains. He explains that 40 percent of all Americans die of cardiovascular diseases, […]

Hiring: Is It a Good Idea to ‘Google’ Applicants?

I recently returned from a meeting where one expert recommended doing a Google search on applicants as part of the evaluation process. He said you often find very interesting things about people, especially if they blog or have their own website. Someone else thought it might be an invasion of privacy, and others objected that […]

iPlaintiff

Litigation value: Ryan gets nothing today, but in a few years ….. who knows? The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA) significantly broadened the ADA’s definition of disability. Ryan had me asking myself how much during last night’s rerun episode, Trivia. During the trivia contest, the organizers confiscated Ryan’s smartphone. Ryan held out for all of eight seconds before deciding that he would rather be ejected from […]

Cut Turnover, Build Retention: Experts Explain How to Do Both

Can you retain your best employees even as competition in the job market stiffens? Sure you can … if you know these turnover-reducing, retention-increasing techniques. When talk turns to turnover and retention, we’ve all heard the gloomy statistics. Of every 10 workers in your organization now, three will retire over the next 10 years. Out […]