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Terminating for cause? How to limit your liability in Canada

By Karen Sargeant and Brian P. Smeenk You’ve likely been in this situation before: One of your employees has engaged in questionable conduct. You’re in the process of investigating and are considering whether you should terminate the employee for cause. How do you go about it under Canadian employment laws? Be careful Terminating an employee’s […]

What Does Maryland’s Same-sex Marriage Law Mean for Employers?

Employers in Maryland have 10 months to adjust their employee benefit policies, plan documents and plan language regarding dependents before a law legalizing same-sex marriage goes into effect. But that comes with a couple of caveats: (1) the law may be repealed before it even goes into effect; and (2) if it does go into […]

IRS Issues Welcome Clarification on ACA Safe Harbors

By Jennifer Carsen, JD The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) really kicked things into high gear at the very end of 2015. While the rest of us were winding down, hanging out with friends and family, and eating far too many gingerbread men (or perhaps that was just me), the industrious tax elves slipped a few […]

No silver bullet, but HR seen as key to solving talent shortage

More and more employers are suffering from a shortage of talent at the same time jobseekers are struggling to find work. That seemingly implausible situation has become the reality in many fields as the world of work deals with a still-struggling economy and epic change brought on by rapid technological advances.  A study from workforce […]

Why Can’t We Just Talk to Each Other?

By BLR Founder and Publisher Bob Brady BLR’s CEO ponders improving communications at our company (and yours,) and asks for your help in a way that can benefit all concerned. Every year for the last 10 years, we’ve surveyed our employees about their jobs and the company—an attitude survey. To a very distressing degree, the […]

Classification Changes: Do I have to notify an employee before I change her status from exempt to nonexempt?

Do I have to notify an employee before I change her status from exempt to nonexempt?     For various legal and practical reasons, you should give notice in this circumstance. Two of those reasons: 1) Employers are required to keep records of a nonexempt employee’s hours worked each day, which typically means that nonexempt […]

FMLA and ADA Interplay Part I: Basic Statutory Obligations

Although the legal requirements of the FMLA and the ADA are similar in some regards, at times an employer may find that the requirements of one law contradict the other, and the employer cannot comply with both laws. In these cases, it is important to know which law takes precedence, or “trumps,” the other.  Read […]

Employers May Be Eligible for Tax Break Under HIRE Act

The Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act (H.R. 2847), a jobs bill President Barack Obama signed into law on March 18, 2010, provides tax breaks to employers that hire unemployed workers or individuals who were only working part-time in 2010. Under the HIRE Act, qualified employers could receive a payroll tax incentive and a […]

Healthcare Reform: What Factors Affect the Pay or Play Decision?

How can an employer make the decision whether or not to offer healthcare benefits versus paying the penalty for not doing so? This conundrum is referred to as “pay or play” when discussing the new healthcare reform law. However, the decision of whether or not to provide coverage is not simple and requires much more […]