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How to improve your reference checking

Reference checking an applicant’s past can make today’s hiring decision easier … but only if you do it right! It’s been said that “the answers to all questions of the present reside in the past.” While not true for everything, there’s a lot of validity in this statement when hiring new employees. It’s likely your […]

Plan’s Network Policy Was Clear Enough to Ward Off ERISA Claims (in spite of poor call center performance)

Rejecting a plan participant’s claims that plan documents should specifically list in-network providers, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that a plan clearly providing information on how to check for provider status was sufficient to escape benefits-denial and fiduciary-breach claims. In affirming a lower court decision, the court also rejected an argument that […]

Access to information in labor relations: jurisdiction of arbitrators

By Édith Charbonneau and Antoine Aylwin One of your unionized employees files a complaint for psychological harassment and requests to access your investigation report several years later. When you refuse, the employee turns to the Quebec information and privacy board to get that access. But does the information and privacy board have jurisdiction, or could […]

8 Practical Suggestions for Managing FMLA Leave

How do you manage FMLA leave requests while both minimizing employee misuse and avoiding retaliation claims? It’s not always simple to juggle FMLA leave requests with all of your existing HR policies. In a BLR webinar titled "The New Leave Compliance: How to Master FMLA, ADA, and Workers’ Comp Overlap," Marylou V. Fabbo outlined some […]

A Light At The End Of The Tunnel

Finally, the strike is officially over. And, according to the New York Times, new episodes of “The Office” will start airing on April 10, 2008. Thank God! In the meantime, there are plenty of real life cases with facts so bizarre that they rival the plots dreamed up by Hollywood writers. To get us started, […]

News Notes: Jury Rules For Employer Who Fired Older Worker

An employer who discharged an older employee because she lacked modern computer skills was not guilty of illegal age discrimination, according to a Sacramento jury. Janet Davis, 49, worked in the accounting department of Yamas Control, Inc. Davis contended she was doing her job satisfactorily and had received several raises and favorable performance reviews. So […]

EEOC pursuing more systemic cases

by Jerome Rose The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has been pursuing cases beyond its traditional reach to expand its enforcement authority toward a goal of developing and litigating systemic cases (i.e., cases in which a policy or practice discriminates on a broader basis, as opposed to a single decision affecting a single employee). As […]

Sticky Wicket #4–Taming the End-of-Period Sales Push

Special from World at Work, San Diego In yesterday’s Advisor, we covered three of David Cichelli’s “sticky wickets” for sales compensation pros. Today, sticky wicket number four—end-of-period sales push—plus an introduction to the all-in-one compensation website. Cichelli, who is Sr. Vice President at The Alexander Group, offered his tips at World at Work’s Total Rewards […]

Race Bias: $1 Million Punitive Damage Award For Employee Subjected To Racial Slurs; Avoiding Lawsuits

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers California, has upheld a $1 million punitive damages award to an employee who was subjected to repeated racial slurs and jokes with his supervisor’s knowledge. The new ruling, one of the largest of its kind, serves as a reminder that it’s imperative to take steps to prevent—and […]