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Despite two failed attempts to unionize the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the United Auto Workers (UAW) on July 10 announced the creation of Local 42, a local that Chattanooga VW workers can join voluntarily. “We’ve had ongoing discussions with Volkswagen and have arrived at a consensus with the company,” Gary Casteel, the UAW’s secretary-treasurer, […]
Two experts prescribe 8 policies to handle workplace technology misuse problems. You could write them yourself, but there’s also an easier way … Yesterday’s Daily Advisor used the introduction of the new Apple® iPhone™ as an entrée into a discussion of the issues new technology has raised in the workplace. We recounted how in a […]
Karen Yarborough, a recruiting manager for Pleasanton-based PeopleSoft, complained to her supervisors that the company’s affirmative action hiring data was false. Then, just two days before an on-site audit of the software maker’s employment data by the Office of Federal Contracts Compliance Programs, Yarborough was fired. Now an Alameda County jury’s multimillion-dollar verdict for Yarborough […]
By Dr. Amantha Imber, founder of Inventium Does your company have a culture in which innovation thrives? Are people challenging the status quo and being encouraged by leaders to take risks in pursuit of innovation? Or is the opposite true, whereby managers don’t take the time to listen to new ideas and suggestions to make […]
Many employers try hard to curtail employee claims against them, or at least to channel such claims away from the courts and into less costly forums. Some have done this by forcing employees to promise not to file a class action suit; others allow class actions, but require that they be resolved through arbitration. The […]
By Jane Meacham A plan sponsor’s immunity from financial losses that resulted from its shift of retirement plan participants’ investments into qualified default investment alternatives was upheld by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in its decision in Bidwell v. University Medical Center Inc., Case No. 11-5493 (June 29, 2012). Facts of the Case […]
by Karine Fournier and Valérie Gareau-Dalpé Union certification applications can have profound impacts on the workplace. The bargaining unit’s composition will have implications for the conduct of the employer’s business, and it bears close attention. The union applying for certification will be the one proposing the scope of the bargaining unit. Merely showing there is […]
An increasing number of employers are examining providing a low-benefits health plan that covers only preventive health services but not high-price major medical claims. Offering this type of low cost or “skinny” plan is allowed under the health reform law. The question is: Will skinny plans trigger a large-employer exodus to de minimis coverage, and if so, […]
New IRS guidance spells out more issues the agency plans to address in imposing the excise tax on high-cost employer-sponsored health coverage (commonly known as the Cadillac tax). These include: (1) identifying taxpayers who may be liable for the excise tax; (2) aggregating several employers under one plan sponsor’s payment; (3) allocating the tax among […]
By Nancy Williams Pharmaceutical representatives who persuade physicians to prescribe specific drugs don’t make any actual sales. They can’t because the products they promote can be sold legally only through a doctor’s prescription to an individual patient. Yet for years, it has been a common industry practice to categorize such employees as outside sales representatives […]