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How Can You Keep Safety Training a Priority in Shaky Economic Times?
In today’s shaky economy, you may find out that your organization’s commitment to safety training programs is not as strong as you thought. But when it comes to safety, the stakes of cutting back are high. As training professionals know, tough times make vigilance to worker safety even more important. The threat of layoffs can […]
Health Plan Developments: Mental Health Parity, GINA, and Health Risk Assessments
By Michelle Sullivan, Holland & Hart LLP Kathleen Sebelius, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary, issued a statement on October 2 indicating that employers awaiting guidance before implementing changes to medical plans required by the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 should not expect […]
TPA Is Not Fiduciary in Dispute Over Benefits Error, Judge Rules
By Jane Meacham Employers should exercise oversight of third-party administrators, to ensure they distribute accurate plan notifications and information about beneficiary distributions. That’s because in the case of certain errors, the TPA may end up not being defined as a fiduciary, as Judge James Graham in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Eastern Division, ruled in Stark […]
Americans With Disabilities Act: Historic Supreme Court Ruling Limits Liability For ‘Correctable’ Disabilities
A number of cases in recent years have raised the thorny issue of whether the Americans With Disabilities Act protects workers whose disabilities don’t necessarily affect them at work because they take medication or use corrective devices. Now, in a trio of important new decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court has overturned the Equal Employment Opportunity […]
Focus on the Desired Outcome
You ever find yourself faced with situation that is so screwed up that no matter what solution you come up with, it’s guaranteed to be better than what’s currently being done? You think to yourself, “There’s no way I can’t make this better than it is today. It’s going to be really easy to look […]
Time for Oregon employers to prepare for ‘ban the box’ law
Oregon’s new “ban the box” law takes effect January 1, meaning employers will be prohibited from asking applicants to check a box inquiring about criminal history on employment applications. The new law makes it unlawful to exclude an applicant from an initial interview solely because of a past criminal conviction. An applicant is unlawfully excluded […]
Latino Workers Have Difficulty Making Benefits Decisions, Study Concludes
New research from Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) finds that Latino workers claim to be knowledgeable about their employer-provided benefits—yet they find it difficult to select their benefits. Additionally, learning more about their finances is perceived by Latinos to be too complicated, confusing, and time-intensive.\
Should Off-Site Employees Verify Their Own Time Records?
Yesterday, we looked at four of attorney Paul Lopez’s five recommended questions for avoiding problems due to overtime-based lawsuits. Today, our analysis of the fifth question—plus an introduction to a resource that provides you with the California-specific wage/hour handbook policies you need.
Special: Forbes, Gore, and Meeting HR Challenges
“I used to be the next president of the United States,” Al Gore quipped, addressing a 10,000-person crowd at the Society for Human Resource Management’s recent Annual Conference and Exposition in San Diego. As the laughter died down, he added, “I don’t think that’s very funny.” Steve Forbes, the other headliner at the conference, says, […]