Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Thanks to President Obama’s executive order on revisiting federal regulations, and likely a flood of comments from the employee benefits community, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is scratching its proposed rule on the definition of fiduciary and will be issuing a revised one in early 2012. In what likely could be considered an understatement, […]
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, has kicked off the holiday shopping season with a costly expense. The company has agreed to pay $40 million in the most recent of a string of wage and hour class-action settlements that have challenged the retailer over the past 12 months. Last December, the company agreed to […]
Yesterday, we looked at the Top 5 items on our “HR Documentation Killers” list. Today, the rest of the list—plus an introduction to a webinar next month that you won’t want to miss.
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 […]
by Gary Jiles Q. How do I go about starting a 401(k) plan for my employees, and what are some of the general requirements? Keep up with the latest changes in laws regarding employee benefits with the Benefits and Compensation Law Alert. A. Choosing to offer a 401(k) retirement savings plan for your employees is […]
If you use on-call employees, it’s important to understand when you have to pay for their on-call time. In a recent case, an employer failed to properly compensate its on-call workers and was clobbered with a steep bill for two years of back overtime. We’ll provide guidance to help you determine when you must pay […]
Effective human resources departments champion high performance and enable employees to raise their standards to meet the demands of the 21st century workplace. But, many HR departments are using outdated philosophies to guide their practices.
Gov. Davis has signed into law state layoff notice requirements similar to those in the federal WARN Act—but broader. We’ll explain what you need to know about the new state law, which we’ll call “Cal/WARN.” Federal WARN Coverage The existing federal WARN Act applies to employers with more than 100 workers. And notice under WARN […]
Employee assistance programs and certain “limited wraparound coverage” would be added to the set of “limited excepted benefits” exempt from most of the requirements of the Affordable Care Act, under proposed rules in the Dec. 24 Federal Register (78 Fed. Reg. 77632). The proposal also would make it easier for dental and vision benefits to […]
Supervisors who ask employees to perform work during unpaid meal periods could be putting their employer at risk for a wage and hour lawsuit. However, training can help educate supervisors about federal and state law regarding the compensability of meal periods and, in the process, minimize the risk of such lawsuits.