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Hot List: Wall Street Journal’s Bestselling Hardcover Business Books

The following is a list of the bestselling hardcover business books as ranked by the Wall Street Journal with data from Nielsen BookScan on May 3. 1.The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis. The sequel to #1 best-selling Liar’s Poker examines the issue of who understood the risk inherent in the assumption […]

How Health Plans Help Providers Convert to Quality & Value Models

Health care providers need help moving to value-based reimbursement and adopting accountable care models, and insurers and health plans often provide the best support, health plan executives told a recent conference. They discussed best practices for helping providers adopt value based pay and outcome-based reimbursement on April 11 at the World Health Care Congress in […]

Defusing Anger and Threats of Violence

In yesterday’s Advisor, Dennis A. Davis, Ph.D., talked about dealing with workplace conflict. Today, we’ll get his take on reacting to anger and violence, and we’ll get a look at a unique program for the small—even one-person—HR department. Sometimes people think anger leads to violence, so they won’t let an angry person talk. But it’s […]

Colorado law restricting use of credit checks takes effect July 1

by Mark Wiletsky Colorado employers need to make sure their background check policies comply with the state’s Employment Opportunity Act, which takes effect July 1. The new law bans employers from obtaining and using credit history information when evaluating applicants and employees. Certain jobs are exempt from the prohibition, but the exemptions are very narrow. […]

Nondisabled Employees May Challenge Medical Exams

Employees need not have a disability to challenge the legality of an employer’s required medical exams, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in a case of first impression. At the same time, the court also reaffirmed the ability of an employer to request an examination because it was related to performing a […]

Pension Plans’ 2012 Year-end Funding Levels Below 2011 Ratios

Many plan sponsors are still having a hard time improving the funding status of their plans, according to indexes measuring the December funding levels of U.S. corporate pension plans. Statistics show plans’ funding rose slightly from November 2012 to December 2012, keeping the month’s funded ratios above the lowest monthly figures for 2012; however, they […]

Win the “Recruitment Wars” with Marketing’s Secret Weapon

To be victorious in the “talent wars,” use what Marketing uses to win customers: segmentation. If you’re having trouble recruiting the employees you need these days, the solution might just lie in your Marketing department, says consultant Eileen Levitt, founder of HR Team in Baltimore. “Can you attract all your desired customers using one sales […]

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.\

Mental Health Parity Rules Remove ‘Clinically Appropriate’ Exemption

Final mental health parity rules issued Nov. 8 make several changes to the prior, interim version. The exemption for “clinically appropriate standards of care” was eliminated because regulators decided it was confusing and subject to abuse, and the rules’ application to “intermediate” coverage levels was clarified in response to uncertainty about how the interim rules’ […]

Nevada law on social media privacy, credit reports takes effect October 1

Nevada’s new law restricting employer access to employees’ and applicants’ social media accounts and credit information goes into effect October 1. Assembly Bill 181, signed by Governor Brian Sandoval on June 13, provides protections for employees’ personal social media accounts and prohibits employers from conditioning employment on consumer credit reports or other credit information. The […]