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Employer contributions to a Section 125 cafeteria plan can be deducted from the employee’s cost of a health plan for purposes of determining the affordability of coverage, final IRS rules on minimum essential coverage published on Nov. 26 (79 Fed. Reg. 70464) stipulate. In order to be deducted, the café plan benefit must not be […]
The health care reform law and high insurance costs are giving businesses plenty to think about, but most employers responding to a survey on employee benefits say their 2013 health insurance packages are close to what they offered in 2012. More than 2,000 employers participated in the survey from human resource and benefits information provider […]
Employers are increasingly offering paid time off for adoptions, according to a new report from consulting group Mercer. The benefit is likely an attempt to meet the needs of a workforce in which the definition of “family” now includes same-sex parents, the firm said. While employees in the U.S. have access to 12 weeks’ unpaid […]
Even though your focus is HR rather than safety, you need to have a solid working knowledge of what OSHA and Cal/OSHA are up to. Here’s a general overview of what OSHA is focusing on this year.
California lawmakers stayed busy throughout the year, passing a number of new wage, hour, leave and anti-discrimination laws. Here, in no particular order, are some of the biggies that go into effect Jan. 1: Pregnancy Disability Leave All employers with five or more employees will be required, starting Jan. 1, to continue to maintain and […]
by Steve Jones Q I have an employee who is outwardly gay. He is a great employee and says he loves working at my business. However, he recently mentioned that he doesn’t like when a specific coworker uses antigay slurs. The slurs are not directed toward the gay employee. Instead, the slurs are generic comments […]
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has ruled that employers can prohibit employees from using company e-mail to send union-related messages while allowing some personal use of e-mail. In a 3-2 decision dated December 16 but released December 21, the NLRB majority ruled that the e-mail policy of Eugene, Oregon, newspaper The Register-Guard wasn’t a […]
The Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Trump v. CASA that banned federal district court judges from issuing nationwide injunctions was met with mixed feelings among employer groups. Some of the most well-known injunctions were sought by employers—against the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) vaccine mandate, federal contractors’ minimum wage, certain expansive pregnancy regulations, and […]
Last month, we published a guest E-pinion by Maurizio Morselli in which he talked about HR’s role in curing “fiscal decadence disorder” and ensuring that reductions in force don’t cut any deeper than necessary. His column generated some interesting feedback, which we share today. I like the article on HR’s role in curing the Fiscal […]
Wellness benefits have exploded in the past decade because they purportedly make employees healthier and save employers money, but they have found a detractor in at least one labor union. John Borsos, secretary-treasurer of the National Union of Healthcare Workers, told reporters in Washington, D.C., Dec. 17, that wellness programs are a $6 billion industry […]