Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
If an employee tells you that a religious belief prohibits them from working on certain times or days, you usually must try to accommodate the person unless it would be an undue hardship. But what if your workers’ schedules are set by a seniority system? Do you still have to make a special accommodation for […]
A plan participant’s disregard of health plan requests to verify dependent eligibility was a proper basis of a plan’s action to remove his dependents from coverage and garnish wages to recover about $23,000 in benefits overpayments, a federal court ruled in Muhammad v. Ford Motor Co., 2012 WL 95298 (E.D. Mich., Jan. 12, 2012). The […]
While staph infections have long been linked to hospitals and other healthcare settings, with increasing frequency a super-drug-resistant staph strain—known as MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus)—has been spreading in other communal locations, such as schools and workplaces. During a recent audio conference, experts Jeffrey Hageman, an epidemiologist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, and Dr. […]
Plan sponsors that offer company stock in their retirement plan should watch carefully the results of a recent appellate court reversal that will allow participants in .’s defined contribution retirement plan to pursue an ERISA class action against the bank. They claim it endangered their savings by including company stock in their retirement plan shortly […]
Last year, the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that under the Americans with Disabilities Act, a seniority system must give way to accommodations unless they cause an undue hardship. The case involved an employer-created seniority system, but it left open the question of its application to seniority provisions contained in union contracts. Now, […]
Employers have been shifting more premium costs to workers and increasing their deductibles. That, in addition to the fact that price growth in the health sector outpaces growth for the rest of the economy, has resulted in a disproportionate increase in employee out-of-pocket costs, a new Commonwealth Fund report says. Growth in health plan costs […]
By BLR Founder and CEO Bob Brady Bob Brady picks the brain of longtime SHRM President Mike Losey on the implications of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). Cautious When EFCA was introduced in Congress several weeks ago, unions and their supporters hailed it as the middle class’s salvation, while employers condemned it as the […]
Amazon.com updates its list of the bestselling books every hour. Here is a snapshot of what is hot right now, this Monday morning, March 7, in the “Business Life” section of the “Business and Investing” category. 1. The Rules of Work, Expanded Edition: A Definitive Code for Personal Success (Richard Templar’s Rules) by Richard Templar. […]
If anyone questions your layoff selections—and they will—employees’ attorneys are going to scrutinize the job descriptions on which you based your determinations. What will they find? A full set of up-to-date, accurate, and complete job descriptions, right? Well, maybe not a full set—and maybe not all accurate and complete and up to date, either. Here […]
Voters in four states—Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota—will decide on minimum wage increases when they go to the polls on November 4, and Illinois voters will make their opinion on the issue known in a nonbinding vote. Information on state ballot measures from Ballotpedia indicates: Voters will decide whether to increase Alaska’s minimum wage from […]