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Health Reform Will Spawn More Audits, Lawsuits and Liability, Expert Predicts

Government audits, participant lawsuits and the dreaded play-or-pay rule could heap liability and risk on employer plans, all as a result of the reform law that was just affirmed by a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court. Employers must take into account new liabilities when they move workers to part-time status or divert retirees into […]

Michigan Indoor-Smoking Ban Takes Effect Saturday

Effective May 1, 2010, smoking will be prohibited in most Michigan workplaces, restaurants, and bars. The law, known as the “Dr. Ron Davis Law,” was signed by Governor Jennifer Granholm on December 18, 2009, and bans smoking indoors in Michigan “public places.” Under the law, “public places” are defined to include most places of employment, […]

Ask the Expert: We have a time clock system that automatically deducts lunch hours from only one department. Is this legal?

November 11, 2010 Employers are not required to pay employees for time spent during bona fide meal periods. Bona fide meal periods are ordinarily breaks that last at least 30 minutes, but they may be shorter under special conditions. They do not include coffee or snack breaks; these are rest periods that may have to […]

Hot List: New York Times Bestselling Hardcover Business Books

The following is a list of the bestselling hardcover business books as ranked by the New York Times with data from Nielsen BookScan on July 18. 1. Reckless Endangerment: How Outsized Ambition, Greed, and Corruption Led to Economic Armageddon by Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner. This account of the Wall Street implosion highlights individuals who […]

401(k)s, Free Food, Pet Insurance—What Benefits Are Best Employers Offering?

Health Care gets the bulk of the benefits attention these days, but what’s happening with other benefits, and what are your competitors offering? Sabbaticals? Free Food? PTO? Flex? Let’s find out what’s happening in the real world. For years, BLR has surveyed HR, compensation, and benefits professionals to find trends in benefits. We appreciate your […]

Managing the end to mandatory retirement

by Keri Bennett As we reported previously, the Canadian federal government is about to join most of the provinces in making mandatory retirement, for the most part, unlawful. That deadline is fast approaching – December 15, 2012. What can employers do until then? According to the Canadian Human Rights Commission, very little. Human Rights Commission […]

Do your E-mails Send the Right Message?

Business is all about e-mail these days, yet many managers don’t know how to write an effective e-mail message, says Janis Fisher Chan. Her recent book, E-Mail: A Write It Well Guide, offers help. Check the Tone It’s easy to get the tone wrong in your business e-mails, says Chan. Check these three examples, which […]

Construction association sues to stop OFCCP’s new affirmative action rule

On November 19, 2013, Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), a national association for the construction industry, filed a request for an injunction in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to stop the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) final rule affecting federal government contractors, including construction contractors. […]

Hit and Run

I ran across a number of things this week that I thought were worthy of comment.  Instead of choosing one, I thought I would try to get them all in. In the “It’s About Time” category, the board of BP negotiated the departure of Tony Hayward as CEO of the oil company and replaced him […]

How Employers Can Participate in National Mentor Month

January 2013 is National Mentoring Month, which is the perfect time for employers that may be interested in establishing an external mentoring program to learn about how they can get started and enjoy the benefits of providing employee-mentors while helping their local community. In this video, BLR interviews an expert on internal and external business […]