Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
What are you colleagues reading? These books are at the top of the SHRM’s bestseller list. 1. 151 Quick Ideas to Manage Your Time by Robert E. Dittmer. Do more in less time, take control of your schedule, and create a new balance between your work and your family life. 2. Effective Phrases for Performance […]
The Washington, D.C., City Council on December 17 unanimously approved raising the city’s minimum wage to $11.50 an hour by 2016. The minimum wage then would be indexed for inflation. The current minimum wage for hourly workers in Washington, D.C., is $8.25 an hour, a dollar higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an […]
What a difference a couple of years makes. Not so long ago, a flurry of states passed legislation or ballot initiatives to increase their minimum wage rates. As recently as 2009, there were minimum wage increases in 24 states. Since then, it appears that changes in the political climate and in the economy have completely […]
The final regulations implementing the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 will become effective January 13. The Act requires group health plans that offer mental health or substance use disorder benefits to ensure that those benefits are equivalent to the medical and surgical benefits offered by the […]
Government requirements for certifying compliance with HIPAA’s transaction standards would impose a significant, unwarranted burden on self-funded group health plans that do not perform these transactions directly, employer groups warned in written comments to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The proposed rules would lay “significant costs” on self-insured plans that hire vendors […]
Employers will have two more years in which to respond to an Affordable Care Act tax on high-cost health plans, which was due to take effect in 2018. On Dec. 18, President Obama signed an omnibus spending package that includes a two-year delay of the Cadillac tax and also reversed the tax’s non-deductible status. The […]
A new U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) rule gives employers some relief regarding their ability to reduce or eliminate retirees’ healthcare benefits once they become eligible for Medicare. Such a reduction or elimination will not violate the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), the federal statute that prohibits age-based discrimination, the new rule states. […]
Morgan Stanley has agreed to pay $54 million to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing the banking firm of sex discrimination. The suit was brought in 2001 by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and charged that Morgan Stanley discriminated against women in its Institutional Equity division with respect to promotions, compensation, and other terms and […]
A common problem with traditional health insurance is that even when the premium is paid by an employer, the copays and deductibles can be unaffordable. Potential answers are benefits such as telemedicine and health advocates. Click here to read more.