Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
A mandatory uniform standard for health plans to pay claims electronically was adopted in rules issued Jan. 5 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The rules are designed to help health care providers match payments received with the “remittance advice” transactions that plans are already sending them under an existing HHS […]
Federal courts are off to “a promising start” in issuing rulings under the ADA Amendments Act according to the National Council on Disability, an independent federal agency. NCD says that recent rulings are a substantial improvement over pre-amendments decisions in achieving the broad scope of coverage that Congress intended. That finding is part of an […]
Never base a worker classification decision on uncertainty, according to attorney Christine Walters. Walters, a Maryland HR consultant presenting at the Society for Human Resource Management’s legislative conference in Washington, D.C., March 5, ticked off the many reasons employers might be inclined to classify a worker as an independent contractor. Among them: to avoid paying […]
Auto parts manufacturer Kelsey-Hayes Co. gave employees a summary plan description of their employee benefits plan stating that health insurance would continue at no cost when they retired. The summary didn’t mention the company had the right to modify or terminate benefits, even though the master health care plan paperwork did. Later, when Kelsey-Hayes informed […]
BLR’s 2012 Pay Budget Survey results suggest another marginal improvement in economic conditions from one year ago. The average planned merit increase for 2012 is 2.07%, according to the survey results, while the average actual merit increase for 2011 was 1.87%. In last year’s 2011 Pay Budget Survey, employers reported that their average planned merit […]
The federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently tossed out a mandatory arbitration agreement signed by a Circuit City employee because it was unduly lopsided in the employer’s favor (see CEA March 2002). But in another case involving identical arbitration provisions, the court has ruled that employee Mohammad Sharfuddin Ahmed was required to arbitrate his […]
We’ve gotten multiple complaints about a worker’s hygiene. He’s a good employee, and we don’t want to offend him, but people have asked to be moved away from his cubicle, and one has even threatened to quit. What should we do?
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is refocusing its HIPAA privacy enforcement efforts on seeking monetary penalties in cases of “abject failure” to comply, the head of HHS’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) indicated. “The majority of matters we handle are going to be resolved through education” as they have in the […]
A newly signed piece of legislation that has drawn much attention—S.B. 1661—makes California the first state in the nation to have a paid family leave program. Fortunately, you’ll have time to get ready because employees can’t begin to collect the family leave pay benefits until July 1, 2004. To help you get started, we’ve laid […]
A new California appeal court decision underscores how critical it is to make sure your workers’ comp insurance policy stays in force and that you have proof of insurance. Here’s what happened.