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Wellness: What Can HR Do to Educate Employees (Read ‘Save Money’)

Health care reform passed, but that doesn’t mean your health care costs are going down anytime soon. Healthcare inflation is still forcing companies to find alternatives. Consumer-driven health care (CDH) seems to be the only option gaining real traction, says Andrew Ceccon. Ceccon, former chief marketing officer at A.D.A.M., a provider of healthcare content and […]

Coal Mine Pays $40K for Failing to Reassign Worker with Disability

A coal mine in Birmingham, Ala. will pay $40,000 to settle allegations it failed to reassign a worker with a disability, in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Rocky Davis had hearing loss and was regularly assigned to an area of the mine that adversely affected his hearing aids, according to the U.S. Equal […]

Performance Issues for FMLA-Qualified Employee Still Equal Termination

This content was originally published in April 2009. For the latest FMLA regulation changes, visit our FMLA article archives or try our practical FMLA compliance guide. An Indiana worker repeatedly exceeded her employer’s absence limit, failed to follow safety procedures, and neglected the quality control part of her job, allowing an expensive production error to […]

Family Leave and Child Care: Do Your Benefits Match Up?

By Stephen D. Bruce, PHR Editor, HR Daily Advisor Seventy-eight percent of employers allow sick leave to be used to care for sick children, while 62 percent of employers report offering at least one form of assistance for child care to employees, according to a recent survey of Family Leave Practices by BLR®. The survey […]

Sexual Harassment: Recent EEOC Victories Underscore Need for Training and Vigilance

In recent weeks, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has announced a string of victories on behalf of employees in sexual harassment lawsuits. In one case, Specialty Restaurants Corp., based in Anaheim, agreed to pay $625,000 to settle a class action lawsuit charging that female workers were subjected to inappropriate touching, indecent and offensive […]

(Hurricane) Irene Shares Her Favorite Last-minute Business Continuity Steps

Businesses are going to want to do more than just make sure the lights are turned out when they leave the office this weekend. In anticipation of Hurricane Irene, people all over the East Coast are stocking up on supplies, putting fresh batteries into flashlights and radios, filling up vehicles with gas, moving objects inside […]

CMS: Subsidy-seekers’ Income Will Be Verified

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services responded to doubts over whether health insurance exchanges (now formally referred to as “marketplaces”) would verify incomes consumers applying for health-insurance subsidies, which come in the form of: (1) advances on tax credits for premiums; and (2) reduced cost-sharing. Marketplaces will always use data from tax filings and […]

Senate vote deals blow to $10.10 minimum wage effort

The campaign to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour fell a step backward in a Senate vote on April 30—a vote that brought cheers from business interests concerned that the increase would be too onerous on employers and jeers from labor groups that claim the current $7.25 minimum is inadequate. Sixty votes […]

News Notes: Independent Contractor’s Employee Can Sue If You Provide Unsafe Equipment

According to a recent California Court of Appeal decision involving Wal-Mart, you can be sued by an independent contractor’s employee if you supply equipment that’s involved in an accident injuring the worker. Wal-Mart had hired Musi-Cal to install a sound system in the retailer’s Chino, Calif., store. The work involved placing speakers and running wires […]

News Bulletin: Government Hunting Down Late Form 5500 Filers

The federal Department of Labor and the Internal Revenue Service have announced that they’re tracking down delinquent filers of Form 5500, which is required to be filed annually for benefit plans. And in December 2002, the agencies plan to begin sending out letters of inquiry to delinquent filers. Penalties for late filing can be steep, […]