Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
As temperatures rise across California, Cal/OSHA is stepping up enforcement of heat illness prevention requirements at outdoor worksites across the state. The agency targets employers who evade the law, which protects employees from heat-related illness. Enforcement efforts include statewide traveling “heat sweeps.” These are local district actions launched when temperatures soar and workers are at […]
The U.S. Department of Labor is abandoning its plan to limit when children under the age of 16 can work on farms. The plan, proposed in the fall, limited the Fair Labor Standards Act’s “parental exemption” and was intended to help reduce farm-related accidents. Introducing the now-defunct proposal, DOL officials said they were responding to […]
The U.S. Department of Labor has proposed big changes to the child labor regulations under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. The DOL’s proposed rules would expand the list of jobs considered to be “particularly hazardous”—and off-limits—for 16- and 17-year-olds (and younger workers) to include working at poultry slaughtering plants, riding as passengers on forklifts, […]
Our last issue talked about how “mental minefields,” as defined by the consultant McKinsey & Company, erode corporate health and prevent sustained growth. Let’s see if those minefields attack wellness efforts as well. Yesterday’s Advisor detailed five factors spelled out by consultant McKinsey & Company that foster “corporate health” (sustained growth) and three “mental minefields” […]
Even as the IRS announces it plans to issue guidance on the use of smartcards with qualified transportation fringe benefits, public comments on such guidance include allegations of impropriety from one vendor. The IRS asked for input on whether it should issue such guidelines (see related story) last May. Thompson Information Services requested copies of […]
Once we hire an employee, we provide full medical, dental, and vision insurance coverage to the employee, spouse, and children. Are we able to request marriage certificates and birth certificates for eligible family members for the purpose of insurance benefits? We have found that employees will often list nonrelatives for insurance benefits (e.g., a boyfriend, […]
The IRS, taking pity on drivers fueling up at increasingly costly pumps, has upped the mileage reimbursement rate to 55.5 cents per mile for all business miles driven from July 1, 2011, through Dec. 31, 2011. This is an increase of 4.5 cents from the 51 cent rate in effect for the first six months […]
For an upcoming CED story on job descriptions, we’d like to hear your best practices and advice. Please send your best tips to jcarsen@employeradvice.com.
BusinessWeek ranks paperback business books that are the most recent bestsellers. 1. Blink By Malcolm Gladwell (Back Bay Books $15.99) 2. J.K. Lasser’s Your Income Tax2008 By The J.K. Lasser Institute (Wiley $17.95) 3. What Color Is Your Parachute? By Richard Nelson Bolles (Ten Speed Press $18.95) 4. A Guide to the Project Management Body […]