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Up to $3,000 in Monthly Premiums! Why Long-Term-Care Insurance Plan Failed

The Obama administration’s health care reform legislation suffered an apparent casualty last week when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) indicated it wouldn’t pursue implementation of the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) program (also known as the CLASS Act). In a letter to the U.S. Congress about the CLASS Act, […]

Considerations for Hiring Competencies

As organizations grow and expand, it becomes necessary to transition from a “staffing” mindset to a true focus on talent development and human capital management. A competency model can serve as the springboard to take your hiring and HR operation to the next level. Today we are joined by Tara Gullans, Industrial Organizational Psychologist at […]

Insurers Can Offer One Choice of SHOP Coverage in 2014, HHS Allows

A health reform requirement that all insurers offer four levels of health coverage to small businesses will be delayed until 2015. Under a final rule from HHS (to be officially published June 4), many small employers will have fewer plans to choose from the Small Business Health Options (SHOP) program in 2014. Background Starting in 2014, small […]

If You Need Job Descriptions, I’ve Got Something Really New for You

By BLR Founder and CEO Bob Brady For anyone needing job description help, our CEO announces something that’s not quite the Ultimate Answer to Life’s Questions … but it’s close. Longtime readers of this column know I like to use it to communicate to all 130,000 of you out there. Most of the time, it’s […]

News Notes: Public Employers Can Require Workers To Use Accumulated Comp Time

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal has ruled that public employers may insist that employees use some of their accumulated compensatory time off when they’ve reached a limit on how much can be banked. The Spokane Valley firefighters’ union contract caps accrued comp time at 144 hours and requires overtime pay once the limit is […]

U.S. Supreme Court to Address Privacy of Text Messages

The U.S. Supreme Court announced on Monday that it would hear arguments in a case involving sexually explicit text messages sent by employees using their employer-provided pagers. The issue for the court is whether the employer violated its employees’ privacy rights by reading the messages. The case involved several police officers with the Ontario, California, […]

Immigration: Government Issues Revised I-9 Form

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has released a revised Form I-9, which is the form that all employers must complete for new hires to verify eligibility to work in the U.S. As of Nov. 7, 2007, the new form is the only version that is acceptable for use, although the USCIS says it […]

Minimum wage going up in 10 states

The 2013 minimum hourly wage is set to go up in 10 states. Arizona. The rate goes from $7.65 to $7.80. The state’s minimum wage is adjusted annually based on a cost-of-living formula. Colorado. The rate is going from $7.64 an hour to $7.78 based on an annual cost-of-living adjustment. Florida. The rate goes from […]