Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
For the first time since 1986, the U.S. Department of Labor has proposed new rules affecting the COBRA notice requirements. COBRA rules affect individuals’ rights to continue group health coverage under certain circumstances. For employers the consequences for not giving written notice in accordance with COBRA rules can be steep, including having to pay an […]
There are 10 key challenges for HR under Dodd Frank and its various “Say on” requirements, says consultant Deborah Lifshey. Although about half are not currently in force, it’s still a significant hassle. The Dodd Frank Act (Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act) was signed in 2010 as a culmination of efforts […]
Aggressive NLRB Has Surprises in Store for HR Unions are desperate, says attorney Kevin McCormick, because their numbers are down and many of the things they once promised workers (like safer workplaces) are now mandated by government agencies. The result? They’re getting aggressive in new ways. McCormick, a partner at Whiteford, Taylor, and Preston LLP […]
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 […]
Do your employees “tweet”? If your response to this question is something along the lines of “huh?” it means you probably weren’t born in the 1980s or 90s. But for Millennials (a/k/a Generation Y) and other technophiles, Twitter is quickly becoming an omnipresent form of communication available any time of day—including during the work day.
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) recently released a study of revenues needed for PBGC to continue to protect participants in multiemployer plans that are likely to run out of money—and the news isn’t good.
The full Senate will soon consider a bill that would raise contribution limits for individual retirement accounts and 401(k) plans. The maximum annual contribution for 401(k) plans would increase from $10,500 to $15,000. IRA limits would rise from $2,000 per year to $5,000, and “catch-up” provisions would allow workers aged 50 and older to put […]
In California, employers must provide meal periods to employees at certain intervals. But must employers ensure that employees actually take their meal periods, or is it sufficient to offer the meal break time and leave it up to the employee to decide whether to take it? Unfortunately, there hasn’t been much guidance on these questions […]
The HITECH Act is now here in full. The whole litany of tighter privacy and security requirements is in the long-awaited, long-delayed “omnibus” rules finalized Jan. 17 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and most of these will have to be met by this Sept. 23. The omnibus rules also include changes […]