Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Self-funded student health plans and state high-risk pool coverage will be considered minimum essential coverage for calendar year 2014, but they will have to get approved by a health insurance exchange to gain such consideration in 2015, under rules from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Carrying minimum essential coverage is required for an […]
Providing references for current and former employees can be tricky. Improperly handling such requests can lead to lawsuits and claims from both the individual and the new employer. Each state sets its own thresholds for liability arising from employment references. Regardless of location, employers should exercise caution and err on the side of providing too […]
Wage and Hour Appeals AB 223 makes it harder for employers to recover attorney’s fees and costs in connection with an employee’s appeal from a labor commissioner wage and hour ruling. If the court awards the employee a sum greater than zero in the appeal, the appeal is successful and the employer can’t recover its […]
On March 27, President Barack Obama announced his intent to use his constitutional power to make appointments while Congress is in recess to appoint Democrat Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). This is the first time the President has used recess appointments. Becker, a union attorney, has been a controversial nominee since […]
Health costs have been growing much faster than the rate of inflation, and most observers agree that while health reform addresses the issue of access to insurance, it inadequately addresses the underlying problem: the cost of care itself. Unanswered questions surround reversing the unsustainable cost of health services. For example, would replacing the fee-for-service system […]
The massive healthcare reform proposal that was brokered between Gov. Schwarzenegger and the California legislature has died in the Senate Health Committee, which voted overwhelmingly not to move the bill forward. Key reasons for the committee’s move included the state’s huge budget deficit and the lack of available funding for the bill’s provisions. The measure […]
A San Francisco trial judge has found that the San Francisco Housing Authority ignored repeated employee complaints of sexual harassment allegedly committed by a female supervisor. Both men and women reported that they had been subjected to inappropriate touching and invitations to view explicit material on a computer, and said the supervisor threatened their jobs […]
In an important ruling for unionized employers, the National Labor Relations Board has overturned 50 years of precedent and changed the rules for employers who wish to withdraw recognition of a union that may have lost majority support. Under the old rule, an employer could withdraw recognition based on a good-faith belief that the union […]