Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has implemented several changes in drug and alcohol testing regulations that impact transportation employees in safety-sensitive positions, such as bus drivers, railroad workers, airline mechanics and flight crews. The most important changes involve validity testing, which is designed to detect samples that have been tampered with or substituted. To ensure […]
A new rule from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is being touted by the agency as a moderate measure aimed at ensuring that workers understand their rights, but it’s drawing fire from some employers who call it a “punitive new rule” from a federal agency overreaching its authority. The NLRB issued a final rule […]
Federal courts on numerous occasions in the last two years have dismissed plan participant allegations that their employers charged excessive retirement plan fees. The rulings taken together say: If a plan is not enriching itself at participants’ expense — or operating with a conflict of interest in relation to its investment company — then it’s […]
Suppose an employee for a contractor you’ve hired gets injured on the job. Typically, the employee’s only recourse is to seek workers’ comp benefits from the contractor. But a new California Court of Appeal ruling exposes a problem that you might not expect when using independent contractors: You can be sued if the contractor’s employee […]
According to a new report from the federal General Accounting Office, employer surveillance of employees’ Internet, e-mail or other computer activities doesn’t appear to have changed since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The study involved interviews with executives at 14 Fortune 100 companies. While all of the companies stored employee e-mail […]
Regulations requiring federal contractors to implement disability hiring goals will be issued in April 2013, the U.S. Department of Labor announced last week. A year ago, DOL’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs proposed a mandate that would require contractors to aim to have individuals with disabilities make up 7 percent of their workforce. The […]
In yesterday’s Advisor, we looked at the DOL’s increasing focus on compensation issues and defending your system against attack. Today, more on defense, plus an introduction to an extraordinary collection of policies. It’s important to recognize that you need to be able to document an employee’s compensation history, not just their current salary, says consultant […]
When it comes to implementing health reform, the federal government agencies definitely are not taking a summer vacation. Just this week, new rules on communicating health plan information to consumers, health insurance exchanges and premium tax credits have been issued. Here’s a quick list: 1. Communicating health plan information. The U.S. Departments of Labor, Health […]
Employers in California need to adjust their benefit plans, plan documents, and corporate and human resources policies to accommodate employees’ same-sex spouses. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on June 28 lifted its stay on an injunction against enforcing Proposition 8, which had amended the California state constitution to define marriage as occurring between […]