Month: February 2014

And the Oscar for Employee Excellence Goes to …

    Oswald, CEO of BLR®, offered his thoughts on recognizing excellence in a recent edition of The Oswald Letter. Now let me put that in perspective for a moment. The Academy was formed in 1927, with the state of California granting its charter as a nonprofit organization on May 11 of that year. Films […]

Long-Time Trainer Honored for Apprenticeship Development

In his 3-decade career with Bosch Rexroth, Mike Bryan has trained nearly 770 apprentices and continuously demonstrated his support for developing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) skills among the next generation of workers. His efforts were recently recognized by the German American Chambers of Commerce (GACC), which presented Bryan with its Trainer of the […]

And the Oscar for Employee Excellence Goes to …

If you, like me, were one of the tens of millions of people who watched the Academy Awards Sunday night, you saw a celebration of excellence in a profession. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was founded in 1927. And, according to its website, “one of the first Academy committees was Awards of […]

EEOC sends employers strong signals on medical leave

by Troy D. Thompson Over the last several months, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has filed a significant number of lawsuits alleging disability discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) against employers across the country. The cases are instructive because they highlight the EEOC’s current enforcement policies, identify common areas of risk under […]

Key Questions for Compensation Audits

What Is Written? Start with the written documents, says Kleinman. What written documents relate to compensation? Who has them? Who wrote what and when?  What do they say? For example: Plan documents Structures Policies Pay parameters Hiring/Bonus boundaries (approval levels, etc.) How’s Turnover? What turnover levels is the organization experiencing? Functional turnover is created “intentionally,” […]

Best Defense Against Leave Fraud? Continuous Performance Management

In yesterday’s Advisor, Attorney Patricia Eyres briefed us on dealing with employees’ chronic health conditions. Today, we present her tips on managing those employees’ performances, plus an introduction to the all-things-HR-in-one-place website, HR.BLR.com. Continuous Performance Management Is Your Best Potential Defense Always start dealing with the productivity or performance issue, says Eyres. Let the employee […]

NLRB sets public meeting on proposed changes to union election rules

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has set two days of meetings in April to hear opinions on proposed changes to rules governing union representation elections. The NLRB will meet for April 10-11 at its headquarters in Washington, D.C., to allow members of the public to present their views on what probusiness interests have labeled […]

Notre Dame University Denied Contraception Injunction

The 7th Circuit in a 2-1 ruling refused to grant a preliminary injunction to Notre Dame University, which would have freed the university from participating in reform’s requirement to provide contraceptives at no cost to all women. In so doing the court criticized the university’s argument that signing an EBSA Form 700 — expressing objections to the contraceptive […]