Month: March 2009

Your Leaders: Forged in a Holiday Inn Express?

By BLR Founder and CEO Bob Brady BLR founder and CEO Bob Brady says the results of a recent study underscore the vital role of HR in selecting and nurturing your organization’s leaders. Once again well-credentialed academics from an esteemed university (this time the University of California at Berkeley) have spent time and money “discovering” […]

DOL Issues COBRA Model Notices

Update Dec. 16: House Passes COBRA Subsidy Extension and Expansion Today, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued model COBRA continuation coverage notices that reflect the new nine-month, 65 percent subsidy on COBRA premiums. The notices are available online at www.dol.gov/ebsa/COBRAmodelnotice.html. There are four types of notices, each tailored to a particular employee, beneficiary, or […]

SEIU, Nurses Union Boost the Employee Free Choice Act

Two large and powerful health care labor unions have signed a pact that is expected to provide a shot in the arm for the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). Under the pact announced on March 19, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CAN/NNOC) will work together to […]

‘Other Duties as Assigned’ Won’t Cut It in 2009

Writing job descriptions that are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is tricky. In your efforts to be clear, you can also be exclusionary. Here are tips for handling this delicate duty. Pritchard’s tips for job descriptions are included in an article on HRTutor.com. Do You Have to Have Job Descriptions? No, says […]

Non-Prejudicial Language for ADA Job Descriptions

Writing job descriptions that are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is tricky. In your efforts to be clear, you can also be exclusionary. Here are tips for handling this delicate duty. Take, for example, the requirement to be “able to walk” around the office. That language would be unnecessarily exclusionary if the […]

Broad Drug Testing Policies Approved by Arbitrator

By Brian P. Smeenk Drug and alcohol testing has long been a sensitive subject in Canada, especially in safety-sensitive workplaces. A recent 128-page arbitration decision by a leading Canadian arbitrator may have put to rest many of the remaining questions about what kinds of policies will be enforceable in Canada and what they should contain. […]

Does Your Wellness Program Need a Checkup?

A majority of Americans agree that lifestyle choices such as smoking and exercising directly affect the cost of their health care, yet 44 percent do not think they should have to pay for health care. What gives? A recent survey revealed that employees do see a connection between their behavior and their health, and they […]

Hot List: Bestselling “Business Life” Books on Amazon.com

Amazon.com updates its list of the bestselling books every hour. Here is a snapshot of what is hot right now, this Monday morning, March 16, in the “Business Life” section of the “Business and Investing”category. 1. How I Made My First Million on the Internet and How You Can Too!: The Complete Insider’s Guide to […]

Innovative Wellness Program Wins HR Best Practices Award

An “impressive array of medical, fitness, employee assistance, wellness, and work/life options” garnered the Prudential Financial Companies a prestigious HR Best Practices Award from the New Jersey affiliate of SHRM. Here’s how they managed it. Wellness: From Asthma to Weight Loss K. Andrew Crighton, vice president and chief medical officer for Prudential Financial Companies, shared […]

Largest Minority Group Often Most Overlooked

At 20 percent of the population, people with disabilities are America’s largest minority group. “They carry a second distinction of being America’s most invisible population,” says Wayne McMillan, president and CEO of Bobby Dodd Institute (BDI), an Atlanta-based nonprofit providing career services and job training for the disabled. “Instead of an uproar,” he says, “their […]