Month: June 2012

Seven Steps to Meaningful Market Pricing

Strand, owner of consultancy HR Dynamics Inc., offered his seven steps to successful market pricing at a recent webinar hosted by BLR/HRhero. 1. Identify Positions to Market-Price Ideally you’d like market data on all your positions, says Strand; however, in reality, you will probably obtain data on a sample of your positions, perhaps 30 to […]

Employer Goes Ballistic When Off-Duty Offense Goes Viral

By: Elaine Quayle It’s bad enough when an employee behaves badly on a business trip—but it’s even worse when the incident is videoed and goes viral internationally! Media reports say that Oleg Vedernikov, principal cellist with the Beijing Symphony Orchestra, was traveling with the orchestra by train when he propped up his bare feet on […]

Meet, Lead, or Lag the Market?

Strand, owner of consultancy HR Dynamics Inc., offered his seven steps to successful market pricing at a recent webinar hosted by BLR/HRhero. [Go here for steps 1 to 4] 5. Choose Your Rate Let’s say that in analyzing market data, you come up with a market rate of $61,400 for an Office Manager position, and […]

How To Avoid the Worst California Wage and Hour Tripwires

While the landscape of employment law is always changing, certain wage and hour hazards remain constant. Many of these pitfalls include issues that seem insignificant at the individual employee level but if left unchecked can easily become massive liability risks that snowball into class actions and Private Attorney General Act (PAGA) claims.

Talking to older worker about retirement

Asking About Retirement: Is It Good Planning or a Legal Danger?

“Sea change,” “massive demographic revolution,” “boomer brain drain.” They are terms  economists and sociologists use when discussing the aging of the baby boomer generation – children born between 1946 to 1964. Countless volumes have been written about what will happen as the more than 78 million boomers age and leave the workforce. Despite all the […]

Knowing Multiple Exemption Rules Can Enhance FLSA Litigation Strategies

Employees can qualify for multiple exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act, so employers should remember that if they document an employee’s specific exemption, they should note any and all applicable exemptions, so that they are able to argue multiple exemptions in any FLSA litigation. This principle is illustrated in Schaefer La-Rose v. Eli Lilly […]

Avoiding Age Discrimination Claims While Interviewing

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) bars job ads from indicating age preference. Even seemingly innocent questions asked while interviewing candidates can set you up for a potential claims. How do you stay in compliance in your job advertising and interviewing process? In a BLR boot camp titled "HR’s Age Bias Prevention Workshop: Smart […]

Employers and Terminations—So What’s a Few Decades?

By: Elaine Quayle It’s strange, but true. In the news, we have stories of an employer apologizing for firing an employee during World War II, and another company firing a long-time employee for something that happened 40 years ago. What are a few years between employees and termination issues anyway? Wells Fargo Bank terminated a […]

In Spite of Review Flaws, Court Sees ‘Sufficient’ Appeal Process and Reasonable Benefit Cut-off

Because an employer health plan gave a full and fair review resulting in a reasonable benefits decision, a federal court upheld the plan’s lifetime limit on obesity services and its prohibition on payments to treat complications from earlier gastric bypass surgeries. The plan also weathered an allegation that it was not properly segregating plan funds. […]

Why Do People Work for You? 3 Reasons

Oswald, CEO of BLR, offered 3 reasons why employees want to work for bosses in a recent edition of The Oswald Letter. People go to work for a company for many reasons, Oswald continues. Maybe the work is challenging and rewarding or the pay and benefits are too good to pass up. It might be […]