Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
by Lorene Novakowski In a recent Alberta arbitration award, the arbitrator awarded damages to employees for a breach of their privacy rights, in the amount of $1,250 each. The grievance arose after the province of Alberta conducted background credit checks without consent on 26 government employees. The employees worked in an area–maintenance enforcement–that gave them discretion in […]
Special from Atlanta–SHRM Annual Conference and Exhibition If your C-Suite suits won’t pay attention when you talk about your compensation program, says Payscale, Inc.’s Stacey Carroll, M.B.A., CCP, SPHR, you’re talking about compensation the wrong way. Carroll talks of one CEO who was frustrated about compensation. He had his 12 top people that he wanted […]
Yesterday’s Advisor covered nine traps of intermittent leave; today, the tricky issue of transferring employees on leave, plus an introduction to the guide we call the “FMLA Bible.” In the case of reduced and intermittent leave, an employer may temporarily move an employee to a different job for the duration of the intermittent or reduced […]
Four groups — the ERISA Industry Committee, the American Benefits Council, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable — filed an amicus brief July 26 to urge 2nd Circuit judges to support the principle of deference to plan administrators’ decisions over benefit plans. When plans reserve discretionary authority in plan documents, courts must […]
An employer whose COBRA/leave policy did not align with a stop-loss policy’s terms continues to be on the hook for a COBRA qualified beneficiary’s medical claims that were rejected by the stop-loss insurer. The employer unsuccessfully appealed a lower court ruling that the claims were ineligible under the policy terms because they did not include […]
What laws govern substance abuse and alcohol abuse and the ability to conduct alcohol and drug testing? “In California, it’s really surprising that there’s not a specific statute – in either our labor code, or under the Fair Employment and Housing Act, or anywhere – that specifically provides the step-by-step: what can you do, what […]
As back to school time looms, employers may be assessing their experiences with summer workers — those brought in for seasonal work as well as college interns learning the ropes in their chosen profession. Now is a good time to examine which employer practices are sound and which ones may be iffy. Employers need to […]
HR is changing and HR departments have to keep pace—HR’s taking on a greater role in strategy, HR’s outsourcing, HR’s on the move. What’s happening to HR departments out there in the real world? Let’s ferret out best practices. For years, BLR® has surveyed HR and compensation/benefits professionals to find trends in policy and practice. […]
With the Olympics in full swing this summer, reruns of The Office have been replaced with reruns of the Olympics (OK, tape-delayed events, but you get the idea). I can only assume this means that every workplace in the entire world is now hosting its very own office-themed Olympics with events ranging from office-chair races to Flonkerton. (In Season 2, […]
Newly appointed Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer — who some pundits have called “the most powerful pregnant woman in America” — is an exceptional employee in more ways than one. Even if she had worked the prerequisite 12 months (or 1,250-plus hours) at Yahoo to qualify for FMLA leave, Mayer would not be guaranteed a return […]