Month: September 2012

FMLA/CFRA medical certifications in California: An overview

A medical certification is a written document from a health care provider verifying that an employee’s leave is for a serious health condition. It is an objective tool that HR managers should use to determine whether to grant or deny leave requests under FMLA, the California Pregnancy Disability Leave Law, and the California Family Rights […]

Who Are Your Hi-Pos? Ten Key Characteristics

Identifying Key Positions and Skills A critical step in the process is to specifically identify the key positions that will be targeted in the succession plan. This usually includes management-level positions. It may also include highly specialized jobs that are essential to the company’s ability to meet current or future goals. Once the positions are […]

Exercises and Resources for Better Diversity Training

Companies that are characterized by a diverse, respectful, and dignified workplace invariably enjoy the benefits of improved employee morale, higher productivity, larger market share, and a strong bottom line. And that’s good news, because your organization IS going to be characterized by diversity—demographics alone guarantee it. But as we saw in yesterday’s Advisor, addressing diversity […]

HR Department Survey Results–How Does Your Department Compare?

What Is HR Responsible For? HR covers a lot of territory as the chart shows. No surprise that benefits and compliance are near universal, but it is interesting that 43% are responsible for safety/security, 10% have operational responsibilities, and 15% wear a facilities management hat. Type of Responsibility Percent of respondents indicating they have that […]

Succession Planning 2012—All About the Brain Drain

We can’t avoid a simple fact—We’re dealing with an aging workforce. For example, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that over one-third of the civilian employees working for the federal government are eligible for retirement. The same situation exists, but to a somewhat lesser degree, in the workforce as a whole. Companies can’t duck the […]

DOL releases guide to FMLA

by James J. Rooney and Kerry Langan The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) has released a 16-page guide to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) designed to make the law more accessible to employees. The publication, titled “Need Time? The Employee’s Guide to The Family and Medical Leave Act,” […]

Intermittent Leave–Handling Nine Tricky Aspects

Universally, HR managers wish that intermittent leave would just go away. Unfortunately, every HR department has to cope with its traps and technicalities. Today’s Advisor covers nine tricky aspects of intermittent and reduced schedule leave.” 1. Only for Medical Necessity There must be a medical need for intermittent leave or leave on a reduced leave […]

IRS Opens Safe Harbors to Reform’s Play-or-Pay Rules

Employers may use look-back periods of up to 12 months, rather than a shorter period as initially established — to average out how many hours an employee works per week, which is a necessity when calculating an employer’s obligation under reform’s play-or-pay provisions. IRS Notice 2012-58 may help some employers escape erroneous shared-responsibility payments under health […]

Social media policy best practices: Electronic monitoring

How do you craft a social media policy and internet use policy that helps to maintain your business image and reputation, your right to duty of loyalty, and your right to privacy without infringing upon your employees’ rights to privacy and freedom of expression? How specific do you need to be in your employee handbooks […]