Terminating employees for cause: lessons from the Canadian healthcare sector
By Ian Campbell It seems to be increasingly difficult to justify terminations for cause—even when an employee is found to have engaged in serious misconduct.
Month: January 2014
Steve Jobs, ‘product guys’ and ‘sales guys,’ and your payroll
I have a complicated relationship with thick biographies. Intellectually, I know I should sit there and wade my way through the thick prose devoted to men and women of great consequence. In a way, it’s like broccoli: “Go on, eat it – it’ll be good for you, and what do you mean, ‘I’m not hungry’?” […]
Yes, We Surveyed It—Highlights from BLR’s 2013 Survey Series
Special thanks to all readers who participated in our surveys in 2013! (2014 surveys start soon.) Benefits: Health Insurance Preferred provider organization (PPO) plans are offered by 68% of survey participants, and health maintenance organization (HMO) plans are offered by 31%. High-deductible plans are a benefit for 35%, and point-of-service (POS) plans are available for […]
5 Key Training Trends for the New Year
Laura DiFlorio and Kerrie Main, regional sales directors for Nobscot Corporation (www.nobscot.com), identified these five trends for the coming year on HR.BLR.com: 1. Experiential Training With its emphasis on games and activities, experiential training is expected to be increasingly popular, says DiFlorio. Experiential training is especially effective with younger workers, who she says tend to […]
How Should Employers Use an EEOC Position Statement to Respond to Discrimination Charges?
When faced with an EEOC charge, typically one of your first requirements will be to respond with what’s known as a position statement. The position statement is where the company has the chance to defend their position.
Preserving documentation in case of a lawsuit
by Gary S. Fealk “I know we had an e-mail/videotape/memo about that, but I can’t find it.” You might be surprised to learn that lawyers are often told there’s a key piece of evidence that would help in the defense of an employment claim, but the client just can’t seem to track it down. Let’s […]
IRS Gives Plans More Time to Amend for Roth Accounts
Plan sponsors have been waiting for details on rollovers within retirement plans to designated after-tax Roth accounts, and on Dec. 11, IRS issued new guidance that may prove beneficial. Among the clarifications and changes in Notice 2013-74 was an extension of the deadline for amending plans to incorporate in-plan Roth accounts. Now plans have until […]
Certain religious employers get a reprieve from ACA’s contraceptive mandate from Supreme Court
On New Year’s Eve, just hours before the healthcare reform (also known as the Affordable Care Act or ACA) contraceptive mandate requirement was supposed to go into effect, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a stay and gave the federal government until Friday to respond to the Court. The stay applies to a limited group […]
Supervisory Sin 7: Making Wage/Hour Blunders
[Go here for sins 1 through 6.] Sin #7. Making wagehour blunders We’re out of overtime. Can you clock out and then set up for tomorrow? You’ll be working alongside our regular employees, but you new recruits are all independent contractors. Tracy, make sure you stay close to the phone during lunch. Sandy, keep your […]
Mental health parity regulations take effect January 13
The final regulations implementing the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 will become effective January 13. The Act requires group health plans that offer mental health or substance use disorder benefits to ensure that those benefits are equivalent to the medical and surgical benefits offered by the […]