Month: February 2016

6 Reasons Cash Is a Rotten Carrot: The Pitfalls of Cash Wellness Incentives

By Bryan Van Noy, cofounder of Sonic Boom Wellness When it comes to wellness incentives, cash is quite common. It’s commonly abused, commonly ineffective, and oh-so-commonly unoriginal. The jury may still be out on the superiority of carrots over sticks, but don’t fall victim to this obviously rotten carrot. Just because employees request cash above […]

Courage, Cowardice, and Career—Teach Your Managers to Conquer Fear

by Edward G. Brown Fear is a crippling emotion, both in life and in the workplace. Edward G. Brown, author of The Time Bandit Solution: Recovering Stolen Time You Never Knew You Had and cofounder of Cohen Brown Management Group, explains how fear is detrimental to proper management—and courage, like any other skill, needs to […]

Hidden tax penalties often lurk in employment agreements

by Matthew H. Parker Senior-level employees often enter into contracts stating they will receive separation pay if their employment is terminated unexpectedly. For example, employers often promise executives severance pay unless they are fired “for cause.” Other times, a company will promise that an executive can resign and collect severance pay following a change in […]

Experts Highlight Employment Law Issues for Associations

Associations need to have a special take on legal issues, because they are nonprofit, small employers and they may have to comply with laws in the District of Columbia, which has been a bellwether in promulgating liberal employment laws, causing some legal experts to call it the “California of the East.” To explain employment issues […]

EEOC Wants Feds to Provide Personal Assistants to Disabled

While the provision of a personal assistant generally has not been considered a “reasonable” accommodation required by disability nondiscrimination laws, federal employers may soon have to make such accommodations for workers with disabilities. In a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking scheduled to be published in the Federal Register Feb. 24, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission […]

Oregon employers need to prepare for minimum wage increases

by Joanna Perini-Abbott With the Oregon Legislature’s passage of a minimum wage increase and the governor’s expected signature, employers need to be ready for a three-tiered minimum wage system. Under the terms of Senate Bill 1532, an employer’s location will affect the wages it must pay employees. Employers in the Portland metropolitan area urban growth […]

Making Mobile Recruiting Friendlier

As we learned in yesterday’s Advisor, more applicants are using their mobile devices to look for and apply to jobs. That’s great if a company has mobile friendly employment sites. But, what if they don’t? Today we’ll explore what can be done about that. What Can Be Done? Recently, a number of experts have provided […]

Keeping Former Employee References Above Board

In yesterday’s Advisor, we explored some of the situations you might find yourself in should a former employee request a reference. Today, what you can do to keep the situation out of the courtroom. Staying Out of Court As we discussed in yesterday’s Advisor, there’s no shortage of risks for employers when giving references for […]

Ask the Expert: We Want to Change our Meal Reimbursement Policy

We’re considering changing our meals reimbursement policy from reimbursement of actual costs to a standard meal allowance for out of state travel. The objective is to make the expense fully deductible to the employer for tax purposes. What is the best way to go about this and are there any specific concerns? What (if any) […]