Archives

Clarifying OSHA’s Annual Training Requirements

“Wherever OSHA standards require that employee training be conducted ‘at least annually,’ OSHA interprets that to mean that employees must be provided retraining at least once every 12 months (i.e., within a time period not exceeding 365 days),” says David Galt, managing editor—safety, with BLR®—Business & Legal Resources (www.blr.com). This annual training need not be […]

vaccine

Common question of the season: Can employees be required to take a flu shot?

It’s flu season, a time when every cough and sneeze can strike fear into the hearts of both employees and employers. Nobody wants to come down with a coworker’s case of flu, and employers needing all hands on deck don’t want significant numbers of workers out sick. Therefore, some employers—particularly those in the healthcare field—mandate […]

Governor signs Hawaii’s Marriage Equality Act of 2013 into law

by Paul M. Saito Governor Neil Abercrombie has signed into law the Hawaii Marriage Equality Act of 2013, which defines marriage in Hawaii as between “individuals without regard to gender.” Hawaii is the 15th state to give same-sex couples the right to marry. The law goes into effect December 2. A special session of the […]

Administration Loosens Individual Mandate to ‘Un-cancel’ Policies

The Obama administration on Nov. 14 proposed an administrative fix to allow individuals and small businesses losing coverage to keep their plans for another year. The fix was necessary in part because many people who lost coverage: (1) could not enroll for coverage on reform-mandated state-based health insurance exchanges due to problems with the government’s […]

Yahoo embraces stack ranking of employees as Microsoft abandons it

As Microsoft is washing its hands of a controversial employee performance appraisal practice, Yahoo is reportedly adopting it. Stack ranking systems—also known as forced ranking or forced distribution—require managers to rank their employees from best to worst, apply the rankings to a bell curve and use the results to determine pay as well as who […]

Make the Best Use of Your Training Tools

Thorough and effective employee training is recognized as a major key to achieving not only compliance with OSHA and other regulations but also the protection of the company’s assets and the workers themselves. Therefore, the managers, supervisors, and safety professionals involved in the training effort should seek to find and use the best tools for […]

Vendors Segment ‘Fiduciary’ Services as DOL Treads Water on New Definition

While most retirement plan sponsors and their vendors think being deemed a plan fiduciary is an “all-or-nothing” proposition, it is in fact becoming a growing continuum of service-provider job titles and responsibilities, one industry expert suggests. For example, a survey of 100 randomly selected, non-client plan sponsors conducted by retirement planning and wealth management firm […]

Roofer Falls Down in Pulling Off Workers’ Comp Premium Ruse

The owner of a Missoula, Montana, roofing business faced a large fine and a felony charge for employer misconduct for trying to sweep the truth past the Montana State Fund to keep from paying higher workers’ comp premiums. Despite having over 300 roofing permits and purchasing over $1 million in roofing supplies, the roofer classified […]

Selecting Your Outsourcing Vendor

Letke, who is founder and CEO of Integrity HR, Inc., in Louisville, Kentucky, offered her tips at BLR’s Strategic HR Leadership Summit in Scottsdale, Arizona. How Do You Identify Providers/Partners/Vendors? There are a number of helpful sources for finding outsourcing options, says Letke, including: Referrals, networking, colleagues Newspapers and magazines (HRO Today) Internet Mailings Professional […]