Category: Benefits and Compensation

This topic provides guidance on how to handle compensation issues in a way that attracts and retains the best talent and advances the strategic goals of your business. You get news and tips on what’s going on nationally and in the states, and updates on changes in regulations, possible governmental action, and emerging compensation trends.

Pay-for-Performance? The Three Key Questions

Is pay-for-performance the right compensation philosophy for your company? For some companies, emphatically yes, says expert Brooke Green; however, there are three key question to answer before considering it. Green, who is a principal at consultant Hay Group, offered her tips at a recent webinar sponsored by HRHero/BLR. What Pay-for-Performance Is (And Isn’t) First, says […]

Employer Stuck with $830k Bill After Delay Results in S-L Claim Denial

The outcome in this case should remind employers that even with stop-loss (S-L) in place, a self-insured health plan is risky business. Trouble for the Claire’s Stores health plan started in the form of a premature birth, which generated about $1 million in charges. Under the terms of its S-L contract, the plan had to […]

Final Health Reform Exchange Rules Flesh Out Privacy and Security Requirements

Final rules that will govern the state-based insurance exchanges created by health reform include more detailed privacy and security requirements for the exchanges themselves and participating insurers. These restrictions also will apply indirectly to agents, brokers and others involved in this process. In the rules, published March 27 (77 Fed. Reg. 18310), the U.S. Department […]

Successful Wellness Programs Require Ongoing Commitment, Tailoring to Employees

Getting good results from an employee wellness program requires a continuing organizational commitment and understanding of what motivates individual employees, wellness expert Brad Cooper told a recent Thompson Interactive webinar. He warned of some common wellness program pitfalls. One is a “check-the box” approach — such as setting up a biometric screening and distributing a […]

GSA Chastened Over ‘Lavish’ Conference Expenses

Federal offices have to follow federal travel guidelines, and federal rates form the basis of tax treatment of private sector business travel reimbursements as well. But what happens when the federal government agency that develops travel policy goes astray from its own guidelines? The report by GSA Inspector General (IG) Brian D. Miller said that […]

FWA Policy Makers Mostly Ignorant of Business Realities

Fortney is a co-founder of law firm Fortney & Scott, LLC in Washington, DC, and is editor of the Federal Employment Law Insider. He made his remarks about FWAs at SHRM’s Employment Law and Legislative Conference, held recently in the nation’s capitol. Well-Meaning, But Dangerous As an example of the problems with FWAs, says Fortney, […]

Flex Arrangements—Outmoded Laws Are a Chokehold

Fortney is a co-founder of law firm Fortney & Scott, LLC in Washington, DC, and is editor of the Federal Employment Law Insider. He made his remarks about FWAs at SHRM’s Employment Law and Legislative Conference, held recently in the nation’s capitol. What Are Flexible Workplace Arrangements? First, says Fortney, here are the typical alternatives […]

Pay-for-Performance—Is Management Willing?

Green, who is a principal at Hay Group, offered her tips at a recent webinar sponsored by HRHero/BLR. In yesterday’s Advisor, she suggested that compensation managers ask three key questions before launching a pay-for-performance program. [Go here for Question 1] Question 2. Is Management Willing to Differentiate? At the heart of pay-for-performance is paying higher […]

Beyond Discrimination: What Else Can You Be Sued for?

West, principal of Employment Practices Specialists in Pacifica, CA, offered her tips at SHRM’s Employment Law and Legislative Conference, held recently in Washington, DC. Defamation In the HR world, defamation often rears itself in relation to references. What exactly is defamation? West says that it has the following characteristics: False statement of fact (opinions are […]