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More Protections for Disabled Employees Coming

By Alix Herber and Michelle Johnston The Ontario government is leading the Canadian provinces in its push for accessibility for people with disabilities, a ratio that is estimated to rise to one in five people in Canada by 2025. In accordance with a new regulation under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), Ontario […]

HHS Solicits Comments on Essential Health Benefits

An important component of health reform implementation is the imposition of an “essential benefits” package (of health goods and services that insurers of groups and individuals must cover). Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), that benefit package will be de rigueur (1) for policies sold on exchanges and (2) insurers of small […]

President Signs One-Month COBRA Subsidy Extension Legislation

Late Tuesday night, President Barack Obama signed the Temporary Extension Act of 2010 (H.R. 4691) into law. The bill, which passed the U.S. Senate by a 78-19 vote Tuesday night and passed the U.S. House of Representatives last week, extends the original federal COBRA subsidy created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 […]

Sexual Harassment: Teenager To Get $750,000 For Roughhousing By Supervisor

A recent case illustrates that sexual harassment claims can encompass actions other than traditional sexually oriented conduct. A 15-year-old student who was hired to answer the telephone at a nonprofit agency in the San Francisco area will receive $750,000 in a confidential settlement of his claim that a supervisor harassed him through aggressive “roughhousing” and […]

New I-9 form effective April 3; H-1B visa deadline

Two important deadlines are approaching for HR. On April 3, employers must start using the new I-9 form. Initially the change was set to happen in February, but the Obama administration delayed it and other unimplemented regulations to allow time for further agency review. April 1 marks the beginning of the annual race for the […]

Tap Into Generational IT Insight

M. Lee Smith Publishers’ President Dan Oswald comments on the generational divide that most companies are experiencing in relation to technology and offers five tips for how employers can harness the know-how and insight of their younger employees. I recently handed a newspaper column written by Financial Times columnist Luke Johnson to my 18-year old […]

National Payroll Week

National Payroll Week celebrates the hard work by America’s 156 million wage earners and the payroll professionals who pay them. Together, through the payroll withholding system, they contribute, collect, report and deposit approximately $1.8 trillion, or 65.7%, of the annual revenue of the U.S. Treasury. Founded in 1996 by the American Payroll Association, NPW is […]

News Notes: New Free Information for Employers on Discrimination Laws

A new fact sheet summarizing federal employment-related laws is available from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. It’s geared toward smaller businesses, but contains a helpful overview of legal obligations that could be of interest to all employers. It covers subjects such as which employers are subject to federal employment laws, how employees are counted for […]