• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Insurance

Document all efforts to accommodate disabled workers

08/15/2008
Employees who claim they suffered emotional distress because of illegal disability discrimination under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act don’t have to rely solely on the workers’ compensation system to adjudicate their claims. They can go to court instead, suing for negligent infliction of emotional distress under state common law …

Can severance agreement rule out seeking unemployment comp?

08/12/2008
Q. In exchange for severance benefits, we would like a departing employee to promise not to file a claim for unemployment compensation. Can this be a term of our severance agreement? …

Workers’ comp may cover injury that occurs on vacation

08/11/2008
If you require certain employees to stay in good physical shape and pass regular fitness tests, a recent court ruling raises this key question: Could your organization be on the hook for workers’ compensation bneefits if the employee gets hurt while working out during a vacation?

Court addresses workers’ comp physician conflict of interest

08/05/2008
In a case that could have complicated workers’ compensation cases in Colorado, the Court of Appeals of Colorado has decided to allow physicians to do limited work for insurance carriers while still performing independent medical examinations on employees whose employers are insured by the same carrier …

New bill gives unemployed Texans 13 more weeks of benefits

08/04/2008
The Texas Workforce Commission recently announced that federally funded unemployment insurance (UI) benefits will be extended for 13 weeks. On June 30, President Bush signed legislation authorizing Emergency Extended Unemployment Compensation …

Bryan-Based MIWU sued for mismanagement of health fund

08/04/2008
The U.S. Department of Labor has sued an employer association, a health fund trustee and the fund’s consultant over allegedly imprudent management of the Manufacturing and Industrial Workers Union (MIWU) Benefit Fund of Bryan, Texas …

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act finally becomes law

08/04/2008
President Bush recently signed into law H.R. 493, also known as the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA), which prohibits employers from using genetic tests or information to discriminate against applicants and employees …

Ease pain of health benefits cuts with less costly perks

08/01/2008
Quell employee grumbling about their increasing health care premiums and deductibles by offering other popular benefits that cost the company less. Organizations may be shifting more of health care costs to employees, but they’re filling the gaps with perks such as telework and training for nonjob-related skills …

Alternatives to traditional health insurance

08/01/2008
As health care costs continue their upward spiral, employers are looking for ways to hold down expenses. Preferred provider organizations (PPOs) remain popular, but employee participation in consumer-directed health care plans (CDHPs), health reimbursement accounts (HRAs) and health savings accounts (HSAs) are on the rise …

No workers’ comp just because your job drives you crazy

07/25/2008
Any job can be stressful, but some employees claim their jobs literally are making them crazy. But does that mean that employees whose jobs drive them nuts have an occupational disease? If so, are they entitled to workers’ compensation benefits if they cannot work anymore? Those are some of questions the North Carolina Supreme Court considered in a recent landmark decision …