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Compensation & Benefits

Give employees heads-up on new flex spending rules

12/07/2010

The new health care reform law resulted in some changes in the way health care Flexible Spending Accounts will work—and employees need to act on some of those changes right away! Help employees make the most of current FSA benefits and plan future health spending by letting them know about the following changes.

Does new health law require us to cover dependents?

12/07/2010
Q. We offer health insurance coverage only for individual employees. We’ve never provided family coverage for anyone, nor do we make it available at the employee’s cost. An employee with a daughter in grad school says the new health care law requires that she be allowed to add her daughter to the plan because she is younger than 26. Is this true?

Employee can be AWOL even if he phones in

12/06/2010

Many public employees assume rules against being absent without leave protect them from termination as long as they call in. But the Ohio Civil Service Act makes it clear: “[U]nexcused failure to appear for duty as scheduled” may be considered job abandonment if it lasts for 10 days. Calling in doesn’t matter.

It takes just a handful of workers to make a class action

12/06/2010
It’s every employer’s nightmare: A disgruntled former employee files a lawsuit alleging you didn’t pay overtime. Then he asks to turn it into a class action, representing other employees. Now a claim worth a few hundred dollars has turned into a major lawsuit.

Tax employees walk for charity

12/03/2010
More than 400 employees who work for Dallas-based tax services firm Ryan walked a collective 183,535,657 steps and raised $9,000 for charity over the summer. Employees tracked their steps with pedometers during the challenge, which execs say combine the organization’s twin goals of employee wellness and community outreach.

Review duties, update job descriptions yearly to ensure employees are properly classified

12/02/2010

As job duties change, evolve or grow, make sure you regularly review employee responsibilities, update job descriptions to reflect the reality on the ground and determine if the job is properly classified as exempt or nonexempt. Don’t rely on an analysis that’s even a couple of years old—or even an analysis provided by the DOL itself.

The HR I.Q. Test: December ’10

12/02/2010
Test your knowledge of recent trends in employment law, comp & benefits and other HR issues with our monthly mini-quiz …

Firm’s annual birthday bash a chance to give back

12/02/2010
Henkel North America throws itself a big birthday party every year, inviting employees to participate in activities that don’t cost them or the organization much money. Each Henkel site in North America celebrates the organization’s Sept. 25, 1876, founding with Henkel Day.

Can we deduct pay from an exempt worker who takes FMLA leave? If so, how should we calculate it?

12/01/2010
Q. An exempt employee recently requested intermittent leave under the FMLA … FMLA leave at our company is unpaid. Can we deduct from the employee’s salary for absences of less than a day and still classify her as exempt? If so, how do we calculate how much FMLA time the employee is using?

Are we liable for defamation if we make allegations during an unemployment comp hearing?

12/01/2010
Q. We fired an employee for stealing company property. While we didn’t catch her red-handed, the circumstantial evidence was overwhelming and we felt comfortable letting her go. The employee filed an unemployment compensation claim that we contested, and now a hearing has been scheduled before an appeals referee. We would like to say at the hearing that the employee is a thief, but we’re afraid we’ll face a defamation claim because we can’t absolutely prove this charge. Would that be a well-founded concern?