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Compensation & Benefits

Must we provide health insurance coverage for employees’ adult children?

09/16/2010
Q. How does the new health care reform law affect coverage for adult dependent children under a group health plan?

How will Illinois’ wage law change next year?

09/16/2010
Q. How are employees affected by the amendment to the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act?

New laws for a new year: Illinois employers face new credit check, wage payment requirements

09/16/2010

The Illinois General Assembly has been busy, passing legislation that HR professionals need to know about. Specifically: the Employee Credit Privacy Act, which prohibits many Illinois employers from basing hiring, promotion and other employment decisions on the credit histories of employees and job applicants, and the Wage Payment and Collection Act, which protects employees who have not been paid all their wages.

‘Talent’ report helps Deloitte take stock

09/16/2010

At Deloitte, the annual report doesn’t stop with a financial statement. The financial services firm also publishes a “Talent Annuity Report” to chronicle its year in benefits and employee recognition efforts. “We published a Talent Annuity Report because we regard our talent as an investment that generates an annuity,” said CEO Barry Salzberg.

Docking exempt worker for single day: Is it legal?

09/16/2010
Q. We require exempt employees who miss a full day for any reason to use either a sick day, personal day or vacation day in order to get paid for the full week. Is this appropriate? Is it permissible to pay them for less than a full week of work if they have used all of their paid leave time and still miss a full day of work?

Employees change clothes at work? Heed new pay rules

09/15/2010
The U.S. Department of Labor has issued a new interpretation letter that says time spent changing in and out of “protective clothing” (e.g., helmets, smocks, aprons, gloves, etc.) is considered paid time. Find more details and a link to the DOL letter at www.theHRSpecialist.com/clothing.

The HR I.Q. Test: September ’10

09/13/2010
Test your knowledge of recent trends in employment law, comp & benefits and other HR issues with our monthly mini-quiz …

16 creative and cheap ways to say ‘thank you’

09/13/2010
Q. I started in HR at a company six months ago and morale is really low. I want to start an employee appreciation program. Can you share some inexpensive things that work in your company? Here are some suggestions from readers of the HR Specialist Forum:

Beware legal risk of raising employee’s title in lieu of pay

09/09/2010

With nervous employers still keeping generous raises on the shelf, more companies are turning to job title promotions to show their appreciation. The risk: The titles themselves don’t reflect the duties of the position and required expertise, which can cause difficulty separating exempt and non-exempt employees.

Feds’ Payroll Savings plan going paperless in 2011

09/09/2010
Starting Jan. 1, 2011, the U.S. Department of the Treasury will no longer issue paper Savings Bonds through employer-sponsored payroll savings plans. Employees can still save through savings bonds, but the process will have to be done electronically.