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Compensation & Benefits

Worker who leaves to give birth can’t collect unemployment

12/08/2009

An Ohio appeals court has ruled that an employee who quits to have a child and isn’t otherwise eligible for maternity leave isn’t entitled to unemployment.

Side by side: How the House and Senate health care reform bills compare

12/08/2009

The Senate is burning the midnight oil and working weekends to pass its version of health care reform legislation. The House has already approved its own package. Here’s SHRM’s analysis of how the two bills stack up, along with its take on the relative merits of each provision.

Tell those on FMLA leave: No working from home

12/08/2009

Because FMLA leave is an entitlement, employers aren’t allowed to interfere with it. Interference can include things like requiring employees to perform work during their leave. That’s why it’s important to make arrangements for getting work done without requiring assistance from the employee on leave.

IRS making list, checking it twice to spot end-of-year awards cheats

12/08/2009

Nothing takes the shine off an employee achievement award faster than having to pay taxes on its value. The IRS is on the lookout for awards that really amount to bonuses, but it’s entirely possible to design a recognition program that doesn’t cause tax liability for your employees—and is fully tax deductible for your organization.

Fort Lauderdale suit shows cops don’t know all the laws

12/08/2009

When Fort Lauderdale police officers sued the city, they claimed an early retirement offered to older workers violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). The grounds: that a release the city asks the departing officers to sign illegally makes retirees relinquish all claims against the city.

Wellness programs: Does your health-risk questionnaire violate the new genetic-bias law?

12/04/2009

It’s time to take a fresh look at the health questionnaires you hand out to employees as part of your wellness program. New federal regulations that prohibit discrimination against people with congenital medical conditions mean employers and health benefits providers must immediately review health risk assessments (HRAs) to make sure they don’t ask employees to reveal protected information.

North Carolina Supreme Court rules: No unemployment with voluntary early retirement

12/04/2009

Employees who decide to accept their employer’s offer for early retirement can’t also collect unemployment compensation. So said the North Carolina Supreme Court in a decision based on a simple concept: The employee would still have a job if he or she hadn’t chosen instead to take the enhanced retirement benefits offered as an incentive to leave early.

Can an employee collect workers’ comp and then sue us for more?

12/04/2009

Q. One of our employees suffered a job-related injury. Now she’s trying to sue us in court for damages following mediation in which she settled her workers’ compensation petition by accepting permanent total disability (PTD) benefits. Can she do that?

Can we cap how much vacation can accrue?

12/04/2009

Q. Our vacation policy caps the amount of vacation employees can earn at 250 hours. Employees can’t earn any more until the vacation balance falls below that level. Does this violate California’s law on accruing vacation?

Oral agreements may be too vague to be enforceable

12/03/2009

Oral agreements are as binding as written ones, but they can be considerably less precise. Consider this case, in which a disgruntled employee claimed an oral agreement affected future compensation: