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Compensation & Benefits

Can we make employees use sick leave for FMLA?

11/21/2008

Q. Our employees earn paid sick and vacation leave. Can we require them to use their paid leave at the same time they take unpaid FMLA leave? Otherwise, it seems as if they could use up paid leave and still take 12 unpaid weeks off.

Must we pay for hours lost due to power failure?

11/21/2008

Q. We recently had a power outage and called employees who weren’t in yet to tell them to come in when the power was back up. We then gave these people a chance to make up the lost time by working late or using paid time off. Do we have to pay them for the hours they missed?

California labor laws apply to nonresidents who perform work in the state, court rules

11/21/2008

If your organization sends employees into California to do work, take note of an important new 9th Circuit ruling.

Union fights Wayne County over health care changes

11/20/2008

The AFSCME secured a court order to prevent Wayne County from changing its retiree health care benefits. A redesign proposed by the county would have tripled prescription drug co-pays for employees who retired under the 2000-2004 contract.

15% of Michigan employers face additional unemployment tax

11/20/2008

Plummeting unemployment insurance funds and rising state debt will likely trigger a “solvency tax” on many Michigan employers beginning in January, the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) said.

Pregnancy—an ‘off-duty injury’—prompts Detroit Police suit

11/20/2008

Five Detroit police officers have filed a lawsuit challenging a department policy that forces pregnant officers to go on sick leave as soon as their supervisors find out they’re pregnant.

HR cost-cutting moves: Your benchmarks for surviving the meltdown

11/18/2008

As the impact of the global economic crisis takes hold, a quarter of U.S. employers expect to make layoffs in the next 12 months. Find out how employers nationwide are hunkering down—and the HR lessons you can apply to your organization. Your goal: Do what needs to be done … without killing productivity.

Is our new worker an employee or independent contractor?

11/12/2008

Q. I recently was talking with another manager at the company who told me that we had hired an independent contractor to work in our records room doing filing and data storage tasks. We also have employees performing that job. Could that cause any problems?

Breaking no-alcohol rule may mean no jobless benefits

11/12/2008

If you have a zero-tolerance policy for employees drinking alcohol on duty, employees who are fired for breaking the rules may be denied unemployment compensation benefits—even if the employee wasn’t impaired enough to be criminally charged with drunken driving.

Can we fire someone who is costing us a fortune in workers’ comp claims?

11/12/2008

Q. We have an employee in our manufacturing facility who has brought numerous workers’ compensation claims. This has cost us a lot of money. Do we have to continue to employ this person? His position involves a continued risk of physical injury.