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HR Management

Health insurance: Employees to pay higher portion of health benefits

10/07/2009

Premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance rose to an average $13,375 annually for family coverage this year, and employers are likely to pass even more of the cost to employees next year, according to a benchmark survey of employers. When asked about their plans for next year, 21% of employers said they are “very likely” to raise workers’ premium contributions.

‘Kevin eats all the good cookies!’… and 12 other weirdest complaints to HR

10/06/2009

You have to handle plenty of serious employee gripes about benefits and harassment. But as shown by a new CareerBuilder survey of 2,600 HR pros and hiring managers, you also have had to deal with some truly offbeat complaints. For example:

Can we require employees to get flu shots?

10/06/2009

Approximately 3 million doses of the vaccines designed to prevent the H1N1 flu virus—swine flu—shipped last week. Local health authorities are preparing to offer vaccines as early as this week. Can you—should you?—demand that your employees get flu shots?

You’ve got mail—and you might have a lawsuit if your e-mails are too casual

10/05/2009

E-mail—often quick and informal—is the standard for most business communications these days. But if you’re too casual in the way you word e-mails, you could wind up in lots of legal trouble, as the following case shows.

Tell employees they must report sexual harassment up chain of command

10/05/2009

Looking for a way to eliminate unfounded sexual harassment claims from former employees? One way is to make sure your sexual harassment policy tells employees to keep taking their harassment claims up the chain of command if they aren’t satisfied with the first response.

Dave’s Markets chain charged with sexual harassment

10/05/2009

The EEOC has sued Cleveland-based Dave’s Markets, alleging the chain tolerated a workplace rife with sexual harassment. The lawsuit claims that a longtime male manager made repeated and unwanted sexual advances against female employees, and the company did nothing to stop it.

Texas Supreme Court: Limited employer liability for fatigue-related off-duty conduct

10/05/2009

In a much-watched case, the Texas Supreme Court has refused to expand employer liability for employee off-duty conduct. That’s good news for employers, which faced the possibility of greater liability had the court ruled differently.

Office communication: Align practices with employee perceptions

10/02/2009

Sometimes it seems like supervisors and employees work in entirely different places. For years, researchers have known that bosses and line workers have widely varying views about things like priorities, performance ratings, communication and benefits. Here are eight areas for which recent studies have revealed major disconnects between what employees want and what their bosses think they want:

U.S. Department of Labor approves Illinois’ OSHA plan

10/02/2009

Illinois has received approval from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to administer its own occupational safety and health plan for state and local government employees. The federal OSHA law doesn’t cover state and local public employees.

Attorney-client privilege: It does apply when e-mailing from work

10/01/2009

The rise of electronic communication has forced employers and courts to take a fresh look at many issues that used to be considered routine. The age-old concept of attorney-client privilege is the latest one to whipsaw through the courts.