Don't HR Alone

EEOC—Fifty years after the ADEA, agency reports on the state of older workers and bias Even though the ADEA took effect 50 years ago in June 1968, age discrimination remains too common and too accepted as outdated assumptions about older workers and ability persist, according to a report released June 26 by Victoria A. Lipnic, Acting EEOC Chair, on the  State of Older Workers and Age Discriminatio...

BENEFITS—SHRM survey finds uptick in health and wellness offerings As a tight job market continues to help drive increases in employee benefits offered by organizations, health and wellness along with employee programs and services are the benefits most likely to be increased, according to the results of the  2018 Employee Benefits Survey  released June 19 by the Society for Human Resource Managem...

School’s out! Summer is here, and it’s the time of year when working parents have questions about using their Dependent Care Spending Accounts (DCSAs). Are summer camp expenses eligible? What about day versus overnight camps? Employers and benefit advisors want to be ready with answers about this valuable benefit program. The following are the top summertime questions about DCSAs and reimbursable...

Too few managers believe key performance indicators align with organization’s strategic objectives — MIT SLOAN A new global study on the state of key performance indicators, released by  MIT Sloan Management Review (SMR), suggests that a high number of executives underutilize KPIs as a leadership tool. Despite having access to magnitudes more information, nearly 30 percent of surveyed leaders don&...

TOP TALENT—Whole benefits package crucial in competitive labor market With low unemployment hovering at 4 percent, many companies face the recurring question of how to attract and retain top talent in a candidate-driven landscape. In order to remain competitive, it is essential for companies to focus on what they can do to raise wages or reevaluate their benefits packages to adequately compensate...

CPI for all items rises 0.2% in April The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.2 percent in April on a seasonally adjusted basis after falling 0.1 percent in March, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics  reported  May 10. Over the last 12 months, the all items index rose 2.5 percent before seasonal adjustment. The indexes for gasoline and shelter were the largest factors...

FORM I-9—Increased federal enforcement requires proactive measures The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is stepping up enforcement efforts of unauthorized workers by tripling its number of officers and quintupling the number of enforcement actions in 2018. As a result, employers need to be proactive and ensure that they are hiring authorized workers and that their Form I-9 practices ar...

You are an applicable large employer if you averaged at least 50 full-time employees, including full-time equivalent employees, during the prior calendar year. ALEs are subject to information reporting and the employer shared responsibility provisions. Steps to determine your status as an ALE 1.Determine how many full-time employees you had each month of the prior calendar year. Under the ACA, a f...

Majority of working parents claim they are able to ‘have it all’ — SURVEY RESULTS According to the majority of workers with children at home (78 percent) who participated in a CareerBuilder survey, it is possible to be successful at work and at home. The national survey was conducted online by The Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder from April 4 to May 1, 2018, and included a representative sam...

Benchmark: Employer Costs for Employee Compensation Employee compensation packages usually contain at least two components: base salary or hourly wage; and group benefits. Base salary depends on competitive considerations such as the available talent pool, the role of bonuses, and the company’s stated philosophy to pay at a specified percentile of the market salary. Group benefits may be in...

Legal analysis of alternative dispute resolution What are the issues that arise when considering whether or not to offer alternative dispute resolution (ADR) to employees in the hope that they will use ADR in lieu of litigation? An employer wants to be sure this process will be: fair and objective; cost effective; capable of protecting the employer’s interests; reliable; binding on all parti...

New NLRB memo talks permissible vs. impermissible handbook rules in light of Boeing In the aftermath of its December 2017  The  Boeing Company  decision, the National Labor Relations Board has issued new guidance on handbook rules. The June 7 General Counsel memorandum provides general guidance for Regions about the placement of various types of rules into the three categories set out in  Boeing ,...

Standard mileage rates updated to reflect elimination of miscellaneous itemized deductions In Notice 2018-42, the IRS has updated Notice 2018-3, to reflect changes to the tax law made by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA; P.L. 115-97). Changes impacting Notice 2018-3 include: the suspension of the deduction for un-reimbursed employee expenses; the suspension of the deduction for move related expense...

Law amended — TENNESSEE — Unemployment Insurance , (Jun. 1, 2018) Electronic filing requirement.  Except as otherwise provided in the Law, beginning January 1, 2019, and each quarter afterwards, every employer, and every person or organization who reports wages for employees on behalf of one or more subject employers, must file their wage and premium reports electronically, in a format prescribed...

Private equity firm to pay over $550,000 in back wages and penalties over misclassifying employees as interns — MASSACHUSETTS — Employee misclassification A Boston private equity firm will pay more than half a million dollars in penalties and wages to 174 current and former employees in a settlement with the AG’s Office over the employer’s improper classification of employees as interns and its fa...

Law firm’s pay equity guidance points to trends — PRACTICE TIP Acknowledging Equal Pay Day on April 10, Seyfarth Shaw’s Pay Equity Group released a pair of reference guides on pay equity that are aimed at enhancing employers’ compliance efforts: the  2018 Trends and Developments in Pay Equity Litigation Report  and the  2nd Annual 50-State Pay Equity Desktop Reference .  From XPERT HR (full report...

Employers found to be accelerating adoption of benefits technology — SURVEY RESULTS Since 2012, investors have steered more than $14 billion into human capital management (HCM) software and platforms. A new study by The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America® (Guardian) confirms that human resources technology is top of mind for many employers seeking greater efficiencies and workforce engagem...

How should intermittent FMLA leave be calculated when an employee moves from full- to part-time status? Issue:   Six months ago, one of your full-time employees (working 40 hours per week) was granted intermittent leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). He has taken three weeks (or 120 hours) of leave. Last month, he transferred to a part-time position, working 20 hours per week, and...

Workers value sense of community in the workplace About half (47 percent) of part- or full-time employees value a community atmosphere in the place where they work, according to a new  survey  by Clutch, a B2B research, ratings and reviews company. The number increases to 55 percent for millennial workers aged 18-34. These findings suggest that workspaces, including traditional offices, coworking...

EBSA issues array of guidance on mental health parity EBSA has released an array of guidance on the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA), including proposed Frequently Asked Questions, an enforcement fact sheet, a self-compliance tool, and a revised draft disclosure template. In addition, the DOL has released a report to Congress that outlines its current implementation and enfor...

NY Assembly again passes Gender Non-discrimination Act — NEW YORK The New York State Assembly has again passed the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA), Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie announced on May 7. The legislation would prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression in considerations of employment, education and in consumer credit and housing. The bill would...

Six tips to head off hiring headaches Issue >> :   You work for an advertising agency and are having trouble filling several creative positions at your organization. While many resumes look promising, candidates are not living up to expectations when interviewed. How can you attract and hire employees who will bring maximum value to your creative team? << Answer :  Figuring out how to...

How can organizations help prepare employees for a timely retirement? Issue:   Your workers are anxious about saving enough money for retirement, according to results from your organization’s latest employee opinion survey. What strategies can you employ to support your employees’ retirement planning? Answer:  Employers have a variety of strategies available to support their employees’ retirement...

May 7 Compliance Update Health savings accounts.  The limit on deductible health savings account (HSA) contributions for 2018 is now back to $6,900 for individuals with family coverage under a high deductible health plan (HDHP). In March, this amount was reduced by $50 (to $6,850) due to a change in the inflation adjustment calculations enacted under the  Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.  However, a...

Noncompetition Agreements and Trade Secrets Introduction Whenever an employer hires a new employee, the employer provides that person with access to the organization’s most valuable assets: its people, its customers, and its way of doing business. Given that the average American will change jobs seven times over a work life, chances are high that some of that information will eventually find its w...