• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Insurance

Pill for a health cost headache: Wal-Mart’s Low-Cost Drugs in N.J.

12/01/2006

Health insurance premiums for New Jersey families covered by employer plans rose about 80 percent over the past six years and grew a whopping 5.5 times faster than their income, according to a Families USA study. On the bright side, Wal-Mart recently expanded its new low-cost generic drug program to New Jersey …

Learn from the best: 5 retention tips from top companies

12/01/2006

When it comes to recruiting and retaining, organizations don’t need to reinvent the wheel or create bold initiatives to attract and keep the best workers. Sometimes, simply doing the tried-and-true things right are all you need …

UI benefits due unless you prove independent contractor status

12/01/2006

The Pennsylvania Unemployment Compensation Law includes a presumption that out-of-work individuals are employees, not independent contractors (who aren’t eligible for UI benefits). It’s up to you—not the worker—to prove that he or she is an independent contractor …

Pa. legislature weighs health insurance tax credit

12/01/2006

The Pennsylvania legislature is considering an important bill that would create a special tax credit for Pennsylvania small businesses …

Injury while commuting doesn’t earn workers’ comp

12/01/2006

Texas employees who are injured while commuting to their job sites aren’t eligible for workers’ compensation unless they can show that the employer paid for their commute or the transportation was within the employer’s control …

New health campaign urges Texans to ‘Own Your Future’

12/01/2006

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has chosen Texas as one of six states that will participate in a long-term-care planning promotion campaign …

Injured worker can collect workers’ comp and sue

12/01/2006

Q. One of our employees badly hurt himself when he tripped over some equipment that had been left by the building maintenance. Workers’ comp covered his medical bills and lost wages, but he also sued the building for negligence. Now we have a letter from the office building demanding that we defend them in the lawsuit and telling us we are responsible. How can that be? I thought we were protected by workers’ comp from any suit involving an employee injury?

Paying employees for healthy lifestyles helps trim premiums

11/01/2006

The city of Maple Grove, Minn., found a sure-fire way to convince its employees to adopt healthier lifestyles: It pays them to do it …

Head off rising costs: Explore reasons for high claims

11/01/2006

You can look forward to smaller increases in health-plan costs for 2007, even though medical and prescription drug-plan costs are still expected to run at more than twice the rate of general inflation, according to the 2007 Segal Health Plan Cost Trend Survey …

Tardiness Can Count as ‘Misconduct’ That Bars UI Benefits

11/01/2006

Under Florida law, employees who are fired can’t collect unemployment compensation if you fired them for "misconduct."  Unfortunately, the law doesn’t clearly define misconduct …