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Compensation & Benefits

Obscenity, drunk-dialing: No unemployment

06/20/2013
In a win for common sense, the Court of Appeals of Minnesota has reversed an unemployment compensation award to a supervisor who used obscenities at work and then drunk-dialed a subordinate more than once.

Payroll and Accounts Payable: Essential friends and allies

06/20/2013
Payroll and Accounts Payable should talk early and often, say Billy Meyerkorth, payroll manager at  American Century Investments, and Jodi Parsons, payroll and accounts payable manager at Lifespace Communities. These two departments have more in common than they think.

‘Wheel of Fortune’ could land worker in jail

06/19/2013
A North Carolina postal worker could wind up working in a prison mail room after pleading guilty to workers’ compensation fraud. Her problems began when former co-workers spotted her on the television game show “Wheel of Fortune.”

Court: If interns perform work, pay them!

06/19/2013
A New York case with a Hollywood connection is a timely reminder that, in almost all cases, employers must pay interns, no matter how menial their work is.

Prepare now for the next round of MLR rebates

06/19/2013
Group health insurers that don’t spend between 80 and 85 cents of every premium dollar on medical care and health care quality improvement must make medical loss ratio (MLR) rebates to employees. This year’s rebates are due by Aug. 1. Take these steps now to prepare.

In 40% of homes, mom is the primary wage earner

06/18/2013
Working moms are the primary breadwinners in 40% of households with kids under age 18, according to a new report by the Pew Research Center.

Kraft improves worker health with new integrated strategy

06/17/2013
Integrating its employee wellness, productivity and health care programs into a unified strategy helped Kraft Foods Group reduce its medical spending growth trend from 8% in 2009 to 1.2% in 2012.

Can we legally give extra vacation time to certain workers; and must we pay for unused days?

06/17/2013
Q. Our company policy states that we give one week of paid vacation after one year of employment and two weeks of vacation after two years. But some employees when hired have been given two weeks of paid vacation right away. Is this legal and proper? Also, are we required to pay for unused vacation time upon termination or resignation?

DOL proposes income projections on retirement fund statements

06/14/2013
Annual or quarterly statements for 401(k) and 403(b) retirement funds could soon include graphs showing how much monthly income employees can expect to receive from their investments.

IRS details its response to the budget sequester

06/14/2013
The automatic budget cuts that took effect on March 1, known as the sequester, will require the IRS to furlough all employees without pay and completely close its doors on July 5, July 22 and Aug. 30, with two possible additional furlough days to be announced in August or September.