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

Compensation & Benefits

Employer wins commute dispute

12/28/2011

Employees must be paid for their pre-shift or post-shift activities, if those activities are integral and indispensable to the performance of their principal jobs. That can stretch a workday and possibly require you to pay for employees’ commuting time. But not all pre-shift or post-shift work is the same.

Good news and bad news from the feds

12/27/2011
Good news: A new EBSA website offers valuable information you can use to educate your employees about their benefits. Bad news: One of EBSA’s goals for the new site is to make it easier for employees to file complaints about their benefits.

Airline’s ‘Customer Cup’ prompts friendly competition

12/22/2011

American Airlines recognizes em­­ployees at five airports each quarter to promote friendly competition for better customer service. “Customer Cup” awards are categorized by market size, from largest to smallest stations according to flight activity.

Beware management push-back on HR decisions

12/21/2011
As an HR professional, you may come across employment practices that you think violate the law. What you do with that concern and how you express it may make the difference between engaging in protected activity or not—and by extension, whether you can sue for retaliation if upper management punishes you.

Create time sheets in MS Excel

12/21/2011
It’s easy to set up a simple time sheet in Microsoft Excel. All MS Excel versions have a “Time Card” template with the basics.

How flexible is starting pay in your organization?

12/20/2011
Most employers offer at least some flexibility to tweak starting pay.

IRS: Cellphone/smartphone rules apply to tablets, too

12/20/2011
According to the IRS, the same rules that apply to employees’ tax-free use of cellphones and smartphones also apply to tablets, such as iPads.

What are the new FMLA rules affecting federal employees?

12/19/2011
Q. We’ve heard that federal employees’ FMLA rights have recently expanded.  Can you tell us about this?

The dozen leave laws California employers must know

12/16/2011

Dealing with the multitude of federal and state laws governing leaves of absence in California can leave employers feeling lost and dis­­oriented—and expose even the most well-intentioned employer to liability. The best prevention is education.

2012 tax rates: It always pays to plan ahead

12/16/2011
Employees can take a lot of the guesswork out of their 2012 income tax liability by ensuring that their W-4s are accurate. Those who need to file new forms due to changes in their personal finances now have the inflation-adjusted figures on which to base those decisions.