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Compensation & Benefits

Review exempt/nonexempt status in wake of court decision on administrative exception

04/20/2011
Good news for employers: The Court of Appeal of California has found that claims adjusters are exempt administrative employees not entitled to overtime. The court rejected the notion that all claims adjusters who work for insurance companies are nonexempt employees without regard to the work they actually perform.

Making the clear-cut case for adding vision care benefits

04/20/2011
Poor vision and eye disease cost U.S. businesses more than $8 billion a year in lost productivity, and even more in direct health care costs. Plus, there is a significant link between vision and overall health. Here are five practical reasons to add vision benefits to your menu of health-related benefits:

Employing Minors: Federal Law & Legal Best Practices

04/19/2011
Login Email Address Password I forgot my password To continue reading this page, become an HR Specialist Premium Plus member today! Your subscription includes: Ask the Attorney: Answers to your HR legal questions Compliance Guidance: Access to 7,000 HR news articles, updated daily, sorted by state State-by-State: Summaries of HR laws in all 50 states […]

4 tools to keep golden-years dreams alive

04/18/2011
American workers are less confident than ever that they’ll be able to save enough to retire comfortably, according to a new study by EBRI. Benefits professionals, take note: The finding means you have lots of work ahead of you to help employees meet their retirement goals. But a growing arsenal of online tools can make it easier for employees to take control of their retirement planning.

Accruing sick leave while on FMLA

04/15/2011
Q. If an employee is on FMLA paid sick leave, can we stop her from accruing sick leave while out?

Remind employees: They must continue to pay health insurance premiums while on FMLA

04/15/2011
Employees out on unpaid FMLA leave are still entitled to health insurance benefits if they were covered before going out on leave. However, if the employee was required to pay part of the premium before taking leave, that obligation continues.

Class action could pair employees, contractors

04/14/2011
Do you try to cut labor costs by hiring independent contractors to do employees’ jobs? If so, consider this risk: Both employees and independent contractors who do the same or similar work could join together and sue over unpaid wages and overtime.

Does the FMLA grant leave for foreign adoptions?

04/14/2011
Q. One of our employees is adopting a 5-year-old Ethiopian child and has asked for leave to travel to complete the adoption and bond with the child when they return to Minnesota. Does this count as FMLA leave, since it is not leave within the first year of the child’s life? If it does, is the travel time eligible for FMLA leave?

EBSA moves to rescue ‘orphan’ retirement benefits

04/14/2011
The DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Admin­is­tra­tion (EBSA) has sued Parkland Hotel Investors—once one of the Twin Cities’ biggest commercial financiers—in an attempt to distribute the company’s 401(k) assets to 96 former employees who participated in its retirement plan.

Grant FMLA leave for pregnancy-related conditions

04/14/2011
Many employers think expectant ­mothers can take FMLA leave only for childbirth and baby bonding. They don’t realize that any medical appointments and pregnancy-related illnesses are also eligible for FMLA leave.