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Compensation & Benefits

Disabled worker can’t do OT: Can we lay her off?

12/16/2010
Q. We’ve been accommodating a disabled employee by letting her skip overtime. Her doctor says she needs extra sleep. But now we need to lay off several employees and start requiring mandatory overtime. Can we terminate those employees who can’t do overtime? That would include the disabled employee.

DOL teams up with private lawyers to encourage FMLA, FLSA lawsuits

12/14/2010
The DOL has unveiled a first-of-its-kind arrangement: an attorney-referral partnership with the American Bar Association to help more employees file FMLA and FLSA lawsuits. Find details on this new program, as well as links to HR Specialist resources that can keep you from becoming a target of this looming legal dragnet.

Paid holiday trends for 2011 similar to 2010

12/14/2010
Even though the economic climate remains tenuous, most employers will continue to offer the same number of paid holidays to employees in 2011 as in past years, says a new Society for Human Resource Management survey.

7 tips for reducing your workers’ comp costs

12/14/2010
You can significantly reduce the cost of your organization’s workers’ compensation premiums by following a program of accident prevention, better claims management and prevention of fraud and abuse. Seven steps you should take:

Court OKs forfeiture of retirement benefits

12/13/2010
Public employees who retire from their jobs and start receiving retirement benefits under the state plan can’t count on that pension if they are later convicted of violating the public trust while they were employed by the government.

Regularly review wage-and-hour compliance

12/13/2010

When an employee hires an attorney, you can bet that the lawyer will go looking for as many legal claims as possible. And high on the list of possible claims are wage-and-hour matters. That’s how something as simple as an unemployment compensation consultation can wind up turning into a major lawsuit.

11 for ’11: Big trends shaping comp & benefits

12/13/2010
Pay-for-performance and higher employee health care contributions look like they’ll remain fixtures of the post-recession comp and benefits landscape. Here are 11 other trends that could take a firm hold in 2011:

What’s the Illinois law on voting leave?

12/09/2010
Q. Looking ahead to the next elections, what are an employer’s requirements to give voting leave to employees in Illinois?

St. Louis Metro workers settle pre-, post-work OT suit

12/09/2010
Reservation clerks and dispatchers for the St. Louis Metro mass transit system have settled an overtime dispute for $175,000. The money will be split among approximately 100 workers. The St. Louis Metro serves the city and suburbs in Missouri and Illinois.

Calls during FMLA leave lead to emotional-distress lawsuit

12/09/2010
Teach this simple lesson to supervisors who have employees out on FMLA leave: Leave them alone unless there’s a good reason to contact them. Calls and visits can lead to lawsuits claiming emotional distress.