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

Compensation & Benefits

COBRA subsidies expiring: DOL offers guidance

09/28/2010
The federal government has answers for terminated workers who are concerned that their COBRA continuation health insurance coverage may soon get more expensive or expire all together. As federal subsidies for COBRA coverage start running out, be ready with information when your former employees call.

Early perks, paid volunteer time among benefits for new hires

09/28/2010
New hires at Cydcor don’t have to wait long for their benefits to kick in: Team members are eligible the month following their hire dates. Beginning in their first year, each employee receives 15 days of sick and vacation time. The organization also allows each employee to use eight paid workdays a year to volunteer off site.

3 former female execs sue Goldman Sachs

09/27/2010
Only on Wall Street can you make $800,000 a year and claim that you’re underpaid. But three women who used to earn big bucks at Goldman Sachs are suing because they could have earned even more if they were men.

Confusing paystubs? Brace for a class-action lawsuit

09/24/2010
Employees may not always understand their paystubs, especially when they work for different pay rates some of the time or when deductions are taken without clear explanations. The confusion may even prompt employees to band together and sue.

You can’t hide behind your vendor! Before relying on tests, be sure they’re valid

09/24/2010

Are you considering using personality or other screening tests to decide which job applicants to hire? If so, make sure you fully understand what you are doing and how those tests work. There are plenty of companies eager to sell you tests and assessments that they say will take some of the work out of the screening processes. But if those tests aren’t valid and end up screening out members of a protected class, you may be buying more than a test.

If you have doubts about FMLA eligibility, don’t hesitate to seek a second medical opinion

09/24/2010

Back in August, we told you how a federal court had dismissed a case involving a woman who had taken her child out of day care for the summer and asked for FMLA leave so she could care for him until school started. (See “School’s out for summer! But the FMLA doesn’t cover day care”.) Now the same court has reinstated the lawsuit after taking another look at the facts.

Is it OK to pay workers just once a month?

09/24/2010
Q. Is it legal to adopt a once-a-month payroll for hourly employees?

Does the FMLA cover cosmetic surgery?

09/24/2010
Q. One of our employees is having cosmetic surgery and plans to take leave. Would that fall under the FMLA, or would it be a leave of absence?

Can we push employees to donate to charity?

09/24/2010
Q. Is it legal for us to strongly encourage our employees to have money withheld from their paychecks to support a charity drive, like the United Way?

OK to pay commissions on a flat-rate basis–it won’t violate FLSA commission exemption

09/24/2010

For years, the DOL has argued that commissions must be based on a percentage of sales in order to be valid. But now the 3rd Circuit has approved a different form of commissioned sales—one in which employees are paid based not on the total amount of the sale, but on other factors such as whether the sale was made on an outgoing sales call or an incoming one.