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Compensation & Benefits

Sabbaticals, paid health care still on at Maryland firm

03/29/2010

Despite the sluggish economy, the Annapolis, Md.-based IT firm CollabraSpace has continued to offer a paid, four-week sabbatical to any employee who reaches his or her five-year anniversary with the firm. And it still pays 100% of its 33 employees’ health and dental insurance premiums.

Can we offer comp time instead of overtime pay for nonexempt employees who work OT?

03/26/2010
Q. Can we offer our nonexempt employees comp time instead of overtime pay during a pay period? If we can, do we have to offer it at one and a half times, just like overtime is paid? For example, if an employee works one hour of overtime, do we have to give him one and a half hours of comp time?

Returning from disability leave, can employee dictate the terms of his new job?

03/26/2010
Q. One of our employees has been out on disability leave for almost 16 months. He says he wants to return to work, but only if we give him a supervisory position without a lot of strenuous activity. We have no such position available. We’ve offered him other positions, but he’s refused them all. Can we legally terminate him?

You have personal liability under FMLA and ERISA

03/26/2010
Here’s food for thought: HR professionals and managers who terminate an employee for trying to get the benefits he is due under the FMLA or a company benefit plan are personally liable for the resulting harm.

Pay gap between men and women is wider in Pennsylvania

03/26/2010

Nationally, women earn about 80 cents for each dollar men receive. But in Pennsylvania, that figure is closer to 78 cents. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Pennsylvania women earned a median weekly salary of $642 in 2008. The median salary for Keystone State men was $815.

Coffee run nets workers’ comp for South Jersey plumber

03/26/2010
When plumber Jesse Cooper made a coffee run in 2003, he had no idea he would wind up in a traffic accident, let alone spend seven years in court. A Superior Court judge recently ruled Cooper was entitled to receive workers’ comp benefits because his midmorning trip to get a cuppa joe was in the course of employment. Moral of the story: Have good coffee in the break room.

When unemployment comp is on the line, job dissatisfaction doesn’t justify quitting

03/26/2010

Employees who are forced to work in an unsafe or unhealthy environment may be able to collect unemployment benefits. But some employees seem to think that any work-related problems can justify quitting and then getting unemployment. That’s simply not true.

Understanding HR’s role in the new health care reform law

03/26/2010
President Obama’s signing of the controversial Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on March 23, 2010, marked the finish of a yearlong partisan battle. But for HR professionals, March 23 was a starting line—the beginning of big changes in the way they handle employer-provided health benefits. While many provisions won’t kick in until as late as 2014, some take effect this year. Here’s a brief summary of the changes ….

Brace yourself: Health care reform passage will affect HR

03/24/2010
President Obama’s signature on the landmark Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act may not bring an end to partisan bickering about health care reform, but it does signal the start of big changes for HR. Here’s a rundown of the new law’s long-term effects on employer-provided health insurance — and several provisions you’ll need to deal with right away.

Employee out on military leave: Must we pay him?

03/24/2010

Q. We have an employee who will soon go on temporary military duty and be gone for several weeks. Do we have to pay him at all during his absence, or does he receive military pay?