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Compensation & Benefits

Despite docs’ best efforts, novel health plan succumbs

10/05/2009

Last year, Ohio doctors who were fed up with health insurance companies started The Physicians Assurance Corporation (TPAC). Designed to serve the employer-provided health insurance market, it featured low premiums, aggressive disease management—and an enthusiastic cadre of physicians. But TPAC lasted less than 10 months.

Don’t consider FMLA leave when tallying employee’s ‘excessive’ absences

10/05/2009

You’re asking for trouble if you consider FMLA leave-related absences a negative factor when making employment decisions. Courts view such decisions as direct evidence of retaliation—which makes it almost impossible for the employer to win a lawsuit.

What happens if employees don’t give adequate notice of FMLA leave?

10/05/2009

Q. What rights does an employer have if an employee fails to give timely notice of FMLA leave?

Do you round off employee hours? Be sure to round both up and down

10/05/2009

Employers that round off the time on employees’ time sheets must do so in a way that doesn’t cheat hourly employees out of pay in the long run. That means that if you round down, you must also round up. Otherwise, your time records won’t reflect all hours worked, leading to potential violations of overtime and other wage-and-hour laws.

Ohio retirees to see refunds following Merrill Lynch’s bull

10/05/2009

Ohio Attorney General Richard Codray announced that a settlement with Merrill Lynch means the State Teachers Retirement System will be among the investors set to gain after the brokerage firm misstated earnings expectations before the housing market tanked a year and a half ago.

DOL investigation reveals OT violations in San Angelo

10/05/2009

On Sept. 4, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that a San Angelo geological services company has paid $270,950 in overtime back wages to 70 current and former employees. According to Cynthia Watson, the Wage and Hour Division’s Southwest regional administrator, “Some employees worked as many as 85 hours in a workweek without receiving overtime wages.”

Office communication: Align practices with employee perceptions

10/02/2009

Sometimes it seems like supervisors and employees work in entirely different places. For years, researchers have known that bosses and line workers have widely varying views about things like priorities, performance ratings, communication and benefits. Here are eight areas for which recent studies have revealed major disconnects between what employees want and what their bosses think they want:

New health coverage rules for dependent kids start Nov. 8

10/02/2009

A new federal law takes effect Nov. 8 that extends eligibility for group health insurance coverage to some dependent children age 18 or older who are higher-education students.

How much notice are employees required to give when they need FMLA leave?

10/02/2009

Q. Can our employee take FMLA leave without first giving us notice that she needs leave?

What’s the required timing for final paychecks?

10/02/2009

Q. What are the deadlines for paying employees who are terminated or resign from employment?