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Compensation & Benefits

Remind employees: FMLA doesn’t promise reinstatement if leave extends beyond 12 weeks

04/02/2009

If you provide more than 12 weeks of disability leave, make sure that your employee handbook and policies spell out that employees may lose the right to return to their previous positions if they exceed the 12 weeks of unpaid leave guaranteed by the FMLA.

Juggling vacation, military and family leave under new FMLA regs

04/02/2009

The FMLA now requires employers to give employees serving in the military (or who are next of kin to service members) up to 26 weeks of unpaid leave under specific conditions. While few employers begrudge military families such leave, unforeseen leave can pose scheduling problems as employers come into the summer vacation season.

Must we mail former employee’s last paycheck?

04/02/2009

Q. We have terminated an employee who has moved out of state and requested we mail his last check to him. Do we have to mail it? If so, when?

ESOP’s fable: The tightwad and the vanishing money

04/02/2009

According to a complaint filed with the DOL, Kellogg Auto Supply of Cortland disbursed ESOP benefits in 1999 based on the stock’s 1998 valuation. But it made no further distributions until 2008. The DOL filed suit charging the company and its president, Richard Coates, with violating ERISA.

Will economic stress increase workers’ comp cases? State panel evens playing field

04/01/2009

Coupled with the stress of worrying about the economy and whether their jobs will be gone tomorrow, more employees may develop psychiatric or stress-related illnesses. Some will file workers’ compensation claims.

Former Wachovia exec doing well at Wells Fargo

03/31/2009

Enough doom and gloom already! Here’s a feel-good story! Sure, the AIG bonus debacle has soured the financial world on retention bonuses, but one company is still offering stick-around cash. To be precise, Wells Fargo is paying a bonus to keep one particular employee.

To do this week: Confirm new tax withhholding, begin using new I-9s

03/31/2009

HR pros have two important items to add to their to-do lists this week:

  • Ensure that this week’s payroll reflects more generous federal income tax withholding levels mandated by the economic stimulus law enacted in February.
  • Start using the new Form I-9 on Friday, April 3.

Ledbetter’s lesson: Revamp salary guidelines to make pay as fair as possible

03/31/2009

Now that the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is the law of the land, it may be time to revisit how you set starting and incumbent salaries. If you currently allow managers and supervisors flexibility on pay issues, consider reducing that discretion.

N.J. Supreme Court: Strikers may be entitled to unemployment

03/30/2009

The New Jersey Supreme Court recently held that an employer that continues to provide all or substantially all of its services during a strike will be hard-pressed to oppose its striking employees’ applications for unemployment benefits. That’s true even if the strike results in significant losses in revenue and profits.

Courts crack down on workers’ comp for minor injuries

03/30/2009

It used to be that an employee who continued to suffer any pain following a work-related injury could continue receiving workers’ compensation payments until she was fully healed. Now, however, Industrial Commission judges are getting tougher on pain that isn’t backed up by medical evidence. That’s good news …