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Compensation & Benefits

Volunteer services and FLSA compliance

08/04/2008
Q. We are a for-profit health care facility licensed by the state of Texas. Can we use volunteers to perform services at our facility without compensation? For example,  the wife of one of our clients wants to volunteer her services in exchange for us waiving the daily-use fee we charge her husband. Are these volunteer services exempt from the wage-and-hour requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)? … 

Ease pain of health benefits cuts with less costly perks

08/01/2008
Quell employee grumbling about their increasing health care premiums and deductibles by offering other popular benefits that cost the company less. Organizations may be shifting more of health care costs to employees, but they’re filling the gaps with perks such as telework and training for nonjob-related skills …

Alternatives to traditional health insurance

08/01/2008
As health care costs continue their upward spiral, employers are looking for ways to hold down expenses. Preferred provider organizations (PPOs) remain popular, but employee participation in consumer-directed health care plans (CDHPs), health reimbursement accounts (HRAs) and health savings accounts (HSAs) are on the rise …

Try these 10 creative alternatives to handing out pink slips

08/01/2008

Laying off workers can strain more than the employees who lose their jobs and the managers who have to deliver the bad news. Before your organization starts handing out pink slips, consider some alternatives that have worked for employers during past economic slumps …

Online financial advice firm allows unlimited time off

08/01/2008
Executives at Alexandria, Va.-based The Motley Fool expect the web-based financial advising firm’s 180 employees to get their work done. Once they do, they can take as much time off as they want—with pay …

The Healthy Families Act: What it will mean for Ohio employers

08/01/2008
As many of our readers are aware, November’s ballot will probably contain a referendum asking Ohio voters to approve the Ohio Healthy Families Act. The proposed legislation would require Ohio employers to provide seven days of paid sick leave annually for most employees. Employers had better be forewarned and forearmed in the event the proposal becomes law …

Attendance policies: Control absenteeism without breaking the law

08/01/2008

For most employees, regular attendance is a key job function. But while you are free to set and enforce attendance rules, you must also comply with key federal laws, including the FMLA and the ADA.

 

Can we switch a salaried employee to hourly to deal with pregnancy-related absences?

08/01/2008

Q. Our office manager, who is pregnant, has begun coming in late two or three times a week due to morning sickness. Because she is a salaried employee, we know that we cannot deduct from her wages for partial-day absences. Can we change her position to one that is paid on an hourly basis until she returns from her maternity leave? …

What is the ‘Lifetime value’ of your employees?

08/01/2008
Businesses have always understood the value of cultivating lifelong relationships with customers eager to patronize them again and again as their lifestyles change and they need new products or services. Nurturing those same kinds of relationships with employees has just as much value …

Shorts Circuit: Firm Orders Employees to Take Off Pants

08/01/2008
Employees of Richter7, a Salt Lake City-based advertising and public relations agency, received an unusual directive from top management earlier this summer: No long pants allowed! Shorts, skirts, skorts and capris were in fashion for four weeks as part of a companywide push to beat the heat. Richter7’s owners even bought each employee a new pair of shorts.