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Compensation & Benefits

Saying ‘Start looking for another job’ can mean unemployment comp liability

11/01/2007

Employers that tell workers to “start looking for another job” may find themselves paying unemployment compensation when the employees do just that—by quitting right away instead of waiting for the pink slip …

NCWHA governs employee incentive and bonus plans

11/01/2007

Incentive-pay programs and bonus plans are very common in North Carolina and sometimes constitute a significant portion of an employee’s pay. But if a dispute develops, the employee does not have a claim for breach of an employment contract. Instead, the North Carolina Wage and Hour Act (NCWHA) applies. The application of the NCWHA, which contains notice and nonforfeiture requirements, often takes employers and employees by surprise …

$100,000 day at Hershey Park: Employee appreciation or excess?

11/01/2007

Preliminary figures from a state audit of the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) revealed extravagant expenditures by the agency, including a $108,000 employee appreciation day at Hershey Park just a month after PHEAA promised to curb spending …

Use BLS survey data to show employees the value of benefits

11/01/2007

A new survey by the U.S. Labor Department Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) offers a great chance for HR pros to help employees understand the true value of their benefits. The key finding of the BLS’s National Compensation Survey  will come as no surprise: About half of the nation’s employees get health and retirement benefits through their employers. But other survey findings may provide a valuable opportunity to enlighten employees …

3 steps to creating a corporate ‘Culture of health’

11/01/2007

A culture of health is coming into its own across corporate America. Driven by increasing health care costs and an obesity epidemic that fuels chronic illnesses, corporations are examining their core cost drivers and have arrived at a workable strategy: create a culture that promotes better health across the total employee population …

UPS, contractors owe $1.2 million to misclassified janitors

11/01/2007

Nearly 500 Latino janitors who cleaned UPS facilities, hotels and other properties in Illinois and Texas won a $1.2 million settlement for unpaid overtime and back wages. According to the Service Employees International Union, which supported the lawsuit in U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, the janitors were misclassified as independent contractors …

GM takes VEBA for a test drive

11/01/2007
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UPS teams up with Teamsters to shore up pension fund

11/01/2007

Hard times make for strange bedfellows. United Parcel Service, based in Sandy Springs, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters teamed up to cut ties with the beleaguered Central States Fund pension plan before the federal government intervenes in January and likely makes things worse for them …

No unemployment comp for workers who quit to care for disabled family members

11/01/2007

Family and military leave laws require Indiana employers to accommodate employees dealing with certain family problems. But the law doesn’t stick employers with an unemployment compensation bill when employees quit after their protected leave expires. Thanks to a recent Indiana Court of Appeals decision, it is now clear that voluntarily quitting to care for an ill family member does not mean the employee is eligible for unemployment compensation payments …

Unemployment following a strike

11/01/2007

Q. We are a small, nonunion parts supplier for a large, unionized manufacturing plant. Due to an ongoing strike by our primary customer’s union, demand for our product has decreased significantly, and we are having difficulty meeting payroll. Consequently, we are preparing to lay off several of our staff. Our CFO remembered reading that in Indiana, someone who loses his job due to a strike is not eligible for unemployment compensation. But, because the only reason we are laying our people off is due to the strike at our customer’s facility, can we contest unemployment for our laid-off staff? …