• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Compensation & Benefits

Suspicious of claimed injury? Examine records carefully for prior problems

09/01/2007

Too often, employees who suffer a minor accident at work milk that injury for extended workers’ compensation benefits. That’s why it’s important to diligently pursue suspected false claims with your insurance carrier. That may involve alerting it to your suspicions and reviewing the employee’s medical records to see if what he or she is complaining about is really a preexisting condition and not the result of a more recent injury …

Increase HSA enrollment by sweetening the plan

09/01/2007

Enrollment in health savings accounts (HSAs) is flat, and employee satisfaction with the pretax, consumer-directed plans is low, reports the Kaiser Family Foundation. Yet more organizations are offering them because employees who do participate have been found to spend less on health care than others. Here are five ways your organization can boost employee enrollment and satisfaction in HSAs …

Ending employee ‘Lease’ agreement? Timing can save money

09/01/2007

If you have signed up with a “professional employer organization” as a way to outsource your HR headaches but are thinking of ending the relationship, consider this: If you end the contract midyear, you may be liable for additional payments into the state unemployment insurance fund …

No unemployment compensation for co-Worker’s offensive comments

09/01/2007

Employees who quit their jobs because they can’t get along with a co-worker usually aren’t entitled to unemployment compensation payments. But what if the difficult co-worker is actually making offensive and possibly discriminatory comments? …

Outside complaint can be misconduct, meaning no unemployment

09/01/2007

Employees who break company rules can be fired for misconduct and aren’t eligible for unemployment compensation. But what if the “misconduct” involves taking a complaint outside the company? If your policy clearly states that complaints should be raised internally first, then you probably won’t have to pay unemployment for employees who are fired because they ignored your rule …

Caterpillar sues UAW over retiree health benefits suits

09/01/2007

Caterpillar Inc. has filed lawsuits to force the United Auto Workers (UAW) to pay for health care for retirees as agreed in union-negotiated contracts. Caterpillar says the UAW is backing two class-action lawsuits seeking free lifetime coverage for retirees and spouses, which the company says violates collective-bargaining agreements …

Employers, employees affected as Illinois adopts smoking ban

09/01/2007

Citing the toxicity of secondhand smoke, Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed Senate Bill 500, the Smoke-Free Illinois Act, into law on July 23.  The law takes effect Jan. 1 and requires employers to provide smoke-free workplaces for all employees. The new state law does not mean employers can ignore local anti-smoking ordinances. Municipalities may still enact smoking bans that are tougher than state law, but all Illinois jurisdictions must meet the new state standards when the law takes effect …

No workers’ compensation when employee wouldn’t have been working anyway

09/01/2007

Employees injured at work are entitled to wage-loss payments while they recuperate. But they don’t get payments for the times when they wouldn’t normally have been earning wages …

Hinting employee should quit and offering severance? He still gets unemployment

09/01/2007

If you tell an employee you think it’s time for him or her to leave and offer a severance package as an inducement, you still may have to pay unemployment. That’s true even if the employee signs a statement saying he or she quit voluntarily in order to get the extra money …

Manager wounded after guards were eliminated sues bank

09/01/2007

A SunTrust Bank manager, who was wounded during a bank robbery, has sued the bank because it had eliminated security guard positions for economic reasons just before the robbery …