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Compensation & Benefits

Health insurance maintained during FMLA leave

08/01/2007

Q. We have an employee who is out on an FMLA leave of absence. Our company provides health insurance for its employees and their families, and employees pay 20% of the premium. Our employee has not paid his share of the premium. Should we cancel his health insurance? We are very nervous about doing so because the employee has a very serious health condition. — J.B.

Check accuracy of workers’ comp calculations to avoid penalties

08/01/2007

Georgia employers who make mistakes when calculating workers’ compensation benefits can’t go back more than two years to recoup overpayments …

Workers’ comp applies when fellow employees hurt each other while working

08/01/2007

Employment-related injuries are covered by workers’ compensation even if those injuries may have been caused by the negligence of a fellow employee. Employees who are hurt can’t sue the other employee directly; they must make a claim with their employer’s workers’ compensation insurer. As a practical matter, that means employers will bear the brunt of any injury …

Relocating the office? Employees can sometimes quit and get unemployment

08/01/2007

Pennsylvania employees who quit their jobs when their employers move can sometimes collect unemployment compensation. The Unemployment Compensation Board of Review looks at individual situations and determines whether the move forced the employees to quit for “necessitous and compelling” reasons. Examples include a longer, more expensive commute or disruption of child care routines …

Accepting early retirement doesn’t mean automatic unemployment

08/01/2007

To streamline the work force, some employers encourage early retirement and may even include an inducement in the form of enhanced benefits. But unless the employer informs the employee her job is endangered unless she signs up, the employee is probably not eligible for unemployment compensation …

Double dipping workers’ comp and Social Security

08/01/2007

Q. Can an injured worker obtain both workers’ compensation benefits and Social Security disability benefits at the same time? …

Part-Time work seldom a reasonable accommodation

08/01/2007

Common sense says that an employee with full-time job responsibilities cannot perform that job on a part-time basis. But that’s essentially what disabled employees claim when they ask for a permanent reduced-hour schedule …

Keep parents at work with backup child care benefit

08/01/2007

If too many of your employees are using their leave to stay home with sick children, it might be time to add back-up child care to your menu of benefits …

Let workers personalize their flex schedules: 3 case studies

08/01/2007

When 10 companies asked small groups of employees to figure out how to flex their hours while improving their teams’ productivity, they jumped at the chance. Here are three creative solutions …

Unlimited vacation time: Part of the ‘Freedom culture’ at Netflix

08/01/2007

At Los Gatos, CA-based Netflix, employees can take as much vacation time as they want. No kidding …