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Compensation & Benefits

‘Spiffs’ don’t count when establishing overtime exemption

07/01/2007

If you have an incentive system in which employees who sell a particular item get an additional set payment—commonly called a “spiff”—on top of other payments for selling the item, you can’t count the spiff as part of the commission …

Incentive pay hours don’t count toward the 1,250 hours required for FMLA leave

07/01/2007

Q. We are a hospital and we give employee “bonus” hours if they agree to work weekends and at other times that are difficult to staff. An employee has requested FMLA leave to care for a family member. Our employee has actually worked less than the FMLA-required 1,250 hours in the year, but because of the bonus hours, she has been paid as if she worked more than 1,250 hours. Does she qualify? …

Largest insurer ties staff bonuses to customers’ health

07/01/2007

WellPoint, the largest U.S. health insurer (based on commercial membership), has tied part of its 42,000 employees’ annual bonuses to the health of its 34 million members …

Employee stops, pops, scores workers’ compensation claim

07/01/2007

A compliance officer for Abbott Laboratories, headquartered in Chicago, will receive workers’ compensation for injuries he sustained during a basketball competition at an annual company festival …

Strange days indeed: Company argues for workers’ comp coverage

07/01/2007

An appeals court ruled that the estate of Miguel Pena, a setting machine operator shot and killed by a fellow employee at Gutmann Leather in Chicago, may proceed with a wrongful death suit …

Senate bill to help employers avoid health care penalties

07/01/2007

State Sen. David Koehler introduced an amendment to the state’s “Illinois Covered” universal health care bill …

Watch that second step, it’s a heck of a drop

07/01/2007

Two employees fell while exiting their buildings. One got comp, the other didn’t …

‘Misconduct’ makes employees ineligible for unemployment benefits

07/01/2007

Q. When will a terminated worker be denied unemployment benefits under California law?

No work availability, no unemployment comp

07/01/2007

Q. I have an employee who hurt her neck, went to the doctor and never came back. However she has been in contact with me and keeps me updated. She has been out for three months, and had surgery a couple weeks after her injury. She told me she would not be returning for a few more weeks. In the meantime I received an unemployment claim form from her. We denied it because we did not let her go. Do any Pennsylvania laws state she can collect unemployment?

Lucent wrote the book on tech security, but forgot to read it

07/01/2007

A disk containing the names, addresses, Social Security numbers, salaries and other personal information for all Lucent employees in the United States went missing in Somerset County between April 5 and May 3 …