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Compensation & Benefits

Injury while commuting doesn’t earn workers’ comp

12/01/2006

Texas employees who are injured while commuting to their job sites aren’t eligible for workers’ compensation unless they can show that the employer paid for their commute or the transportation was within the employer’s control …

New health campaign urges Texans to ‘Own Your Future’

12/01/2006

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has chosen Texas as one of six states that will participate in a long-term-care planning promotion campaign …

Injured worker can collect workers’ comp and sue

12/01/2006

Q. One of our employees badly hurt himself when he tripped over some equipment that had been left by the building maintenance. Workers’ comp covered his medical bills and lost wages, but he also sued the building for negligence. Now we have a letter from the office building demanding that we defend them in the lawsuit and telling us we are responsible. How can that be? I thought we were protected by workers’ comp from any suit involving an employee injury?

How to keep employees productive during flu season

12/01/2006

If your office remains infected with sneezing, coughing, aching workers who should be at home in bed during flu season, it could be because they’re afraid to use their sick leave. HR should encourage employees to use their sick leave when sick. It could actually increase productivity in the long term …

Promise of company vacation keeps productivity humming

12/01/2006

Employees of Canada’s Great Little Box Co. have a daily incentive to meet their goals: a trip on the company’s dollar …

County employees sell back their unused vacation time

12/01/2006

Employees of Etowah County, Ala., can sell back one or two weeks of unused vacation time at the end of most years. The decade-old policy allows the buyback when the county has available funds …

Secondary employer isn’t responsible for FMLA notice, leave

12/01/2006

If you use leased employees, you’re not required to manage their FMLA leave. That’s the leasing company’s responsibility as the person’s primary employer …

Wal-Mart employees protest cut in hours, absenteeism policy

12/01/2006

More than 100 Wal-Mart employees in Hialeah Gardens staged a protest over recent changes in the company’s absenteeism policies and scheduling …

Don’t dock hours from salaried employee’s pay

12/01/2006

Q. We have a salaried employee who holds down a second job. Sometimes, she leaves early on Fridays and comes in late on Mondays because the second job overlaps with our office hours. Can we deduct anything from her pay after she has used up her vacation and leave time? Or do we have to pay her even though she leaves early and comes in late? —D.J., Virginia

Know which leave counts toward FMLA

12/01/2006

Q. I told an employee who takes lots of intermittent FMLA leave that all of her time out of the office (no matter what it was for) would count against her FMLA time. My VP called me in and told me I was wrong and that was absolutely NOT the law. What is the best way to track her intermittent leave? Do I ask for documentation each time? —J.S., Texas