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

Compensation & Benefits

Where your religious-accommodation responsibilities stop

04/01/2005
Issue: How far must you go to oblige an employee’s religious practices under federal job-discrimination law?
Benefit: A new ruling says that you don’t need to accommodate religious requests when …

Don’t let managers hire or fire based on family health costs

03/01/2005
Issue: Can you terminate, or refuse to hire, people based on their impact to your health plan?
Risk: Employees have two paths to sue you for such cost-trimming employment actions. …

Expand your benefit options; more insurers offer HSA plans

03/01/2005
Issue: More health insurance companies are offering plans that include Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).
Benefit: HSA popularity will take off in 2005-2006. And more insurers will translate into better plan …

Do your managers know an FMLA request when they see one?

03/01/2005
When employees request leave, especially for unforeseen circumstances, they don’t need to assert their FMLA rights explicitly by saying, “I need FMLA leave.” In fact, they don’t need to mention FMLA …

FMLA certification: Collect medical-leave proof the right way

03/01/2005
THE LAW. The FMLA lets eligible employees take up to 12 weeks of un-paid, job-protected leave each year for their own “serious health condition,” or if the employee is caring …

FMLA for Over-18 Relative Hinges on Self-Care Ability

03/01/2005

Q. Would FMLA leave apply to an employee who requests leave time to care for her daughter who is over age 21 and married? The daughter’s illness required hospitalization, but her husband is overseas on active duty with the military. —D.S., Georgia

Remind managers to prevent ‘off-the-clock’ work

03/01/2005
Telecom giant Cingular settled a Labor Department audit last month by paying $5.1 million in back wages to more than 25,000 customer-service reps and agreeing to create a new time-reporting review …

You can exclude vacation pay from ‘Regular rate’

03/01/2005

Q. When we are figuring employees’ base pay for overtime calculations, can we exclude their vacation pay? —R.J.D., South Dakota

Entice applicants to beat a path to your door

03/01/2005
The hassle and cost of slogging to work is a big reason that good employees quit. And commuting pains aren’t easing: Two-thirds of new jobs are now located in the suburbs, …

Small changes to returning worker’s job are OK

02/01/2005
When employees return to work after taking leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), you must restore either their original job or an equivalent job with the same pay, …