Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964:

There has been much debate about the impact of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (FPA) on human resources and the likelihood of employers experiencing an escalation in pay discrimination charges. On one hand, the FPA does not create a new cause of action. Employers know that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the R.... Read more

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) permits “assistance eligible individuals” to pay reduced premiums and provides additional election opportunities for health benefits under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA). These individuals will pay only 35 percent of the COBRA premium; 65 percent is paid by the employer (or Plan) and then reimbursed through .... Read more

The Health Care Reform has passed and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is the law of the land. For HR folks, the debate has been the talk of 2010; is it going to happen, what will the changes bring, how will it affect our jobs? While it’s not completely clear how things will end up, it’s probably useful to review what we do know and to make some guesses about what will happen. While I know .... Read more

One of the challenges for HR is preparing job descriptions that are effective in addressing the strategic needs of the organization and linking this to the outcomes expected of any particular position. Somehow we seem to have separated the job from the organization in such a way that we describe the focus of the organization in strategic terms but describe jobs by reference to the tasks they perform.... Read more

We’ve all seen the headlines about the half-billion dollars that Walmart recently agreed to pay to settle many of the class action wage and hour lawsuits against it. When we think of overtime claims, we tend to think of retailers such as Walmart, or sweatshops with employees working at or close to minimum wage. Many fail to realize that overtime claims are also the curse of white collar employers. Mer.... Read more

I have often wondered how we should prepare those we expect to take on leadership roles in our organizations. HR practitioners need to think outside their own comfort zone to provide more effective leadership solutions for their organizations. Read more

Editor’s Note: As reported on NYTimes.com on November 8, 2010, the National Labor Relations Board has filed a complaint against American Medical Response of Connecticut, which fired a unionized worker who had disparaged her supervisor on Facebook. Among other things, the National Labor Relations Act grants employees (unionized or not) the right to discuss working conditions with co-workers. The NLR.... Read more

In knowledge work and in most service work, productivity improvement requires the elimination of whatever activities do not contribute to performance. Non-productive activities sidetrack and divert from performance. Eliminating such work may be the single biggest step towards greater productivity in both knowledge and service work. Generally speaking, most problems can be converted into opportunitie.... Read more

Holly Weeks, author of Failure to Communicate: How Conversations Go Wrong and What You Can Do to Right Them (Harvard Business Press, 2008) knows a thing or two about communication. Not only is she a consultant on the subject, but she also teaches it. e-BIM talks to Weeks about this critical skill and how we can all communicate a little better in the workplace.What motivated you to write on this topic?Everyo.... Read more

On September 25, 2008, President Bush signed into law new amendments to the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). As most human resources professionals know, the ADA (which applies to employers with 15 or more employees) prohibits discrimination against employees with physical and/or mental disabilities who are otherwise qualified to perform the job, as well as protects employees who may be “.... Read more

The objective of the COBRA revisions under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is to provide the opportunity for eligible individuals to pay reduced premiums and gives additional election opportunities for health insurance coverage under COBRA. The essence of what is being referred to as the

There is nothing strategic about the number $5,250. So, why then do companies offer this amount as the maximum tuition assistance allotment for its employees just because it’s the IRS imposed limit? Much has been written about the “tax benefit” with the passage of the Economic Growth Tax Relief and Reconciliation Act of 2002 that gave us this magic number. However, according to the IRS, th.... Read more

Are we ready for Congress to require that employers provide paid sick days to all employees? Five states (New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Hawaii and California) plus Puerto Rico mandate that employers provide short-term disability insurance benefits for employees with non-work-related injuries and illnesses. While employers in other states sometimes voluntarily provide this insurance benefit as wel.... Read more

Sometimes I see employers go outside the bounds of their obligations when they have disabled employees. HR managers and small business owners unfortunately, and improperly, routinely advise employees as to what they should do for this condition or that condition, or focus on other issues regarding their employees’ medical conditions that are outside the employer’s sphere. Even when these actions.... Read more

Background The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), signed into law on May 21, 2008, protects individuals against discrimination, based on their genetic information. GINA is divided into two sections. Title I of GINA prohibits discrimination based on genetic information in health coverage. Title II of GINA prohibits discrimination based on genetic information in employment. Title I.... Read more

In less than three months, all 403(b) plans will be required to maintain a written plan document for the first time in the history of 403(b). In the final 403(b) regulations, the IRS had originally stated that all plans must be administered in accordance with a written plan by January 1, 2009, but the deadline was extended to January 1, 2010.Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) plan sponsors will.... Read more

The EEOC recently voted to approve a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to conform its ADA regulations to the Amendments Act of 2008. The NPRM was published in the Federal Register on September 23, 2009. Some highlights of the proposed rule: The definition of “disability” is to be broadly interpreted. With regard to “substantially limiting a major life activity,&rdq.... Read more

Human resources is no longer regarded as a cost center or back-end activity compiled of passive administrative and operational duties such as compensation, benefits and compliance. Instead, human resources is now considered an important strategic partner in developing goals aligned to a company’s overall business objective. The human resources department is a leader that links the company’s oper.... Read more

As I write this article I realize that many business owners are furious about the recently signed Healthcare Reform Act. However, in speaking with many of said business owners, I find there is a lack of knowledge as to exactly what it entails for them specifically. One major concern of mine is that many companies in the threshold of 2-50 employees do not have full time HR personnel. This could also be tr.... Read more