Employee Relations
-
Michigan Bill Aims to Keep Businesses From Seeking Online Passwords
The bill would outlaw the practice of employers requiring prospective hires to turn over their passwords to social networking sites as a condition of employment. It also pertains to educational institutions and prospective students.
-
Transparency is Vital to Helping Employees Cope with Workplace Violence
Midmarket executives and managers often delay or defer training employees to more readily identify and report the warning signs of violent behavior for fear of exacerbating trauma-related anxieties stemming from the original incident, workplace violence experts say.
-
Behavior, Environment Can Be Signals of Potential Workplace Violence
The challenge for employers and their workers, of course, is determining how best to weight identification of warning signs against the limitless variations of context and severity that are inherent to real-life applications.
-
Chicago School Strike Lifts One Local Firm
In the wake of the Chicago Teachers Union strike, Sittercity, a website that helps parents find babysitters and nannies, has seen membership jump 35 percent in the past 24 hours in the Chicago market.
-
Most Employees Say Benefits Enrollment Information Lacking: Survey
Fifty-two percent of workers indicated their employers have not distributed any communication regarding upcoming open enrollment periods. Thirty-nine percent said they were only somewhat prepared for open enrollments, while 26 percent said they were unprepared or very unprepared.
-
HR Not Whining About Winemaker's Sustainability Rating
Companies nationwide are learning that sustainability has taken on a new holistic view of how the company treats the Earth and its inhabitants—particularly employees, stakeholders and customers.
-
Alliant Wins Battle With Aon Over Poaching Charges
In a lawsuit filed last year, London-based Aon has alleged that several of its former executives conspired with Newport Beach, California-based Alliant to solicit at least 40 other employees of Aon's construction services group to quit Aon and join Alliant.
-
Worker Confidence Hits 4-Year High
The index is based on an online survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Randstad. It surveyed 1,399 employed U.S. adults, 18 years old and older between March 13 and March 15.
-
Workforce Wins Prestigious Business Honors
Workforce Management won a Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for senior editor Ed Frauenheim's in-depth look at the growing controversy over who owns social media contacts.
-
For 401(k) Advisers, Time to Shelve Old Retirement Dogmas
Plan participation, investment options are not always true measures of a plan's performance.
-
Bill Proposed to Make Employer-Paid Education Aid Tax Break Permanent
Under Section 127 of the Internal Revenue Code, employers can reimburse employees for up to $5,250 in annual undergraduate and graduate costs without the reimbursement being included in employees' taxable income.
-
American Airlines Wants to Terminate Pension Plans
The termination, if approved, would shift billions of dollars of promised but unfunded benefits to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., resulting in the biggest loss ever for the agency.
-
EEOC Actions, Enforcement Trends Focus of Report on Agency
The report noted that the agency identified combating systemic discrimination as a top priority in a 2006 task force report.
-
Former Groupon Employees Countersue Over Contract Terms
The countersuit, filed Jan. 25, reveals an increasingly testy relationship between two high-profile Internet players: Google, the king of search advertising, based in Mountain View, California, and Chicago-based Groupon, the leader in the new online-advertising business with daily deals.
-
A Third of New Yorkers Say They Can't Retire
About 40 percent of New York workers had access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan in 2009, compared with the national average of 53 percent, according to the report by the New School's Bernard Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis.
-
Retaliation Charges Top EEOC Fiscal 2011 Filings
Sex discrimination charges, which were the second-most frequently filed charge, decreased 1.7 percent in fiscal 2011.
-
Homicides Accounted for 11 Percent of Workplace Fatalities in '09: NCCI
From 1993 to 2009, the rate of workplace homicides fell 59 percent while the overall rate of homicides fell 47 percent, according to the study.
-
Older Workers Affect Workers' Comp Loss Costs Less Than Expected
Despite an increasing number of aging U.S. workers, older employees have had a smaller-than-expected effect on workers compensation loss costs, according to NCCI Holdings Inc.
-
Morgan Stanley to Pare Workforce by 1,600
Reps are safe, but 'business won't entirely escape the belt-tightening.'
-
IBM Announces Vendor Management System Acquisition
The acquisition is part of the company's 'Smarter Commerce' initiative begun in March 2011 and aimed at helping companies respond to shifting customer buying patterns.
-
Affluent Anxious About Retirement Too, Wells Fargo Finds
Four in 10 of those surveyed said that their biggest fear about retirement is that they 'will do all the right things and it still won't be enough for tomorrow.'
-
Ailing Economy Hurts Return-to-Work Efforts for Injured Employees: Analysis
The Workers Compensation Research Institute studied workers' compensation procedures and outcomes in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, which were deemed to have faster and higher return-to-work rates than other states.
-
Survey: U.S. Workers Feeling Overwrought and Unproductive
Thirty percent of employees say they were ineffective for at least one week due to job-related stress, while two-thirds of U.S. workers reported extremely high stress levels, including fatigue and feeling a ‘loss of control.'
-
Employer Health Care Reform Law Communication Mandate Delayed
The proposed rules would require employers to provide employees with an 'easy-to-understand' summary of benefits and coverage and, upon request, a glossary of commonly used health care coverage terms, such as deductible and copay.
-
OSHA Issues Safety Guidelines for Black Friday Retailers
In a tip sheet posted Nov. 17, OSHA said workplace injuries during jam-packed holiday sales have increased, and cited the 2008 death of an employee trampled by Black Friday shoppers.
-
Analysis Notes More Large Employers Freeze Defined Benefit Plans
In 2004, as the corporate drive to freeze defined benefit plans was picking up momentum, only 45, or 7.1 percent of 633 Fortune 1000 companies with defined benefit plans, had frozen at least one plan, reports consultancy Towers Watson.
-
San Diego Public Employee Pension System Reform Going to Popular Vote in 2012
The proposal would see traditional pension benefits for all new city hires—excluding police—eliminated in favor of a 401(k)-style retirement plan.
-
Wellness Programs Adapted for Workers' Comp
One consultant adds that employers also should optimize employee use of established wellness offerings, such as weight-loss or smoking-cessation programs that otherwise may be underutilized.
-
Heightened Awareness of Benefits Plays Pivotal Role in Employee Experience
Employers spend a great deal of time and money trying to educate employees about their benefit options, but do employees most understand and use them effectively? Here are some of the do's and don'ts of benefits communications.
-
Analysis Shows Most Employers Restore 401(k) Match
The suspensions occurred from January 2008 through January 2010, though most occurred during the first half of 2009, which was the peak of the Great Recession, according to research by Towers Watson.
-
Bill Requiring Coverage for Autism Treatment Becomes Law in California
If the autism coverage mandate laid down by the California measure is not included in what federal regulators decide is essential benefits, the mandate automatically will expire.
-
EEOC Sues Albuquerque Dealership for Sexual Harassment
The suit alleges that managers retaliated against men who reported incidents to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
-
HIV-Positive Teacher Alleges Disability, Race Discrimination
The lawsuit alleges that teachers who are not of African-American descent and have been habitually late have not been subject to adverse job actions.
-
NLRB Issues Employee Notification Rule
Private-sector employers with workplaces under NLRB jurisdiction (all but the smallest companies) will be required to post the employee rights notice on bulletin boards in the same area that other notices are typically posted. The rollout has been postponed until Jan. 31, 2012.
-
Investing in Employees
Despite a tough, volatile economy, 10 small to midsize companies have been able to run successful businesses while bringing stability to employees through strong benefits programs.
-
Wal-Mart Class Action Decision Sets Precedent, Cited in Costco Ruling
An attorney notes that the Wal-Mart decision earlier this year will make it difficult for nationwide class actions in employment law to succeed.
-
LIVE CHAT: Reviewing Performance Reviews
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT Some companies are moving away from traditional, often unpopular annual performance reviews and turning to other approaches for evaluating staff and giving workers more frequent feedback.
-
Vanguard CEO to Employees: Let's Lose the Suits
Despite being more than 100 miles away from the formalities of Wall Street, Vanguard always has required its employees worldwide to dress in business attire: a jacket and tie for men and professional dress for women.
