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HR Management

Military spouse on leave? Employee has leave rights, too

12/01/2007

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently signed California’s new law allowing military spouses to take leave. The law requires some employers to provide up to 10 days of unpaid leave to the spouse of a qualified member of the U.S. armed forces, National Guard or reserves. Here are employer guidelines on exactly how to administer this new entitlement …

Putting a cap on vacation time accrual

12/01/2007

Q. Our company’s vacation policy provides that once an employee earns 240 hours (or 30 days) of vacation, no additional vacation may be accrued until the balance falls below that level. Is this legal? …

Meanwhile, back at the state, employees seem well fed

12/01/2007

Nobody’s accusing the state of Pennsylvania—where “Bonusgate” charges have been swirling—of underpaying its workers. Trying to hold onto his party’s slim majority in the Statehouse, Democratic Majority Floor Leader Bill DeWeese instituted new ethics policies in the wake of a grand jury probe …

Keeping employees safe when serving alcohol at company parties

12/01/2007

Q. I’m an HR director and I’m planning our company’s holiday party. What is our liability as the host if we serve alcohol? …

Blessed are the peacemakers: Firm provides biblical ADR

12/01/2007

Alternative dispute resolution—or ADR—has many proponents and detractors, but one Indiana attorney has devoted his practice exclusively to a biblically based ADR. Bill Blew, based in Fishers, uses a dispute resolution system developed by Montana-based Peacemaker AE Ministries …

Got wind of harassment? Fast action can cut liability

12/01/2007

We all would like to believe harassment and discrimination can’t happen where we work. Of course, we’re dreaming if we do. Ordinary people sometimes fall back on old stereotypes or react strongly to newly perceived dangers by inappropriately striking out at a group or nationality. Fortunately for employers, isolated acts of harassment, if stopped dead in their tracks, won’t come back to haunt them years later …

Ohio Supreme Court limits ‘Voluntary abandonment’ doctrine

12/01/2007

The Ohio Supreme Court has substantially limited the “voluntary abandonment” doctrine in claims for temporary total disability compensation under the Ohio Workers’ Compensation Act. That means employers may have to pay temporary total disability payments to employees even if they were injured while breaking safety rules …

Heart attack at work? Be prepared to prove stress wasn’t the cause

12/01/2007

The New York workers’ compensation system was set up as a no-fault system to compensate employees injured while working. There’s a powerful presumption under the system that any death that occurs during working hours is covered, at least if there’s an arguable claim that it was work-related. That’s why employees who have fatal heart attacks at work may sometimes be covered …

Applying for Special Disability Fund? Make sure you fill out forms correctly

12/01/2007

Employers and workers’ compensation carriers can sometimes be partially reimbursed for workers’ comp payments if prior injuries contributed to an employee’s inability to work. But applying to the Special Disability Fund requires careful completion of the application forms—the agency that handles such requests is often a stickler for details, and courts usually uphold the agency’s decisions …

Workplace injuries and illnesses fall to lowest level on record

12/01/2007

Good news for your organization, employees and workers’ comp costs: U.S. workplace injury/illness rates have fallen to their lowest point since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking those numbers in 1972 …