Entries Tagged as 'Uncategorized'
The Ledbetter Fair Pay Act just celebrated its third anniversary two weeks ago. Not surprisingly, there's been a surge of gender pay gap-related discussions, presentations and even novelties. The Department of Labor announced its "Equal Pay App Challenge, and last week there was new compensation-related legislation introduced in Congress.
Representative Gregory Meeks (D-NY) introduced a bill that would require companies to include information on the composition of women and minorities in their annual 10-K report to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Specifically, the bill would require employers to report compensation information for all employees and create five brackets of compensation - ranging from the lowest 20 percent to the highest 20 percent - and report the number of women and minorities in each bracket.
In this installment, we discuss some of the ways in which the Department of Labor and Congress are attempting to understand the gender wage gap.
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A landmark lawsuit filed in Oregon claims that thousands of disabled individuals are stuck in dead-end jobs at sheltered workshops because of failed state programs that should be helping them obtain mainstream employment. The lawsuit alleges violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and names Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber and members of the Department of Human Services and the Office of Developmental Disability Services as defendants.
In this installment, we'll be discussing the lawsuit and the broader issues of employing disabled individuals with Michael Bailey. Mr. Bailey is the Chair of the Board of Directors of the National DIsability Rights Network (NDRN) in Washington, DC.
NDRN is a leading voice for the rights of Americans with disabilities. It works to secure support for disability rights advocacy and to keep federal laws for people with disabilities robust. It works with funding agencies and state systems to assure that public resources are used effectively to protect and advocate the rights of individuals with disabilities.
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Rewards and recognition are a critical part of any overall compensation plan. But it’s not always easy to know what kind of rewards and recognition programs are going to be most effective in your organization. Is a purely discretionary bonus program the right choice, or should you opt for a profit-sharing plan designed to engage employees in improving the organization? Should you choose traditional rewards and recognition programs like year-end cash bonuses, or go the unconventional route and use top office tech, free food and drinks and group outings as a way to reward top performers?
As if there weren’t enough choices already, there’s a new kind of rewards program that’s beginning to get some notice. It’s called viral pay, and the emphasis is on tapping in to the relationships between individuals.
Could a viral compensation plan work for your organization? To help us understand how these plans work, we’re joined this morning by Ann Bares. Ann is Managing Partner of Altura Consulting Group, LLC. She has over 20 years of experience consulting in the areas of compensation and performance management. Through her consulting practice, Ann works with a wide range of client organizations in auditing, designing an implementing executive compensation plans, base salary structures, incentive compensation programs, sales compensation plans, and performance management systems. She is a frequent speaker to industry and professional groups, and has authored numerous articles on the topics of compensation and performance management. Ann is the author of the blog Compensation Force and is the Editor of Compensation Café.
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Have you thought about the way you communicate?
When you're having a conversation with someone, are you focused on that conversation, or are you thinking about the other 80 items on your to-do list? Do you tailor the message to the specific audience you're communicating with, or do you deliver the same words in the same way to the C-Suite, supervisors and managers and the hourly staff?
Modifying the way you communicate can have a big impact. The good news is that our guest thinks HR gets conversations right about 80% of the time - but there's always room for some improvement. In this installment, we're joined by someone who's really great at conversations - William Tincup.
William describes himself as “strange” because he excels at marketing, sales and HR. He’s one of the leading thinkers on social media application for human resources, an expert on adoption of HR technology, and knows a thing or two about marketing. William runs Tincup & Co., a company that serves as a sounding board for human resources practitioners and HR vendors. He’s been blogging on HR issues since 2007, and contributes to Fistful of Talent, TalentCulture, and HRExaminer. William also co-hosts DriveThruHR, a daily podcast focusing on HR issues and HR practitioners. He’s great at conversations, and it’s truly a pleasure to have him with us on the podcast.
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Are you suffocating under piles of personnel and payroll documents? Before you overheat your shredders and overwhelm the recycling guy, take a breath and make sure you're in compliance with federal and state laws governing records retention. Different federal and state laws dictate how long certain kinds of documentation must be maintained.
In this week’s installment of The Proactive Employer Podcast, we’ll be talking about document retention policies. We'll highlight the importance of having a policy, and provide a run-down on some of the retention requirements for common HR and payroll documentation.
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The OFCCP is proposing to revise the regulations of Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act. Section 503 prohibits federal contractors and subcontractors from discriminating on the basis of disability, and requires affirmative action on behalf of qualified individuals with disabilities.
The proposed regulations outline the specific actions a contractor must take regarding recruiting, training, record-keeping and policy dissemination. Under the proposed regulations, contractors would be required to develop and maintain specific data sets relating to individuals with disabilities. Finally, the proposed regulations establish a utilization goal for individuals with disabilities.
According to Secretary of Labor Hilda Solia, "this proposed rule represents one of the most significant advances in protecting the civil rights of workers with disabilities since the passable of the Americans with Disabilities Act."
In this installment, we talk about the proposed revisions to Section 503 with Leigh Nason. Ms. Nason is a shareholder in the Columbia, South Carolina office of Ogletree Deakins, and she chairs the firm's Affirmative Action and OFCCP Compliance Practice Group.
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The Proactive Employer Podcast aired its 100th installment on Friday, January 6th! To celebrate, we hosted a live call-in show! Guests Daniel Schwartz, Philip Miles and Jonathan Hyman fielded questions and talked about what the coming year will bring in terms of employment law and human resources challenges.
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As 2011 draws to a close, many of us will be reflecting on the year that was. We faced several challenges in terms of EEO compliance, employment practices litigation and regulatory compliance. It's likely that we'll face even more challenges in these areas during 2012.
To help you prepare for what's ahead, we have compiled the best take-away advice from this year's podcast guests. These take-aways highlight the main issues and provide suggestions on what you can do now to prepare yourself and protect your organization in the coming year.
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Misclassification. It's a subject we've discussed before, and it's still one of the biggest hotspots for litigation and regulatory investigation. The Department of Labor has launched a Misclassification Initiative and is currently working on signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the IRS. Under this agreement, the agencies would work together and share information to reduce misclassification of employees, reduce the tax gap, and to improve compliance with federal labor laws.
But the two agencies seem to be taking different approaches to remedying misclassification. The IRS is offering a new Voluntary Classification Settlement Program. The program would allow those employers who are concerned that they have misclassified employees in the past to voluntarily come forward, rather than waiting for an IRS examination. The Department of Labor, however, is not offering a similar program. Many employers may be interested in taking advantage of the IRS amnesty program, but worry about what will happen on the Department of Labor's end if they do.
In this installment, we'll be talking about the IRS misclassification settlement program with Jennifer Neumann and Tamar Dolcourt. Ms. Neumann and Ms. Dolcourt are members of Foley and Lardner's Labor and Employment Practices Group.
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December 16th, 2011 · 1 Comment
Do you know how to properly account for holidays when calculating FMLA leave?
As we approach the end of the year, employers will be confronted with this question as they recognize Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year's Day or even a temporary shutdown during the last week of the year.
Accounting for holidays or temporary shutdowns when calculating FMLA leave can be tricky business. With all of the other year-end tasks you've been assigned, it may seem like one more compliance issue for you to struggle with when you're already swamped with other things.
The good news is that calculating FMLA leave around holiday time doesn't have to be a struggle. There are some simple tips that can help you calculate FMLA leave correctly and confidently.
In this installment, we speak with Jeffrey Nowak, co-chair of Franczek Radelet's Labor and Employment Practice. Jeff has extensive experience with the Family and Medical Leave Act, and has counseled clients on compliance with FMLA regulations, conducting FMLA audits and training, and successfully litigating FMLA lawsuits. Jeff will talk about the basics of FMLA leave, and give us some suggestions to take the guesswork out of accounting for holidays when calculating FMLA leave.
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