This question was recently asked of the ThinkHR Hotline team: What benefits must be continued while an employee is on Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave? What should we do with an employee who is not making his share of the copayments while out on leave?
Their expert answer: Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) regulations require that employers continue to provide group health benefits under the same terms and conditions as if the employee was actively at work. There is no requirement under the FMLA to continue other types of benefits offered by the employer. Whether or not an employee’s other benefits continue depend on an employer’s established policy. Any benefits that would be maintained if the employee was on another form of leave should be maintained while the employee is on FMLA leave.
Part of the requirement to continue health insurance benefits “under the same terms” means that both the employer and employee must continue to pay their portions of the group health insurance premium, unless the employer has a different policy for managing premium payments during leaves. The employer is required to notify the employee of the payment requirements while on leave, including the amount of the payment, date due, and where the payment should sent. If the employee fails to pay his or her portion of the premium, the employer may be able to suspend group health benefits for the remainder of the FMLA leave.
In order to suspend benefits for someone on FMLA leave, the employer must allow the employee a 30-day grace period to make payment after the original payment due date. The employee must receive written notice at least 15 days prior to the actual suspension, and the best employer practice is to send a pending suspension notice once the employee is 15 days past the payment date. One important item to note is that even if an employer suspends an employee’s health coverage under these terms, the employer is required to restore coverage without penalty or delay once the employee returns from FMLA leave to a level of coverage that is equal to what the employee had prior to the leave and had not missed premium payments. If the employee does not return from FMLA, the employee whose coverage was suspended for failure to pay premiums during the leave would be eligible for COBRA continuation coverage.
Don Phin, Esq. is VP of Strategic Business Solutions at ThinkHR, which helps companies resolve urgent workforce issues, mitigate risk and ensure HR compliance. Phin has more than three decades of experience as an HR expert, published author and speaker, and spent 17 years in employment practices litigation. For more information, visit www.ThinkHR.com.
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During the past decade, diversity training has become a huge industry, with many companies implementing programs aimed at helping all employees feel valued while reducing bias and unfairness. That’s the stated purpose, and it sounds great; but when you get right down to it, the reason most companies implement diversity training programs is to, hopefully, reduce liability issues including potentially costly lawsuits. And what’s more, recent studies have been indicating that most diversity training programs simply don’t work.
In fact, one study from Harvard University looked at 829 companies over three decades and found that the training resulted in “no positive effects in the average workplace.” Even worse, the researchers also found that in workplaces where diversity training is mandatory, the training “actually has negative effects on management diversity.”
The researchers noted that the very nature of diversity training forces people to think in terms of categories. In the end, employees are more likely to dehumanize people than to see them as individuals.
Mentor programs appear to be very effective, the study says. Such programs can provide everyone with connections to “higher ups,” and they are generally better accepted than training programs, possibly because they are available to everyone, not just specific groups.
“Mentor programs put aspiring managers in contact with people who can help them move up, both by offering advice and by finding them jobs,” the study authors found. “This strategy appears to work.”
The study found another good approach to ensuring diversity in the current workplace and in hiring practices is to put one person or a group of people in charge, acting as a diversity manager or task force. Managers and task forces can be effective because they focus on identifying both specific problems and remedies.
“Managers and task forces feel accountable for change, and they monitor quarterly employment data to see if their efforts are paying off. If not, it’s back to the drawing board to sketch new diversity strategies.”
The take-home message: Don’t give up on diversity programs in your company, but do spend time exploring other options that may be more effective.
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Does your business have a website, a presence on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc.) or anywhere else on the Internet where consumers can express their point of view you post responses? If you do, you need a Special Insurance Policy to cover you, your employees, and your company from claims of defamation (slander and libel).
Slander and libel lawsuits have grown familiar, thanks to the Internet and responsible insurance agents advise clients at risk to get the coverage.
What is Defamation?
Defamation is a tort (wrongdoing) that harms the reputation of an individual. Many states have rulings that the defamation is often unintentional and not designed to injure anyone’s reputation. Nevertheless, states also recognize the claims made for negligent or reckless defamation.
Libel means written defamation, and slander is oral or spoken defamation. In a business setting, if a clerk falsely accuses a shopper of shoplifting and is heard by others making the accusation may have committed libel (unless the goods are found on their person). Libel is a written statement that is untrue.
The only absolute defense against defamation is the truth. The exception is if the defamatory statement is about a public figure. Then there is a higher bar for winning a lawsuit. The plaintiff must prove that the statement is a known falsehood to the writer and made with actual malice. This protection was for the benefit of journalists who wrote unflattering but truthful pieces about public figures.
If your business, an employee, or you are defendants in a slander or libel action, it is almost a certainty that there will be costs associated with defending you.
Why do you need Defamation Insurance?
As in the example above, statements made publicly and are untrue can bring a slander lawsuit against your employee, you as the owner, and the business as an employer.
However, the advent of social media makes the risk greater, yet not risky enough to ignore the marketing value of an online presence. There are many of what ifs.
What if a customer makes a libelous comment on your website blog about a competitor? Are you responsible?
What if an employee makes a libelous comment in response to a customer? Is your business responsible?
What if a customer libels another customer on your blog? Are you responsible?
The possibilities are endless but not using Internet marketing techniques is not an option — even if you follow best practices.
At least, you may go to court and need to defend your employee and your business. If the plaintiff wins the case, the damage award can be costly, and some states allow for punitive damages.
Defamation insurance covers the cost of defense and the damages and punitive awards up to your policy limit.
You do need defamation insurance in today’s litigious world.
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Best practices and laws, policies and rules are important foundations for building a workplace safety program. But, they are not nearly enough. A truly safe working environment is then management and line employees share in the workplace safety effort. Employees who name a hazard should never feel threatened or that he or she will be subject to recriminations. Words of praise are the least for alert people and tickets to a sporting event, movie, or show let them know their alertness counts. Following are some common issues found in most workplaces that management and floor employees should look for.
1. Identify Hazardous Places
When employees first start, assign a person to take them on a tour. Point any places that are hazardous, even if proper signage is up. Explain to new employees the nature of the hazard and if they need protective clothing in the area.
2. Instruct employees in a way to maintain the right posture to protect their backs.
People, who work at desks, keep your shoulders lined up with your hip to avert back issues. Any worker who has to pick something up needs to know the correct position of the back to avoid injury. So do not stoop or twist. Whenever possible use ergonomically designed furniture and equipment to protect your back. Ergonomic equipment and furniture help keep your muscular-skeletal system in the proper place.
3. Report unsafe conditions.
The span of management keeps getting larger. Managers have more difficulty walking through their areas to make sure all areas are safe. They are dependent on their workers to help find unsafe conditions. Safety is everyone’s job — as soon as you suspect a condition is not safe report it to your manager.
4. Be aware of your surroundings.
If you work on a factory floor, in the fulfillment center or a warehouse be aware of your surroundings. Forklifts are racing around keeping to their schedules and intersections are especially dangerous. Walk the floor with the same caution, you do when crossing the street at a busy intersection.
5. Dress for safety.
Always make sure you have the proper safety equipment on. Hard hats, goggles, ear protection, and other safety items significantly cut the amount of employee injuries and illnesses.
Managers who share these and other safety tips with their team show that they care about their employees past “legislative directions.” This caring attitude goes a long way towards employee safety awareness, less on the job injuries, and higher productivity thanks to improved morale.
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Best practices and laws, policies and rules are important foundations for building a workplace safety program. But, they are not nearly enough. A truly safe working environment is then management and line employees share in the workplace safety effort. Employees who name a hazard should never feel threatened or that he or she will be subject to recriminations. Words of praise are the least for alert people and tickets to a sporting event, movie, or show let them know their alertness counts. Following are some common issues found in most workplaces that management and floor employees should look for.
1. Identify Hazardous Places
When employees first start, assign a person to take them on a tour. Point any places that are hazardous, even if proper signage is up. Explain to new employees the nature of the hazard and if they need protective clothing in the area.
2. Instruct employees in a way to maintain the right posture to protect their backs.
People, who work at desks, keep your shoulders lined up with your hip to avert back issues. Any worker who has to pick something up needs to know the correct position of the back to avoid injury. So do not stoop or twist. Whenever possible use ergonomically designed furniture and equipment to protect your back. Ergonomic equipment and furniture help keep your muscular-skeletal system in the proper place.
3. Report unsafe conditions.
The span of management keeps getting larger. Managers have more difficulty walking through their areas to make sure all areas are safe. They are dependent on their workers to help find unsafe conditions. Safety is everyone’s job — as soon as you suspect a condition is not safe report it to your manager.
4. Be aware of your surroundings.
If you work on a factory floor, in the fulfillment center or a warehouse be aware of your surroundings. Forklifts are racing around keeping to their schedules and intersections are especially dangerous. Walk the floor with the same caution, you do when crossing the street at a busy intersection.
5. Dress for safety.
Always make sure you have the proper safety equipment on. Hard hats, goggles, ear protection, and other safety items significantly cut the amount of employee injuries and illnesses.
Managers who share these and other safety tips with their team show that they care about their employees past “legislative directions.” This caring attitude goes a long way towards employee safety awareness, less on the job injuries, and higher productivity thanks to improved morale.
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I find myself frustrated because companies and those in the HR Function won’t allow me to help them as much as I can. I’m frustrated when I see the trivial feud of HR Executives truly trying to make a difference and be excellent. I’m frustrated when I speak and exhibit at a conference and the attendees are more interested in getting their CEU credits and whatever you’re handing out at your exhibit than they are truly learning things from the speakers or the vendors. I am frustrated because HR Executives as a group have not exhibited the dedication, vision, nerve, defiance, edginess, etc. that I like to be associated with. And unfortunately, we have relegated the concept of relationships at our companies to these executives.
HR has to take it on the chin and realize that there’s good reason for the harsh criticism. They have to take it as a wakeup call and an opportunity. HR represents an incredible opportunity that few organizations or individuals are committed to. Those who are committed to the process of building human excellence will generate additional values at their companies and in their personal lives. So, there’s a choice, either you kick ass at HR and receive the rewards or you stay in your comfort zone and continue to get run over.
Perhaps the two greatest impacts on HR over the last few decades have been technology and the law. It’s gotten to a point where we can access all levels of data regarding our operations. Human Resource Management System and Human Resources Information Systems have been designed for every level of size and complexity. Technology has also been utilized to organize performance management. Managing a HRIS system is like managing information on steroids. The reality is that while many of these companies pump the time saving advantages of being able to pull various reports, few executives ever find the time or reason to pull them. As a result, the technology is utilized at its lowest common denominator.
The most drastic employment law changes in the workplace have occurred during my career. When I began my legal career in 1983 most of the law was concerning union work. Few people brought sexual harassment, discrimination, or other statutory claims. That was primarily handled by agencies such as the Federal EEOC and the California DFEH. Over the last 30 years, the amount of law that one has to know related to the HR function has easily quadrupled. Go to an HR conference today and you will see at least half of all presentations being related to compliance.
Don Phin, Esq. is VP of Strategic Business Solutions at ThinkHR, which helps companies resolve urgent workforce issues, mitigate risk and ensure HR compliance. Phin has more than three decades of experience as an HR expert, published author and speaker, and spent 17 years in employment practices litigation. For more information, visit www.ThinkHR.com.
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