The workers speak: 4 reasons why managers’ feedback doesn’t stick

by Tim Gould

Nothing is more frustrating than employees who don’t listen. And most managers know the struggle of trying to get employees to follow their advice.  

Although it’s easy for irritated managers to point the finger at employees, the root of the issue just might lie in the way managers communicate with these workers.

Karin Hurt, writing on letsgrowleaders.com, offers a solid theory on why feedback sessions don’t work for employees: They’re not listening.

4 pitfalls

Hurt highlights four reasons why employees say they ignore managers’ feedback:

• Too much, too soon. Employees may be trying to improve, but if managers are constantly pointing at new areas for improvement, they won’t be able to keep up. Instead, managers should focus on one change at a time, and see it through before moving on to something else.

Click here for entire article. 

Tip Tuesday! DOL quietly drops big news on new overtime rules

by Christian Schappel

The DOL’s been pretty quiet about what it’s doing behind the scenes about changing the overtime exemption rules and salary threshold. But it has finally spoken. 

This week, at the American Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law conference in Philadelphia, the Solicitor of Labor M. Patricia Smith shared some insider info that elicited “gasps” from the audience, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.

Smith said during a panel discussion that the finalized changes to the FLSA’s overtime eligibility rules likely won’t be issued until late 2016. From that juicy piece of info, one could surmise that they won’t take effect until 2017.

This is huge news for the business community, which hasn’t been shy about expressing outrage over the proposed overtime rule changes the DOL issued this summer. The delay means employers have more time to prepare, even though they don’t know what the finalized rules will look like yet.


The period during which the public can comment on the proposed rules ended Sept. 4, and the DOL received roughly 270,000 comments during that period. That’s about three times the amount of comments the agency received when it last updated the overtime rules back in 2004. About 50,000 comments came in during the last week alone.

Click here for entire article.

2 big pieces of news in the world of retirement planning

by Christian Schappel

Two very interesting things happened in the world of retirement planning this week that employers will want to take note of. 

Let’s start with the more earth-shaking of the two:

No. 1: State-run retirement plans

The Obama administration wants to make it easier for states to provide individuals whose employers don’t offer retirement plans with access to such plans.

As a result, the DOL issued a proposed rule that would allow and guide states to establish state-sponsored IRAs in which individuals could automatically be enrolled. According to the proposal, individuals must be given the opportunity to opt out, but absent taking that action, they’d be enrolled in the plans.

As for how this proposed rule would affect employers: They’d be responsible for coordinating and making the payroll deductions that would be deposited into the plans.

The proposed rule also contains guidelines on creating state-based, ERISA-compliant 401(k) plans that are open to small businesses and workers.

The states themselves or third-party vendors would act as the retirement plan fiduciaries for the IRAs.


The proposed rule has drawn a lot of criticism already, much of which has come from financial industry insiders who fear the proposal could undercut private sector ventures.

Click here for entire article. 

ACA reporting rules: Why 12 minutes is the magic number

by Jared Bilski

How long will the ACA reporting process take? The IRS may be able to help you determine how much of your schedule you need to block off. 

When the IRS released the final instructions for 1095-C reporting, it included another critical piece of information other than just how-tos: The amount of time its likely to take employers to complete ACA returns.

The IRS estimates it’ll take employers an average of 12 minutes to complete each 1095-C return.

12 X 50, 100, 150 …

When you consider that at the bare minimum, employers subject to the ACA reporting requirements will be completing 50 returns, the reporting process is a significant time commitment. At 12 minutes per form, those 50 returns should take 600 minutes or 10 hours to complete.

Of course, this is just an estimate and, considering this is a brand-new, high-stakes process, it’s likely to take many employers longer than the average amount of time the IRS estimates. Still, the estimate does help give you some type of perspective on the time-commitment necessary for the actual reporting process.

Lines 14 and 15

While you’ll no doubt want to go over the IRS’ instructions with all parties involved in the reporting process, there are two lines in the instructions that are likely to be particularly helpful when it comes time to do the actual reporting:

Click here for entire article. 

Is this health cost-cutter worth the morale hit?

by Jared Bilski

Employers are always looking for proven ways to lower health costs, so why are so many firms balking at a tactic with guaranteed results?  

Restricting healthcare coverage to employees’ spouses who are offered health insurance through their own employer will no doubt impact an employer’s healthcare costs.

Consider these findings from a 2014 study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI): Insured employees spent an average of $5,430 on healthcare services, while insured spouses spent $6,609, a difference of $1,179.

(Note: Because the EBRI study found that spouses in an employment-based health plan are two times more likely to be female than male, the stark difference in cost uncovered in the EBRI study is at least partly explained by pregnancy-related expenses for wives insured through their husbands’ plans.)

Even if employers aren’t comfortable completely excluding spouses who can receive coverage elsewhere, there are other deterrents such as imposing a spousal surcharge.

But in spite of the potential savings of such a move, a surprisingly low number of employers are tackling the cost of spousal healthcare coverage through carve-outs.

Click here for entire article. 

Tip Tuesday! DOL quietly drops big news on new overtime rules

by Christian Schappel

The DOL’s been pretty quiet about what it’s doing behind the scenes about changing the overtime exemption rules and salary threshold. But it has finally spoken. 

This week, at the American Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law conference in Philadelphia, the Solicitor of Labor M. Patricia Smith shared some insider info that elicited “gasps” from the audience, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.

Smith said during a panel discussion that the finalized changes to the FLSA’s overtime eligibility rules likely won’t be issued until late 2016. From that juicy piece of info, one could surmise that they won’t take effect until 2017.

This is huge news for the business community, which hasn’t been shy about expressing outrage over the proposed overtime rule changes the DOL issued this summer. The delay means employers have more time to prepare, even though they don’t know what the finalized rules will look like yet.

The period during which the public can comment on the proposed rules ended Sept. 4, and the DOL received roughly 270,000 comments during that period. That’s about three times the amount of comments the agency received when it last updated the overtime rules back in 2004. About 50,000 comments came in during the last week alone.

But despite that last-minute outpouring of commentary, the DOL announced it wouldn’t extend the comment period. It said the standard 60-day comment period — combined with its outreach efforts prior to the proposal being published — was enough to “produce a quality regulation.”

Click here for entire article.

Dealing with angry employees: 4 tips for managers

by Tim Gould

We’ve never heard a manager grouse about a shortage of employee complaints. We’ve heard a few moan about how to handle those complaints, however.  

Whether it’s concerns over schedules, disputes over job assignments or just disputes with co-workers, these conversations can get heated from time to time.

What should managers do when a normal interaction gets hot and turns into an argument?
They can try these four steps to keep a discussion cool:

1. Let the person vent

Managers should show empathy by saying something like, “I’d be upset too if I was dealing with this” or “I get why you’re frustrated about the situation.”

Important: Don’t take the anger personally. They’re just venting about a problem.

It’s also best to try not to interrupt while they’re venting. Listen to the key points while they’re getting it off their chest.

2. Repeat after me

Once he or she is done speaking, the manager should paraphrase and repeat back what they think they heard.

Click here for entire article.

The 3 biggest ACA requirements you still have to worry about

by Christian Schappel

Congratulations … you’ve survived the vast majority of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) requirements. But your compliance headaches aren’t over yet. What Obamacare regulations are still slated to kick in? 

No. 1: Reporting requirements

When: Feb. 29, 2016 (March 31 if filing electronically). The deadline for future year’s returns will be Feb. 28.

What: This is what’s taking up the majority of employers’ attention right now. The ACA’s reporting requirements kick in for the first time in 2016. These are the requirements that make the government’s enforcement of the employer mandate possible.

The information that must be reported will allow the IRS to determine whether “large employers” are meeting the ACA’s requirements to offer full-time workers with adequate, company-sponsored health insurance — and, thus, whether those employers should be hit with shared responsibility penalties.

The requirements are complicated (here’s our plain-English breakdown), and employers haven’t had a lot of time to mull them over, so it’s understandable that they’ve taken companies’ attention away from what else is coming down the road.


But it’s crucial that employers remember there are two more key ACA provisions still to come.

Click here for entire article. 

What 94% of HR pros are doing to prepare for new OT regs

by Jared Bilski

The DOL’s new overtime regs will make reviewing the classifications of exempt employees an absolute must for businesses everywhere. Luckily for most HR pros, this won’t be anything new.  

At least that’s what a recent SHRM study uncovered. The study asked 337 HR professionals whether they review if their employees are exempt from overtime, and an impressive 94% of HR pros reported that they did.

Granted, the frequency with which HR pros review workers’ overtime status varies greatly. Here’s the breakdown of how often employee-status is reviewed by HR:

• When a position comes open (53%)
• Annually (39%)
• Monthly (2%), and
• Never (2%).

If you haven’t done so already, you’ll probably want to do an in-house audit of all your exempt employees to see if they’ll still meet that classification when the DOL’s new regs take effect.

Under the DOL’s proposed regs, employees must earn $970 per week or $50,440 per year, figures based on the 40th percentile of weekly wages for full-time salaried workers, to be exempt from overtime.


The current threshold is $455 per week or $23,660 per year.

Click here for entire article. 

Tip Tuesday! ACA tweaked again: Reform rule gets repealed

by Christian Schappel

Employers now have one less Obamacare requirement to worry about. 

The ACA amended the FLSA to require employers that employ 200 or more workers to automatically enroll new full-time employees in a company-sponsored health plan.

This auto-enrollment mandate came out in 2010 when the ACA was signed into law, but it was never going to take effect until the DOL issued specific rules for the requirement. Nearly six years later, those rules were never issued.

And now the auto-enrollment has been scrapped altogether. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, which President Obama just signed into law, repealed the requirement.

This comes as welcome news to many employers still reeling from having to comply with the ACA’s reporting requirements for 2016 — not to mention countless other mandates implemented by the ACA since 2010.

Can you still auto-enroll?

Despite the repeal, employers are still allowed to use “default” or “negative” elections for enrolling employees into company-sponsored health plan coverage if they choose to do so.

Click here for entire article. 

A happier heart: 3 R's to ease anger

Ticked off? Remember these techniques — and help protect your ticker 

Anger — it's a natural, normal emotion. But uncontrolled anger may raise your blood pressure — and increase your risk of heart disease. And that's not even mentioning the damage it can do to your work and personal relationships. 

Fortunately, you can learn to better manage your feelings of frustration and rage. And that can help protect your heart and your well-being. 

A healthier approach 

Think back to the last time you were angry — whether it was mild irritation or full-blown fury. How did you respond? Did you lash out? Or did you bottle it up and pretend everything was OK? 

Both are common reactions to anger — and neither is good for you. 

In fact, the healthy response may be the trickiest to master: Expressing anger — but in a way that doesn't attack others or make matters worse. It's a delicate balance. 

To take this healthier middle path, remember these 3 R's: 

1. Relax. Call a mental time-out. Take several deep breaths — and let the tension go. Don't act until you feel more in control of your feelings. You may even want to remove yourself from the situation to cool down. 

Click here for entire article. 

‘Zip it!’ 3 things you can’t say after FMLA requests

by Christian Schappel

You know when employees request FMLA leave, those conversations have to stick to the facts about what the workers need and why. The problem is, a lot of managers don’t know that — and here’s proof any of their stray comments can cost you dearly in court. 
Three employers are currently fighting expensive FMLA interference lawsuits because their managers didn’t stick to the facts when subordinates requested leave.

Don’t say it!

The real kick in the pants: Two of the lawsuits were filed by employees who’d received all of the FMLA leave they requested — and the courts said the interference claims were still valid. How’s that even possible? Keep reading to learn about the latest litigation trend in the FMLA world.
Here’s what happened in each case (don’t worry, we’ve cut to the chase in all of them) — beginning with the words/phrases managers must avoid when a worker requests leave:

No. 1: ‘We expect you to be here’

James Hefti, a tool designer, was in hot water with his company, Brunk Industries, a metal stamping company.

Click here for entire article. 

5 words your training programs must include now

by Christian Schappel

If you’re not teaching your employees and their managers this wrinkle in federal law (and some employers clearly aren’t), you’re inviting legal trouble. 

The law in question? The ADA.

The wrinkle? That it applies to customers as much as it applies to employees.

Surely, you’re covering the employee-side of the ADA at length with your managers. But it’s easy for the customer-specific provisions to get overlooked — and they apply not just to your managers, but also to their subordinates.

Thankfully, there’s a great phrase that can simplify what your workers’ responsibilities are under the law when it comes to customers: “Try to accommodate disabled customers” … period.

Bakery gets cooked for kicking out service dog

This issue was recently brought to light — in a bad way — when an employee at Dick’s Bakery in Berea, OH, told a blind patron she had to take her service dog outside.

Click here for entire article.

Tip Tuesday! Form 5500: New initiative from feds targets non-filers

by Jared Bilski

The IRS has a new project that centers around a key benefits compliance task.  

The IRS’ Employee Plans Compliance Unit recently announced the start of a new initiative that focuses on uncovering Form 5500 non-filers.

DOL-provided data

To do this, the IRS will be looking at payroll and plan data that firms provided to the DOL and comparing that data with its own records.

According to the feds, the goal is not only to identify Form 5500 non-filers but also to determine the underlying reasons for that noncompliance.

The IRS is specifically focusing on plans that failed to file a Form 5500 for the 2011 plan year. The agency will be sending letters to non-filers it discovers during the course of its investigation.

What you can do

If plan sponsors can’t respond with an explanation as to why they did not file, they’ll be put on notice and may face costly penalties for failure to file. Under ERISA, the DOL can impose an $1,100 per day penalty for each day that the Form 5500 is late — and there’s no cap on those penalties. Plus, the IRS can also hit plans with a $25-per day penalty up to $15,000 for each late Form 5500.

Click here for entire article.