Ray Rice scandal: Can you legally fire a domestic abuser?

By Christian Schappel

In the wake of the NFL’s Ray Rice scandal – and more recent domestic violence issues – a lot of employers are asking the same question: Can we fire an employee who’s committed domestic violence? 


This issue was recently tackled head on by The Washington Post, which solicited comments and advice from employment law attorneys.

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6 quick combos for a power breakfast

By Healthy Mind Healthy Body

When you rise in the morning, you've gone hours without eating. And whether you feel it or not, your whole body is saying, "Feed me!"

Do you listen?

Making time for a healthy breakfast can pay big rewards all day long. It gives your body energy to work and play. It fuels your brain to help you think and solve problems. And it may even benefit your waistline. Research shows that people who eat breakfast tend to do better at weight control.

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DOL audits: More health plans getting hit with $10K-plus fines

By Jared Bilski

When the feds start looking into employers’ benefit plans, most HR pros think they’re generally targeting retirement plan issues. But new research shows that’s not necessarily the case.
Not only is the Department of Labor (DOL) investigating health and welfare plans, the agency is also handing down some steep fines based on what it finds.

In fact, more than a quarter (32%) of the health and welfare plans audited by the DOL were hit with fines higher than $10,000 for Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and Form 5500 errors. And 5% of the plans the feds looked at were hit with fines of more than $50,000.

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Tip Tuesday! Obamacare regs: 3 top compliance killers

By Jared Bilski

The health reform law has been in place long enough for employers’ compliance efforts to lose some steam. But complacency is leaving many firms wide open to problems.


Some of the health plan strategies employers have been using will hurt their ability to comply with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) moving forward.

The Kaiser Family Foundation recently listed some of the top ACA-compliance problems that can sneak up on employers.

The top three:

1. Grandfathered status loss

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Appeals court reverses landmark telecommuting ruling: Now what?

By Jared Bilski

Remember that historic ruling on telecommuting where a court essentially said employers may have to prove an employee’s physical presence at work is essential? Well, an appeals court just offered a much different slant on this issue.

Before we delve into the federal appeal court’s recent verdict, here’s a recap of the landmark ruling that started it all.

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Attracting great applicants when qualified people are scarce

By Tim Gould

More than three in four employers say they’re struggling to find qualified people to fill their open positions.


Outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas recently conducted a survey of 100 human resources executives in a variety of industries nationwide. The bottom line: 77% of respondents said they were having trouble filling open slots because the applicants they were seeing didn’t have the right backgrounds.

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8 goal-oriented steps to a more engaged workforce

By Andre Lavoie

According to estimates from Gallup, low engagement is costing the economy close to $550 billion annually. Is there an answer to overcoming this growing employee engagement crisis that can in turn increase productivity and satisfaction in the workforce?

Yes: a goal-based employee engagement strategy. This not only keeps entire organizations aligned and working toward the same thing, but also allows individual employees to see their personal contribution to the big picture.

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