From the Editor
Why environmental issues should be on HR's radar
Many companies have adopted programs to recycle paper, plastic, and soft drink cans and some have installed super efficient lighting to cut down on energy costs. You also may have noticed there's less room in the break room refrigerator because more employees are bringing their lunch to work to save money because of record high gas and food prices. Conserving energy is becoming a high priority for many employers and employees to take better care of the planet and to improve the bottom line.
But there is another environmental issue that so far has been under the news radar and could have significant implications for business in less than a year. All three presidential candidates left standing – Clinton, McCain, and Obama – have made environmentally friendly policies a big part of the campaigns and have some positions in common. For example, all three say they are not in favor of drilling for oil in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). And they are all in favor of measures that would significantly reduce carbon emissions from their current levels. While they have different ideas about how to go about it, they are all heading in a direction that would be a shift from current U.S. environmental policy.
How this will affect business is yet to be seen, but it seems likely that change will soon be on the way regardless of which candidate wins the White House in November.
To see what other companies are doing about the environment as part of their business, check out the results from the March HRHero.com survey at www.hrhero.com/survey/results.cgi?green2008
Wendi Watts
Web Editor
HR Hero Line
Webeditor@hrhero.com
HR News and Advice
So you want to have a wellness program?
Excerpted from Mississippi Employment Law Letter and written by attorneys at the law firm of Watkins Ludlam Winter & Stennis, P.A.
by Susan Fahey Desmond
Congress has never come close to making it mandatory for employers to provide health insurance to employees. But you know that to attract and keep the best employees, you must offer health insurance as a benefit. You also know that health insurance is costly and is becoming more costly every year. So what are your options?
What's an employer to do?
The rising cost of health insurance has made employers test the waters for more imaginative ways of providing this attractive benefit to employees and their families. Unfortunately, employers are finding that the imaginative programs they put in place just aren't making a dent in lowering the cost of health insurance premiums. In fact, it's anticipated that health care spending in the United States will reach $4 trillion in 2015, or 20 percent of the gross domestic product.
Why have health insurance costs and premiums continued to rise faster than inflation? A major reason is that Americans are using the health care system more than ever. Americans are living longer, and because of poor lifestyle choices, we are among the most unhealthy individuals in the world. Lifestyle challenges, including obesity, smoking, drug abuse, and physical inactivity, have contributed to an increased use of our health care system. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 75 percent of an employer's health care costs and productivity losses are related to employee lifestyle choices.
State legislation 101
Excerpted from Employers State Law Alert
Every U.S. state has a legislative body. From this point, the similarities end. The state retains the discretion to determine the specific details of how its government, including the legislative branch, will operate, and these specifics are typically set forth in that state’s constitution.
Thus, just as the political issues affecting one state may be wildly varied from those affecting its neighbor, the political bodies where these issues are debated may also be drastically different. Variation in details such as how the legislative branch will operate, when the legislature will meet, how long the sessions will last, how often they will convene, how many legislators will be in the branch, how long their terms will last, and so forth create individual and unique bodies of law across the country.
This is all well and good for the states as individual states, but it can certainly make keeping up with the legislative process across two or three states a daunting task. While it isn’t possible to cover the full nature of every state’s unique structure, we’ve compiled a primer of some of the general similarities and extraordinary differences among the 50 states.
Did You Know...
On February 11, the Department of Labor announced its long-anticipated overhaul of the Family and Medical Leave Act, published in the Federal Register. Will the revised DOL regulations make employers lives easier, or will they add to the confusion?
Learn how the newly proposed regs will clarify some of the muddy issues surrounding this complex issue by participating in the all-new HR Hero audio conference, DOL's New Proposed FMLA Regs Explained. Employment law attorneys well-versed in FMLA issues will guide you through the newly proposed regulations, including clarification of a "serious" health condition, fine-tuning procedures for required notices, determining when overtime exhausts FMLA leave, and much, much more.
Read on for more information...
Does hearing requirement violate ADA?
Excerpted from California Employment Law Letter and written by attorneys at the law firm of Freeland Cooper & Foreman LLP
Can you impose a hearing standard for safety reasons in circumstances outside those in which a government standard applies, or does such a requirement violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)? Those questions were recently addressed by the Ninth Circuit. The answers aren't clear, and under the court's analysis, they will depend largely on the facts of the specific situation.
Read on (Subscribers only)
The academics of new-school retaliation claims
Excerpted from Utah Employment Law Letter and written by attorneys at the law firm of Wood Crapo LLC
In the Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Co. v. White decision, the U.S. Supreme Court set forth a new test for determining the legitimacy of federal retaliation claims in employment cases. The parameters of the test remain to be determined by cases such as the one discussed below, which provides valuable insight and instruction concerning which employer actions may be construed as retaliatory by a court of law. The case, decided by the Tenth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (which covers Utah) and involving retaliation claims lodged by two disgruntled college professors, teaches us that there's still much to learn following the Burlington Northern case.
Read on (Subscribers only)
EEOC rule on retiree benefits finally gets green light
Excerpted from North Carolina Employment Law Letter and written by attorneys at the law firm of Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued a final rule under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) that allows employers to coordinate retiree health benefits with Medicare eligibility. Let's take a quick look at how the rule came to be and whether it resolves the issue once and for all.
Read on (Subscribers only)
The Word on Employment Law
Interview notes – tip of the week
It’s common for those interviewing a job candidate to take notes during the interview. They are made on the employment application, the resume, or some other document kept in connection with the interview.
Make sure the notes are job related. They deal with the candidate’s experience. They deal with his/her skills for the job in question. They relate to answers given to your questions about the job.
Don’t make notes that have anything to do with a protected class in which the applicant may be. Under federal law, the principal protected classes are: race, color, sex or gender, national origin, religion, age, and disability. There may be other protected classes under your state and local laws.
Read more of John's post on employment law and HR humor
Resources for Humans: best books for HR
How Starbucks Saved My Life
A review by Michael Maslanka
Gill was a top dog at a big ad firm with lots of “do-re-mi” and perks. He got bounced in his mid 50’s (sounds like age disrimination), starts his own business, gets a girlfriend, a new baby, and an ex-wife in that order, and ends up broke. He goes to work at Starbucks for a young black woman and a diverse lot of coworkers. And here’s the arc of the book — he now sees the world from the other side of the counter.
Read other reviews and find books picks for HR professionals