On Friday, May 31, 2019, 12 people — 11 city employees and one member of the public — were murdered and several others injured in a mass shooting at the municipal building in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Incidences of workplace violence are becoming more common and are all over the news. It’s not just high-profile headline cases that…
By Larry Dunivan, CEO of ThinkHR Part 3 in an ongoing series of posts on people risk management, this article focuses on acknowledging and preventing risk. (Read the first and second posts.) Even when you proactively anticipate all the people risks that have the potential to impact your workplace, it’s easy to convince yourself there…
Question: Do we need to pay an employee who was scheduled to work on a holiday but called in sick and did not work? Answer: Wage and hour laws generally do not require employers to pay holiday pay (check state and local laws for your locality). As to nonexempt employees, an employer’s established policy and... Read more ›
On June 13, 2019, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury released an advance copy of a Final Rule on Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs). It will be published in the Federal Register on June 20, 2019. The rule expands the types of HRAs that can be offered starting in 2020. Background... Read more ›
In partnership with Impactly, ThinkHR recently conducted a survey of its customers to measure the extent to which U.S. employers are adopting EEOC best practices to eliminate harassment and discrimination in the workplace. The survey was conducted in May of 2019 and was completed by more than 1,200 HR and compliance professionals across the country.... Read more ›
Question: Our company offers group medical and dental plans for all employees. We also have an executive-only medical plan that covers out-of-pocket expenses that the regular group plan does not pay. Does COBRA apply to the executive-only plan? Do we have to include it in our summary plan description (SPD)? Answer: The coverage continuation requirements... Read more ›
Question: Are amounts an employer reimburses employees for mileage taxable? Answer: They may be; the type of reimbursement plan will dictate whether reimbursement for business travel is or is not taxable. Both accountable plans and non-accountable plans allow an employer to reimburse employees for their business expenses. With an accountable plan, the reimbursement is not... Read more ›
At this time of year, many employers and benefit advisors begin preparing Form 5500, the annual report required for most employee benefit plans. Form 5500 must be filed with the federal government within seven months after the end of the plan year. For calendar-year plans, that means the plan’s 2018 Form 5500 is due July... Read more ›
Robin Shea, partner with leading national labor and employment law firm (and ThinkHR strategic employment law partner) Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP, tests your knowledge with this Mother’s Day quiz. Happy Mother’s Day weekend! How much do you know about moms in the workplace? Take our quiz and find out! As always, the answers appear... Read more ›
As Mental Health Awareness Month draws to a close, we revisit the topic of fostering a mentally healthy workplace all year long. At the beginning of the month, we talked about the first of the four A’s in the Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) recently-introduced Mental Health Toolkit: awareness. In this article, we will cover the... Read more ›
School’s out! Summer is here, and it’s the time of year when working parents have questions about using their Dependent Care Spending Accounts (DCSAs). Are summer camp expenses eligible? What about day versus overnight camps? Employers and benefit advisors want to be ready with answers about this valuable benefit program. The following are the top... Read more ›