Category: Benefits and Compensation

This topic provides guidance on how to handle compensation issues in a way that attracts and retains the best talent and advances the strategic goals of your business. You get news and tips on what’s going on nationally and in the states, and updates on changes in regulations, possible governmental action, and emerging compensation trends.

5 Principles to Establish a Pay-for-Performance System

In a BLR webinar titled “Pay-for-Performance: Pros, Cons, and Assessing Whether It’s a Good Fit for Your Organization,” Brooke Green offered five key principles to follow when establishing such a system. 5 Principles to Establish a Pay-for-Performance System How do you establish a system of rewards that truly differentiates in a meaningful way? Green outlined […]

IRS Providing Interim 403(b) Plan Document Relief

The IRS is promising that changes to the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System program are coming soon, and those changes will provide a way to correct plan document errors. The IRS has also proposed a “remedial amendment period” for 403(b) plans, as part of its proposed 403(b) prototype program, which will allow employers to retroactively […]

New FMLA Certification Forms Available from DOL

The U.S. Labor Department has updated its model forms and notices relating to Family and Medical Leave Act certification. Except for a new expiration date — Feb. 28, 2015 — the new documents are identical to those that expired at the end of last year. Here are links to the forms. WH-380-E Certification of Health […]

Metrics: Don’t Go to Management Without Them

Metrics for Compensation and Benefits Sullivan suggests that rather than trying to use a statistical method to evaluate pay fairness, use an employee survey on perceptions of pay fairness compared with work expectations. Here are the measures he suggests: Amount in total compensation and benefits costs needed to generate a dollar of revenue. (Usually expressed […]

Metrics: 2 Common Errors That Make Them Worthless

Metrics guru Dr. John Sullivan says that human resources managers make two key mistakes when using metrics. Sullivan is a metrics consultant and professor of management at San Francisco State University. Mistake #1: Metrics in a Vacuum The first mistake, says Sullivan, blogging on www.ere.net, is that comp/HR managers tend to develop and implement metrics […]

The Four Questions to Ask Before Switching to PTO

Hagan, a partner in the Dallas office of law firm Sarles & Ouimet, LLP, made his suggestions at a recent BLR webinar. Here are his four questions: Question 1: Will an Anticipated Change Affect Existing, Accrued Leave? If you anticipate making a change that might affect existing accrued vacation, you will have to determine if […]

PTO Plans vs. Traditional: Plusses and Pitfalls

Absences, like terminations, can be voluntary or involuntary; however, unlike terminations the distinction between voluntary and involuntary absences is not typically determined by who initiates the absence, says Hagan, who is a partner in the Dallas office of Sarles & Ouimet, LLP. He made his suggestions at a recent BLR webinar. Involuntary absences are employee […]

DOL’s Fiscal Year 2013 Budget Request Grants Premium Authority to PBGC

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released its budget request for the federal fiscal year (FY) 2013 on Feb. 13, as part of the budget proposal President Obama sent to Congress. The DOL budget request for FY 2013 is $12.0 billion, down from $12.6 billion for FY 2012. The department’s press release emphasized this reduction, […]

Washington State Legalizes Same-sex Marriage; Will Others Follow Suit?

And then there were seven: Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire (D) on Feb. 13 signed a measure making same-sex marriage legal in that state. Washington joins Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York, Iowa and the District of Columbia as U.S. jurisdictions with that distinction. The Washington law goes into effect on June 7. The Washington […]

Paterno Responses Range from ‘Despicable’ to ‘Very Well Written’

There was, however, one resounding commonality. Overwhelmingly, readers showed distain for the manner of Paterno’s termination—over the phone after 61 years of service. There’s a sampling of the comments below; readers may also want to read the original article or read all the comments in their entirety. A Sampling of Comments Your article—and all the […]