Estimated reading time: 4 minutes Today’s reader note is a tough story to read. I’m sharing it for two reasons. First, because this person was kind to share it with me and second, because I’m hoping my response will benefit not only this person but others in the same situation. Full disclosure: I did edit the note for brevity and to remove any identifying references.  I was recently fired from a job I had for ten years. I received good performance reviews about my work and had good relationships with our suppliers, banks, customers, and coworkers. The shareholders respected me. Almost a ..read more

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes One of the most important benefits that employees receive is paid time off (PTO). Employees want time off to relax and recharge. They might also need time off to take care of personal matters.  There are many different ways to provide paid time off. One popular way is called front-loading paid time off (aka front-loading PTO). To help us understand more about this benefit option, I reached out to Marta Turba CCP, CSCP, CBP, vice president of content strategy at WorldatWork. For more than 65 years, WorldatWork has served prof ..read more

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes I’ve been seeing a lot of social media postings from employees who are getting suspended. Suspensions are never fun – for the employee or the manager. One of the hardest parts for everyone is figuring out next steps. Often employees are placed on suspension pending the outcome of an investigation.  I’ve written before about how employees can respond to being suspended and some of the decisions they will want to consider. So, I thought it might be a good idea to post a few articles that could help.  What Happens During an Employee Investiga ..read more

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes (Editor’s Note: Today’s article is brought to you by our friends at Poster Guard® Poster Compliance Service from HRdirect, the leading labor law poster service that gets your business up to date with all required federal, state, and local labor law postings, and then keeps it that way — for an entire year. Enjoy the article!) Under the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), all U.S. employers are required to complete Form I-9 whenever they hire someone. Basically, Form I-9 verifies two things: The new hire’s identity. Meaning they are who they say t ..read more

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes I’ve mentioned before that there’s a Reddit sub called anti-work. It’s not really opposed to work, but instead points out some of the unexplainable things that employers do. Like tell employees they cannot talk about their pay. Just as a FYI – under the National Labor Relations Act, employees can talk about their pay. But that’s not the point of today’s article.  When it comes to discussing pay, especially if you’re trying to negotiate a pay increase with your employer, there are some things to consider.   Here’s what not to do: DON’T thre ..read more

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes I’m seeing a lot of questions lately about how human resources professionals can stay informed and continue learning. It’s an important activity to make time for. If we want to provide value to organizations, we need to stay current.  It’s also a great question to ask other people because they might do something that you want to try and add to your list. So, I wanted to share with you some of my favorite ways to stay informed. I hope you’ll share yours in the comments. It would be great to create a list for others in the HR community. I’m sure one of the ..read more

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes There are lots of new compliance rules that employers need to know. We’ve talked recently about employment law postings and noncompete agreements. Did you also know that there are new rules related to employee benefits and transparency? I recently listened to a HUB International webinar on the “2024 Compliance & Benefits Update: How the New Transparency Rules Will Impact Your Organization”. I would suggest when you have a moment, taking a listen. It talks about the new rules impacting employee benefits compliance. After listening to the webinar, I as ..read more

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes There have been a lot of headlines lately related to labor and employment law. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently announced a rule banning non-compete agreements. And the U.S. Department of Labor finalized a rule to increase the compensation thresholds for overtime eligibility under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). While there’s been talk of contesting these rules, it’s still something that human resources professionals must manage. We will be talking more about these issues in upcoming articles so stay tuned! Another aspect of labor an ..read more

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes I recently learned a new term – Peak 65. The term is being used because this year an average of 11,000 Americans are expected to turn age 65 every day from now until year end. This represents the largest increase in retirement age Americans in history, according to an article on CBS News.  Some people might view Peak 65 as a welcome relief, as in “Finally, those Boomers will retire!” I read an article recently in Business Insider that said Boomers are a drain on the economy, the housing market, the labor shortage, the stock market, and Social S ..read more

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes Just in case you missed it, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a final rule in April banning noncompete agreements nationwide. The rationale behind this Rule is to ensure that workers have the freedom to pursue new opportunities, start a new business, or create a new product / service.  That being said, I’m sure employers have questions … lots of questions. So, I reached out to our friends at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney to see if they would share their knowledge with us. And thankfully, they said yes.  Carrie Amezcua i ..read more