Q. We currently provide health insurance for 20 employees who work full time (40 hours per week all year). We have some clerical staff who work less than 40 hours per week and aren’t eligible for insurance. We also have professional tax preparers who work many hours during tax season, but only 10 to 20 hours the rest of the year. Can we legally add just the tax preparers to our health insurance and not the clerical staff? —R.M., Pennsylvania
People Management
With some employees, it isn’t a matter of ability, it’s a matter of attitude. And while you can’t control someone’s horrible personality, you can decide how you’re going to respond. Use these scripts and strategies to confront problem employees and effectively manage employee discipline so you can bring motivating back to the forefront of your workday.
The first rule of people management is not to let one bad apple spoil your whole bunch. Difficult people can put a strain on the productive members of your team.
Make the most of your human capital. Browse our articles on the good, the bad and the ugly of People Management…
When an employee complains about race discrimination, you know to immediately investigate. But what if a manager complains about her subordinate's racial comments? Can the company tell the manager to hold off disciplining the employee until it's had a chance to investigate the discrimination claim? Yes, as a new ruling shows ...
The mantra in real estate is "location, location, location." But the mantra in employee discipline must always be "consistency, consistency, consistency" ...
Q. When an employee fails to clock in or out properly, our payroll department withholds that day's pay until the next pay period as a form of employee discipline. My understanding is that an employer can't hold back portions of pay as punishment. Am I right? —J.A., Georgia
If you outsource employee training programs that include self-defense or other physically demanding work, be aware that the waivers signed by your employees may mean you will have to pay for any injuries ...
When you're thinking about discharging a problem employee, consider running a criminal background check. In many cases, discovering a serious crime conviction can provide additional justification ...
Employee discipline, above all else, must be consistent. When it's not, mistakes put employers at risk of messy discrimination claims ...
Don't write off employee training just because your training budget is somewhere between slim and none. You might think affordable (or free) training is hard to come by, but that's not true, says Linda Newell, director of learning and development for Policy Studies Inc. ...
The U.S. Labor Department revamped the FLSA regulations in 2004 to help employers and employees understand the rules better. But, so far, the HR world has only seen more overtime lawsuits, not less ...
HR Law 101: When employees are on FMLA leave, employers must continue to provide health benefits for them. The same services your group plan provides on-the-job employees must be made available to those on FMLA leave. If you change coverage or adopt another plan that offers new services while employees are on leave, you must make the new benefits available to them as well ...
