Day: August 13, 2012

Check Computer Usage Policy Against This Model

Yesterday’s Advisor featured attorney Joseph Beachboard’s take on several key HR policies. Today, his recommended model computer usage policy, plus an introduction to the indispensable “50×50” (Fifty Laws in Fifty States). Beachboard, who is a shareholder in the Los Angeles and Torrence, California offices of national employment law firm Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, […]

NAIC Delays Vote on Model Law Raising Stop-loss Attachment Points

A proposal to raise specific attachment points in a stop-loss model act to a level that proponents of self-funding say would restrict smaller firms’ ability to self-insure health benefits was delayed after an Aug. 11 debate hosted by the National Association of Insurance Commissioner’s ERISA working group. The working group cited the need to study […]

Court Reverses Award of Deceased’s Pension to Stepchildren

By Jane Meacham An appellate court sided with a plan administrator’s decision that a deceased plan participant’s stepsons are not entitled to his pension benefits, a ruling that may set the direction for similar plan interpretations under ERISA law. In the case, Herring v. Campbell , Case 11-40953 (Aug. 7, 2012), John Wayne Hunter, a retiree […]

Courts, Agencies Take Mixed Actions Affecting Same-sex Partners

Branches of the federal government have taken divergent actions affecting same-sex partners. A federal district court upheld a state law defining marriage as occurring between a man and a woman; meanwhile, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management has issued final and proposed regulations to expand federal employees’ benefits coverage to their same-sex partners and those […]

empty office

The importance of showing up

I was watching a movie recently in which the lead character was up for a prestigious award. While she was visiting an elderly shut-in, the subject of the award came up. The shut-in confidently stated that the woman deserved to win the award. But the nominee wasn’t certain she was worthy of such recognition, so […]

Take a Load Off!

Begin by training workers to recognize the hazards, including: Slipping on wet or oily surfaces Tripping on broken floor surfaces Falling off dock edges Injuries from falls or unsecured dock plates Injuries caused by motion if someone forgets to chock trailer wheels Carbon monoxide exposure Back injuries from heavy lifting Injuries from run-ins with forklifts […]

‘It’s My First Amendment Right to Discuss Wages’

Beachboard, who is a shareholder in the Los Angeles and Torrence, California offices of national employment law firm Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C., shared his model computer usage policy at the SHRM Annual Conference and Exposition held recently in Atlanta, Georgia. ‘I’m just exercising my First Amendment rights’ Employees who are chastised or […]