Day: December 3, 2012

Lack of trust was the main ingredient in Hostess’ demise

by Dan Oswald It’s a sad day for me. Hostess Brands, the maker of Twinkies, Ho-Hos, and Ding Dongs, is going out of business. While my midsection may not look like it, I haven’t had a Twinkie—or any other Hostess product, for that matter—in more than 30 years. But I hate to see them go. […]

HR–Show Me the Money!

Special from the Advanced Employment Issues Symposium, Las Vegas In yesterday’s Advisor, BLR CEO Dan Oswald offered tips for getting a seat at HIS table. Today, more on how to interact with the C-Suite, plus an introduction to the all-HR-in-one site, HR.BLR.com Show Me the Money Oswald, author of the Oswald Letter, suggests that HR […]

New Washington marijuana law doesn’t require employers to change policies

by Javier F. Garcia Washington’s new law concerning recreational marijuana use takes effect December 6, but it doesn’t require changes in employer policies. Initiative 502 (I-502), approved in the November 6 election, is intended to make the production and sale of marijuana a regulated, state-licensed system similar to that for controlling hard alcohol. It means […]

COBRA Penalties and Legal Costs Due to Notice Failure, Evasive Answers Rise to $126K

An employer/plan administrator continues to get an expensive lesson on the risks of having both inadequate COBRA notice procedures and poor explanations of how those procedures work. An “inefficient, unwieldy” notice process — coupled with evasive and contradictory answers from employees on why a qualified beneficiary did not receive a COBRA election notice — led […]

What Do Your Colleagues Think?

Note that the questions and responses that deal specifically with training are underlined. What’s the best way to get workers to be safer at work? 74%    Training, training, training 11%    Safety incentives 9%      Discipline 6%      Something else Should willfull, repeat OSHA violators be allowed removal from the Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP) log? 68%    No […]

Want a Seat at MY Table? (Talk My Language)

If you want a seat at my table, you have to talk my language, and that’s the language of numbers and dollars, says Dan Oswald, BLR CEO and author of the Oswald Letter. Oswald offered his remarks at BLR’s Advanced Employment Issues Symposium under way this week in Las Vegas. Here’s what I want to […]

5 tips for paying overtime in California

Overtime in California can be a complex calculation, not the least of which is because the state laws for calculating overtime differ from federal law. This issue remains a priority because overtime violation complaints are on the rise. –Claims for unpaid overtime and other missed pay obligations are definitely the lawsuit of the day.– Allen […]