Employer Telephone Seminars

Payroll Recordkeeping: What You Need to Know ... and its requirements as to the records to be kept by the employer regarding wages, hours and other items, as specified in the Department of Labor recordkeeping regulations. Discover what is required for both exempt and nonexempt employees, including how long the records must be maintained. Home-workers, employees working under certain specified pay arrangements, employees to whom lodging or  more...

Intellectual Disabilities and Employer ADA Obligation ...renia, are among the more challenging disabilities facing employers. The ADAAA means most ADA issues will now turn on whether an individual is qualified, whether a reasonable accommodation exists or whether there is a direct threat, rather than on whether an individual is disabled. As almost every job requires the ability to think, concentrate, communicate and interact with others, to one  more...

Taxation and Accounting Conflicts of Interest ...nal conduct of accountants. An accountant's firm or other employer may have rules regarding conflict of interest. Different rules may govern different services offered by accountants (such as audit, tax, and nonattest services) whether in public accounting, in government, or in a business or a not-for-profit organization. This live audio conference provides critical knowledge necessary for  more...

Workers' Compensation Benefits: Who is Eligible, How are They Calculated, When and How Can They be Settled ...tion benefits are a continuing and significant expense to employers. This live audio conference will address who is eligible for workers' compensation benefits, how these benefits are calculated and what employee benefits may be offset with the payments of workers' compensation, and most important, how to resolve or settle a claim without creating additional liability for the employer. Issues  more...

Health Savings Accounts BenefitsThis live audio conference will explain the basic rules for eligibility, contributions and use of an HSA with a high deductible plan. It will also review current studies on whether HSAs are achieving the goal of reducing total health care costs through consumerism. Focusing on the final comparability rules for employer contributions and updates on the new contribution limits and IRS  more...

FLSA New Fluctuating Workweek Regulatory Guidance ...sion of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has placed the employer community on notice that it intends to be very assertive in its enforcement of the minimum wage and overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Consistent with this philosophy and its current modus operandi, the DOL recently concluded rulemaking that, among other things, discussed 'fluctuating workweek' methodology for  more...

Successful PTO Programs ...pact morale and productivity and be a trap for the unwary employer. This live audio conference helps those persons responsible for designing and implementing employee leave programs assess whether to adopt a PTO program in lieu of traditional leave programs. The audio conference explains how to avoid the common legal pitfalls encountered by those adopting PTO programs, and gives practical  more...

User Requirements and Specification Fundamentals BenefitsPoorly written requirements often result in the customer not getting what the customer wanted or needed. In worst case scenarios, the final product doesn't solve the problem or produce anything of value for the customer. The result is money and time wasted. This live audio conference helps those responsible for purchasing products or getting the right thing built generate requirements  more...

Satisfying OFCCP's Internet Applicant Rules ... of an Internet applicant and the evolving guidance gives employers additional direction and assistance. Moreover, the OFCCP has initiated a systematic process for monitoring adherence to the Internet Applicant Rule. This live audio conference will review the continuously developing OFCCP guidance and provide you with a greater understanding of what is included in the definition of Internet and  more...

Planning Your Holiday Party: Keys to a Celebration Without Litigation ...employers to celebrate the accomplishments of the passing year and reward employees for a job well done. Unfortunately, these same parties can provide an outlet for inappropriate behavior and potentially expose the company to liability well past the New Year. This live audio conference will help you understand the possible sources of trouble and see options for assisting the company to navigate  more...

COBRA: A Little of Everything is Changing ...scuss who has the compliance responsibilities and what an employer must do every day to be in compliance! How do all of the employee benefit laws work together - when do they work separately. How can the employer keep up? SO many things changing in the employee benefit world - COBRA, Subsidy, National Health Care, FSAs - how can anyone keep up? This audio conference will focus on the most  more...

Tax Consequences of Gifts, Prizes, Fringe Benefits, Business Expenses, and Other Payments To Employees ...es, educational expenses, meals and travel expenses, that employers provide as part of employee's total compensation. Particularly in difficult economic times, employers are looking to provide such benefits to employees with the least cost, both to themselves and employees. Failure to understand the tax consequences of such benefits can cause unintended and unwanted tax consequences. This live  more...

When Employee Bloggers Attack: Responding to Negative Employee Comments on the Web ...have exploded in popularity over the last few years, many employers have had to deal with inappropriate conduct by their employees on the web, including an employee's direct criticism of the company. According to one survey, at least half of all employers have had to discipline employees for inappropriate online conduct. It is crucial for you to understand their rights and obligations when  more...

Employee Discipline for Conduct Outside of Work ..., you will learn the legal rights and responsibilities of employers in disciplining employees for conduct outside of work. You will hear about recent legislation and court cases involving some of the hottest topics in employment law, including employee discipline for blogging, web-based 'employer trashing,' workplace dating and extramarital affairs, and physical appearance such as weight,  more...

Self-Auditing Your Employee Benefits:A Guide to What May Need Fixing ...ould create significant liabilities and penalties for the employer that are not being identified under your current processes and procedures. This live audio conference will give you a checklist of the most important issues to look at from a legal and a practical perspective for each type of benefit plan and help you identify and prioritize them so that you can focus your time and resources on  more...

Tips for Calculating a Regular Rate of Pay For Your Employees ...employers have exploded in the last five years. One target is the rate of pay an employer pays to its nonexempt employees, and how that rate affects overtime payments. Most covered employers understand that they must pay overtime compensation at the rate of 'time and a half' to nonexempt employees. But time and a half of what? Under the FLSA and most state counterparts, time and a half is based  more...

GASB 45 Strategies ...is live audio conference is critical for any governmental employer with other post-employment benefits (OPEB) liabilities. The program will provide vital information and planning techniques that will enable employers to avoid the potentially disastrous consequences of failing to identify, control and fund its OPEB liabilities. Most states, municipalities and governmental agencies are aware that  more...

Giving and Receiving Employment References: Successfully Negotiating the Maze ...employers still do not put the necessary amount of thought into requests for references - whether they are on the requesting or responding end. Responding to such requests can be fraught with potential pitfalls and could expose an employer to legal liability from both ends (i.e., from the current/former employee and from the requesting entity). On the other hand, given these issues, it is  more...

Do's and Don'ts for Internal Investigations of Employment Issues ...employer will want to investigate and, if necessary, remedy reported discrimination or harassment. In some states, a prompt investigation is legally required. This audio conference will provide you with valuable and practical advice on planning and conducting internal investigations, and assessing how to respond once the investigation is completed. This audio conference is designed for human  more...

Dealing With Employees Who Have Been Charged With a Crime ...sOne of the most perplexing problems that can confront an employer arises after the employer discovers that one of its employees has been arrested and charged with a crime. Under our legal system, the familiar mantra is that an arrested person is innocent until proven guilty. So, what can you do to address situations where an employee has been arrested, or has been charged, or incarcerated for  more...

Understanding Massachusetts' Exemptions to Employment at Will ...employers feel overwhelmed by the number of laws and regulations that govern the employee-employer relationship. Often, employers feel restricted in properly dealing with employee issues, especially when employees claim they have rights or they are being harassed at work. Massachusetts law, however, recognizes at-will employment, which provides you with significant rights in managing and  more...

How Can End-of-Life Planning Resources Benefit Your Workplace? ...ty of full-time workers with caregiving responsibilities. Employers need to place a priority on addressing end-of-life issues. These issues affect their employees who serve as caregivers to aging parents, children and other relatives, or who experience a health crisis for themselves or a partner. End-of life issues affect benefits costs, workers' productivity and absentee rates. This audio  more...

Economic Substance Doctrine Codification Update ...Care Act. Knowledge of its tax implications, tax credits, employer obligations and other financial aspects will be discussed in this informative audio conference. Awareness of the compliance rules will avoid financial risk and a variety of costly penalties for both individuals and employers. The Health Care Act includes several nonhealth related provisions that affect businesses. Included are  more...

Recent Developments in Employer Liability for 401(k) Investments BenefitsUnhappy employees, U.S. Department of Labor investigations, IRS investigations, massive class action lawsuits - an ever-expanding list of factors bombards sponsors of 401(k) plans, and places companies and their management potentially in the cross hairs. From Enron, Worldcom and Sarbanes-Oxley, to the more recent massive class actions filed against Fortune 500 companies regarding 401(k)  more...

Family Responsibility Discrimination Law: Family Friendly Employer or Litigation Target? ...caregiving responsibilities is becoming a major issue for employers. Employers have been the subject of increasing but not well understood claims based on FRD claims. These claims have been pursued under a variety of both federal and state laws, and have resulted in multimillion-dollar verdicts. This teleconference will help you understand how stereotypical thoughts about the work commitment  more...

Texas Nonsubscriber Claims 101: Perspectives From Employees and Employers ...BenefitsTexas is the only state in the union that permits employers to opt-out of worker's compensation insurance. Employers who opt-out are known as nonsubscribers. Some nonsubscriber employers purchase insurance products that pay for medical care, lost wages and indemnify the employer if a claim is filed. Other employers self-insure and handle claims in-house or send them to third-party claim  more...

When Wages are Not FICA Wages ...eleconference will be beneficial to you in helping reduce employer liability for FICA taxes on money that is not wages. You already know that any cash or noncash remuneration received for employment, unless specifically exempt, is considered wages subject to the FICA tax. This teleconference will examine the importance of determining whether wages are not FICA wages. You will learn about the  more...

Handling Paid Leave Requests in New Jersey ...family leave be paid leave. Paid leave brings with it new employer compliance questions. For example, what must an employer do when an employee makes a paid leave request? Who pays for such paid leave? What laws are implicated by such a request and who decides whether an employee is eligible for the requested paid leave? This teleconference will answer these questions by examining the New  more...

Social Networking in the Workplace: Policies, Monitoring and Discipline Issues ...nation of trade secret information and lost productivity, employers have been slow to adopt and disseminate policies for appropriate usage of these websites. Thus, employees are left to guess at what kind of conduct is permissible online; and, without effective policies in place, employers may be opening themselves to liability on a host of issues. It is therefore crucial for employers to  more...

The FLSA Comp Time Controversy ...work done over the time allotted in the normal work week, employers can allow an hour and a half of time off for each hour of overtime worked. This teleconference will cover how the FLSA views the use of comp time in relation to public agencies and private corporations. Under most circumstances, comp time is allowed by the FLSA for public agencies; however, a private corporation may have a  more...

Conducting Background Checks ...employers are recognizing the benefits that can be derived from conducting background checks on both current and prospective employees. While background checks can be an effective tool for weeding out questionable employees, legal limitations on how such checks can be performed (and how the resulting data discovered can be used) must be understood or otherwise an employer will find themselves  more...

Top 5 Joint Employer Questions Answered ...king relationships? This teleconference helps responsible employers understand the different types of employment relationships, the pros and cons of each, and how to avoid unknowingly changing an individual's employment status. The teleconference also explains the various tests available for determining employment status, the responsibilities that can flow with being a joint employer, and how  more...

Enforcing Federal Garnishments ...employer at one time or another has received a garnishment, whether for taxes, child support or general creditors. Failing to follow garnishment laws can be very costly for employers, and thus it is critical to carefully follow the requirements of any garnishment. This teleconference will explain the different kinds of garnishments under federal law and their use and limitations. It will  more...

Limited Medical Programs: How Employers Are Using Them to Control Health Care Costs ...employers are hitting road blocks in cost saving measures. We are at a point of office visit co-pays approaching $50, prescription drug co-pays of $50 to $100, deductibles exceeding $2,000 for in-network benefits, and more and more premium cost shifting from employer to employee. Employee's are finding it hard to afford the per pay premiums and coupled with huge out-of-pocket expenses, this  more...

Internet and Email: Monitoring Employee Conduct ...t only our individual lives, but our workplace relations. Employers must balance employee privacy rights with the legitimate need to know what is going on in the workplace and to ensure employees are conducting themselves appropriately over the employers electronic communications systems. Companies can access information about their employees in a myriad of ways. Telephone communications,  more...

Lawful Hiring ...Employers must navigate a minefield of complicated and, in some cases, conflicting laws that affect the hiring process Discrimination claims often arise out of the hiring process. The new U.S. Supreme Court decision in Ricci v. DeStefano, 557 U.S. ___ (2009) shows how an employer (the New Haven Fire Department in that case) can violate discrimination laws when taking steps to attempt to achieve  more...

Managing Benefit Options for Part-Time Employees ...nefitsAs the U.S. economy recovers and restructures, many employers find themselves employing more of their workforce on a part time basis. Additionally, in hard to recruit fields such as health care, or with entry level employers such as retailers, part-time employment is the norm and may account for more than 50% of the workforce. Employers struggle with how to design a program that will  more...

Changes of Status Checklist ...employer who sponsors a cafeteria plan or other health and welfare plans, it can be confusing to administer your plan when an employee has a change in status. This teleconference will assist you in determining when you can allow an employee to change their election under your cafeteria plan. It will also cover what happens when an individual has a change in status while on COBRA. We will cover  more...

Managing Job Accommodations Under the ADA: Using Medical Experts ...Employers are confronted every day with requests for job accommodations from employees. You as the employer should control the job accommodation process - but how do you do that? What are your legal obligations? More importantly, what are your rights? When and what type of medical documentation can be requested of the employee? When can you request an IME? When can you use a medical expert?  more...

Don't Bet the Company: Understanding and Avoiding Class Actions in Labor and Employment Law! ...ees may show up early or stay a few minutes late, but the employer is responsible for paying overtime for this work, even though it was never authorized and the company may even have a policy against it. Once a plaintiff's lawyer gets hold of the case, the company may have to pay for all that back-pay at an overtime rate, plus attorney's fees. Or, as in one case, the company had unpaid  more...

Controlling Health Care Costs With Self-Funded Plan Options ...employer must answer when deciding to switch from a fully insured health plan arrangement to a self-insured arrangement. The speaker will cover different self-insured health plan options, for example, preferred provider, HMO, health savings accounts and health reimbursement arrangements. The importance of choosing a third-party administrator based on factors beyond just the per person  more...

Paid Sick Leave Update: Policies and Procedures in an Evolving Workplace ...employers voluntarily provide their employees with paid sick leave. Increasingly, however, states and localities are dictating that employers allow employees to use these voluntarily-provided paid sick leave benefits for reasons beyond those covered by the employer's program. In some cases, states and localities have begun to mandate that employers provide employees with a minimum paid sick  more...

Smoking Discrimination in the Workplace: On and Off the Clock ...sent more frequently than nonsmokers, a growing number of employers have implemented programs to minimize the number of smokers in its workforce. These employer programs range from offering quit smoking programs to refusing to hire smokers and even terminating smokers. Privacy advocates argue an employer's interest in the smoking habits of applicants and employees ends at the employer's  more...

Presenteeism: Measurement and Intervention Issues for Employers and Health Plans nProductivity is fast becoming an even more vital issue to the business world. Presenteeism, or work loss due to underlying health conditions when individuals remain at work, is one important facet of productivity. One study found that approximately 6 percent of a global company's total compensation (salaries, wages and all benefit costs) were lost due to presenteeism. Work site wellness programs  more...

Effective Exit Interviews ...employers are always looking for ways to improve employee relations, attract new employees and retain the ones they have. But how do you know what to do to improve if you don't know what employees are looking for or why they are leaving? n nImplemented properly, a good exit interview program can provide an employer with a host of valuable information that can be used to improve its employee  more...

Employee Retaliation: Supreme Court Update ... the workplace today sends waves of concern throughout an employer's organization. Most recent court decisions recognize retaliation claims in nearly all areas of employment law and find adverse actions in a variety of circumstances, beyond demotion and termination, for purposes of upholding such claims. Most significantly, the U.S. Supreme Court recently determined in CBOCS West, Inc. v.  more...

Using Medical Certifications to Minimize Employer Liability: FMLA, ADA and Workers' Comp ...ertifications has proven to be a valuable tool to protect employers from liability under the ADA, the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1994, and state workers' compensation statutes. But the legal landscape for managing employee health issues has had many changes in recent months. Amendments to the ADA took effect January 1, 2009. The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act also takes effect  more...

Curbing Unauthorized Overtime ...fits Year after year, one of the most challenging tasks employers face is keeping track of the hours their nonexempt employees work and correctly paying any required overtime premium. When unauthorized overtime occurs, labor costs skyrocket, and businesses face a budgeting nightmare. And when employees perform compensable work off the clock, the potential overtime liability for an employer  more...