Merry Holidays

~“May you have the gladness of Christmas which is hope;The spirit of Christmas which is peace;The heart of Christmas which is love.”~Ada V. Hendricks

Does your company need a Human Resource Audit?

Regular audits or your HR practices are critical to ensure compliance and to minimize exposure to expensive lawsuits. But auditing is a risky business.
Collecting data about your workplace is an important part of HR management. For example, you may want to scrutinize exempt/nonexempt classifications or may wish to find out how the organization is doing with diversity, equal employment, or safety.

But there is a potentially big pitfall.

The results of these audits often show negative information. For example, results might show that your diversity program, affirmative action program, or safety program has produced substandard results. Or a climate survey might show that most employees think that management is discriminatory toward members of a protected group.

Unfortunately, these negative results are often discoverable in court if there's a discrimination or other type of employment lawsuit.
Whoops! The organization itself has created the evidence that will be used against it in court.

Contact a professional to handle your Human Resource Audit. This blogger can be reached at frankiew@frankiewilliams.com or www.frankiewilliams.com

COBRA Continuation Coverage Assistance Under ARRA

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) provides a COBRA premium reduction for eligible individuals who are involuntarily terminated from employment through the end of May 2010. Due to the statutory sunset, the COBRA premium reduction under ARRA is not available for individuals who experience involuntary terminations after May 31, 2010. However, individuals who qualified on or before May 31, 2010 may continue to pay reduced premiums for up to 15 months, as long as they are not eligible for another group health plan or Medicare.

The Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2010 signed by the President on July 22, 2010, did not extend the COBRA premium reduction.

Individuals who believe they have been incorrectly denied the subsidy may request the Employee Benefits Security Administration review their denial and issue a determination within 15 business days. The application to request a review is available at http://www.dol.gov/COBRA.

California Jobs Credit

Did you know that California has a New Jobs Credit up to $3000 just for
hiring a full time employee? Get the information here: http://www.ftb.ca.gov/businesses/New_Jobs_Credit.shtml

COBRA Subsidy Extended...again

COBRA Subsidy Period Extended Once Again

On April 15, 2010, the President signed into law the Continuing Extension Act of 2010 (HR 4851). Among other provisions, this law once again extends the COBRA subsidy eligibility period under ARRA, this time through May 31, 2010.

As with ARRA, the changes affect continuation coverage offered under COBRA and any comparable state law. Like its COBRA predecessors, this law takes immediate effect and is retroactive to April 1, 2010.

The law makes the following changes:

New Sunset Date: The COBRA subsidy eligibility period (for Qualifying Events on or after September 1, 2008) now ends on May 31, 2010. This period had expired on March 31, 2010. As a refresher, the subsidy is a 65 percent discount off the regular COBRA premium for up to 15 months. Only Assistance Eligible Individuals (AEIs) qualify for the subsidy. 

Eligible Qualifying Events: As before, two types of Qualifying Events are subsidy eligible. The first one is an involuntary termination of employment. The second one is a reduction in hours followed by an involuntary termination of employment if that involuntary termination occurs on or after March 2, 2010, and on or before May 31, 2010.
The new law does not change the length of the COBRA maximum coverage period. It is still based on the original reduction in hours Qualifying Event date. Also, the subsidy period (up to 15 months) is unchanged.

On Managing Employees

Employee empowerment and employee involvement are strategies and philosophies that enable employees to make decisions about their jobs. Employee empowerment and involvement help employees own their work and take responsibility for their results. Employee empowerment and involvement help employees serve customers at the level of the organization where the customer interface exists.

Performance Reviews

Are you handling performance reviews and raises separately? If not, you should be. In my 20+ years of experience as a Human Resources Professional, when an employee expects the last part of the conversation to be about how much of a raise they are getting, they don't hear most of the performance review.  Try separating the performance review from the raise and see if your review process improves.

New Webinar Coming

I am outlining a new webinar entitled "Creating a Culture of Wow!" This 90 minute webinar is for those who want to dig deep into their current culture and take it to the WOW! Level. Stay tuned for more updates on this webinar.

Welcome!

Hello. Welcome to my blog. I am Frankie Williams (aka TheHRDoctor). I am the owner of Williams Consulting & Coaching Group. I will provide you with tips on Management issues including Human Resources, Management and Operations.