January 3, 2012
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HR NEWS
NLRB Approves 'Quickie' Union Election Rule
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on Dec. 21, 2011, approved a set of sweeping revisions to the rules governing union election procedures. The change was designed to speed up union representation votes and possibly make it easier for organized labor to recruit and gain new members.
Express Request: SHRM members can receive additional resources on this topic. Visit SHRM's Hot Topics Express Request website and select key term UNION ELECTION RULE in the Labor Relations section.
NLRB Union Poster Mandate Postponed Again
April 30, 2012, is the new date when most private-sector employers will be required to post a notice advising employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act.
Express Request: SHRM members can receive additional resources on this topic. Visit SHRM's Hot Topics Express Request website and select key term EMPLOYEE RIGHTS POSTER in the Employee Relations section.
President Signs Two-Month Payroll Tax Cut Extension
A payroll tax cut extension through February 2012 was passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama on Dec. 23, 2011.
Express Request: SHRM members can receive additional resources on this topic. Visit SHRM's Hot Topics Express Request website and select key term PAYROLL TAX CUT EXTENDED in the Compensation section.
VETS-100 Filing Deadline Extended
The filing deadline for VETS-100 and VETS-100A forms for federal contractors has been extended to Jan. 15, 2012, the U.S. Department of Labor has announced. The deadline had been Dec. 30, 2011.
Advance Copies of 2011 Form 5500 Released
The U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration, the Internal Revenue Service and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. released advance informational copies of the 2011 Form 5500 annual return/report and related instructions on Dec. 20, 2011.
ADA Title III Standards Influence Title I Reasonable Accommodation Obligation
The new Title III ADA Standards for Accessible Design are influencing Title I reasonable accommodation obligations. Up to now, Title I and Title III of the ADA did not overlap, but the revised ADA Standards for Accessible Design are affecting the interpretation of Title I.
Adoption Tax Credit Erroneously Denied to Lesbian Parents
The Internal Revenue Service has erroneously denied the adoption tax credit to several lesbian parents who were adopting the children of their partners.
NEWS ABOUT SHRM
Volunteers Sought to Help Develop HR Standards
Two new task forces are being formed to develop national HR standards. One task force will focus on creating standards that address employee and labor relations; a second task force will create standards that address HR compliance and regulatory issues.
MORE HR NEWS RESOURCES
HR News home page
HR News article archive
Health care reform news
Test your knowledge with the HR News Weekly Quiz
News about SHRM
COURT REPORT
9th Circuit: Accommodation Not Mandated If Employee Doesn't Meet Job Requirements
A teacher with a disability who failed to meet the minimum requirements for her position was not a "qualified individual" under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and her employer was therefore not required to accommodate her disability, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled.
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More Court Report articles
HR SOLUTIONS
The Case for Sustainability
Q: What is corporate sustainability, and how can HR help make a business case for it?
A: According to one definition, corporate sustainability (also known as corporate social responsibility or corporate citizenship) "contributes to sustainable development by working to improve quality of life with employees, their families, the local community, and stakeholders up and down the supply chain." Since sustainability can affect nearly all aspects of company operations, HR professionals can play a significant role in their organizations' sustainability strategies.
Read the full answer
Get Your Questions Answered
SHRM's HR Knowledge Center is staffed with experienced, certified HR professionals who can respond to your HR-related questions. The HR Knowledge Center is available Monday through Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET.
Contact the HR Knowledge Center
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VIRGINIA LEGAL UPDATE
Virginia Employer Bars Applicants who Use Tobacco
A Virginia hospital system has announced that it will start to turn down job applicants who test positive for tobacco use. The company will rescind any conditional job offers made to applicants whose urine tests positive for the use of tobacco. Those who fail the test may reapply in six months.
Read this article
Express Request: Virginia State Law Resources
SHRM's Information Center has compiled a variety of online employment law resources applicable to your state. In this member-only, FREE benefit you'll receive employment law resources from SHRM Online as well as other online sources; a spotlight on a recent workplace issue impacting your state; directories for locating employment lawyers and more. To receive these resources in one e-mail, select your state's name (or any other state for which you'd like to receive information), complete and submit this form.
Also available from SHRM Online: Virginia workplace law resources Workplace law resources for all states |
HR MAGAZINE
Ready, Set, Hire!
In this election year, the nation's high unemployment rate remains a hot debate. While politicians wrangle over how to create jobs, HR professionals are doing their part to put more Americans to work.
Read and discuss this article
Subscribe to HR Magazine (for nonmembers; members receive HR Magazine as part of their SHRM membership)
Going Shopping?
Don't miss the newest HR products and services, listed by category, in HR Magazine's "What's New" directory at www.shrm.org/Publications/hrmagazine/whatsnew
HR DISCIPLINES: COMPENSATION
Compensation Planning 2012: Proceed with Caution
As organizations finalize their salary increase budgets for 2012, research indicates that budget levels will increase slightly over 2011 results but remain well below pre-2008 recession levels.
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Compensation discipline area
HR DISCIPLINES: BENEFITS
Finance, HR Executives Partner After Health Reform
A tighter partnership between corporate finance and HR executives might be on the horizon as large companies begin to address the implications of health care reform for their rewards programs and talent management strategies.
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Benefits discipline area
HR DISCIPLINES: BUSINESS LEADERSHIP
More Female Leaders, More Philanthropy
Companies with a significant number of female leaders are more charitable than businesses with few or no female leaders, according to recent research.
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Business Leadership discipline area
HR DISCIPLINES: GLOBAL HR
United Kingdom Changes Tax Treatment of Salary Sacrifice Plans
Businesses in the United Kingdom that provide benefits under arrangements that qualify as salary sacrifice schemes for value added tax (VAT) purposes must now account for output VAT on these benefits.
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Global HR discipline area
FREE SHRM MEMBER WEBCASTS
The Best of 2011
Below are links to some of the most popular free SHRM member webcasts of the past year. Check next week's HR Week and the SHRM webcast home page for announcements of the first programs of 2012.
Performance Review Challenges ... And How You Can Overcome Them
February 2011
Presenter: Leila Bulling Towne
Webcast sponsor: Silkroad Technology
If you've been engaged in performance reviews in recent weeks, you've been reminded of some uncomfortable scenarios that seem to pop up every year. In this webinar, author and consultant Leila Bulling Towne will cover five common "ugly" review scenarios, discussing specific steps you can take for each. For example, she'll talk about the top performer who has applied for internal positions and wants to grow with the company and the struggling performer who is slightly aggressive when receiving constructive feedback.
View this webcast
The Business Imperative for Building More Flexible and Effective Workplaces
March 2011
Presenters: Ellen Galinsky and Lois Backon, Families and Work Institute
Webcast sponsor: Care.com
Work life and home life have undergone dramatic transformations in the past decade. As a result, programs aimed at integrating employees' personal and professional obligations have become an essential workplace benefit. This webcast offers data on how an effective and flexible workplace yields bottom-line business results, as well as how such flexibility is essential to remaining competitive to attract and retain top-level talent.
View this webcast
Metrics that Matter to HR ... and How to Find Them in Your Systems
April 2011
Presenter: Rob Eidson, Deloitte Consulting
Webcast sponsor: Taleo
Your HR systems generate a vast amount of data on employees, their benefits, their performance and other aspects of their professional lives. What numbers matter to HR? What information should they be sharing with line managers? And, what needs to be communicated up to the top levels of the organization? In this program, Rob Eidson of Deloitte Consulting looks at the type of data being captured by HR systems and how to interpret that data to engage in meaningful human capital management. Note: This program qualifies for strategic management credit.
View this webcast
Keeping Up with Recordkeeping Requirements
July 2011
Presenter: Joseph Beachboard, Ogletree Deakins
Webcast sponsor: Iron Mountain
Stepped-up enforcement activities by the Labor Department and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services increase the need for human resource offices to maintain proper records and make them available for rapid access for compliance audits, mergers and acquisitions, and responses to legal challenges such as e-discovery. In this webcast, Joseph Beachboard of Ogletree Deakins will review recordkeeping requirements for major employment statutes and offer best-practices advice on keeping, converting and destroying employment records, as well as preparing for e-discovery.
View this webcast
Best Practices in Benefits Communication: A Year-Round Effort
October 2011
Presenter: Jennifer Benz, Benz Communications
Webcast sponsor: Unum
Many employers communicate to workers about health care benefits during open enrollment season. Such an initiative is appropriate at a time when employees need information to make health care coverage decisions. But communication needs to be two-way, and it needs to be year-round. In this program, Jennifer Benz of Benz Communications will discuss best practices in benefits communication, including how to leverage social media and your corporate website for benefits communication.
View this webcast
Hire with Precision: The Science of Identifying the Right Match
December 2011
Presenter: Leanne Buehler, Ph.D., Corvirtus
Webcast sponsor: Taleo
While hiring assessments can be effective for identifying job candidates who have the right skills for the job, many companies still fall short when it comes to identifying the characteristics employees need to fit and thrive in the company's culture -- a flaw that can lead to high employee turnover, poor customer satisfaction and lost revenues. In this webcast, Leanne Buehler will show that with a more scientific, disciplined approach to employee evaluation, tied closely to the company's mission and values, organizations can predict with a high degree of accuracy whether or not a candidate is a good fit.
View this webcast
Key Considerations for a Successful Global Assignment
December 2011
Presenter: Mark Frederick, IOR Global Services
Webcast sponsor: Zurich
Whether they last two weeks or two years, global assignments are a significant investment for employers. As such, they carry significant risk -- stationing a worker outside of the country is costly, and the risk of failure or poor performance is high. It takes a certain type of employee to succeed in an overseas assignment. In this program, Mark Frederick of IOR Global Services will discuss steps HR can take in the areas of talent management and training to ensure a successful global assignment and capture the full developmental value of these opportunities. Note: This program qualifies for GPHR-specific recertification credit.
View this webcast
HR TOOLKITS
Designing Executive Compensation Plans
Incentivizing executives to meet business objectives is the most critical factor in designing executive compensation plans. There are several well-established methods available to pay for the performance of executives, often with significant tax advantages to the executive and the employer.
Read this article
Managing Employee Relocation
Employee relocation is the action of transferring the company's employees from one location to another. A new SHRM toolkit reviews the basics of effective relocation programs, including policy development, communication issues, legal issues and economic factors.
Read this article
More HR Toolkits
LEGAL ISSUES
Vision Loss Should Be Accommodated
Someone who has been blind since birth usually is familiar with the technology he or she needs to use and keeps up with new technology as it becomes available, but people who lose their vision as adults while in the workforce often do not know all that's available to help them work.
Read this article
Legal Issues area
ADVOCACY
Immigration Reform Is Alive and Well in the States
As Congress remains mired in partisan bickering and presidential election-year politics, chances appear remote for any progress on the immigration reform front in Washington during the 112th Congress. However, if 2011 was any indication, the topic will remain front and center again in many state legislatures next year.
Read this article
Latest HR Issues Update
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FOCUS ON HR
Debut Episode Examines Seasonal Worker Rights, Job Creation
SHRM's new video news program, Focus on HR, premieres this week. The debut episode includes segments on the rights of seasonal workers, analysis of the latest Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) report and a special report on job creation. Beginning later this month, tune in every other week for new programs covering the latest news affecting HR professionals.
Watch this program |
SHRM RESEARCH
2011's Top Research Findings
Last year, SHRM's Research Department published dozens of polls, surveys and research studies. Here is a list of 10 significant findings contained in these reports:
· Confidence in the labor market declined.
HR professionals' faith in the strength of the U.S. labor market dipped considerably in 2011. (More information: SHRM Jobs Outlook Survey)
· Hiring slows, but recruiting difficulty rises.
Jobs were created at a slower rate as the year progressed, but organizations continued to have difficulty filling key positions. (More information: SHRM Leading Indicators of National Employment)
· Skilled workers are hard to find.
Organizations are having difficulty finding skilled workers for specific job openings, with engineering, medical, technical and executive positions especially hard to fill. (More information: SHRM Recruiting and Skill Gaps Poll)
· Recruiting costs are on the rise. The average cost-per-hire (costs associated with sourcing, recruiting and staffing activities) was $3,196. (More information: SHRM Human Capital Benchmarking Survey)
· Health care costs continue to skyrocket.
The average annual cost of health care per covered employee was $9,531, a 19 percent increase over a year earlier. (More information: Health Care Benchmarking Survey)
· Social media is a popular recruiting tool. More than half of organizations reported using social networking websites to source potential job candidates, a noteworthy increase from 2008. (More information: Social Networking Websites for Identifying and Staffing Potential Job Candidates Survey)
· Few organizations are screening job candidates online.
Only a small number of organizations are using online search engines and social networking websites to screen job candidates. (More information: The Use of Social Networking Websites and Online Search Engines in Screening Job Candidates Survey)
· Employee job satisfaction is declining.
Employee job satisfaction in the U.S. reached its peak in 2009 but since then has been dropping slightly each year. (More information: SHRM Employee Job Satisfaction and Engagement Research Report)
Employees continue to value job security.
For the fourth consecutive year, job security topped a list of factors employees say contribute to job satisfaction. (More information: SHRM Employee Job Satisfaction and Engagement Research Report)
· Employers continue to remodel their benefits plans.
Given that the benefits allocation in HR budgets is typically fixed, or marginally flexible, it is not surprising that employers continue to remodel their benefits plans so employees are given greater responsibility to manage their health care costs, retirement and financial security, and leave. (More information: SHRM Employee Benefits Research Report)
SHRM ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Be Brilliant
Send your HR team to the SHRM 2012 Annual Conference & Exposition. Great team-building opportunities await. Learn together to create a more effective, efficient workforce. Register your team of five or more and save up to 35 percent off regular registration rates while receiving special privileges.
Learn more
SHRM MEMBERSHIP
For Your Resolution List
Fulfill your new year's resolution to stop procrastinating. Renew your SHRM membership now at www.shrm.org/renew.
EXPRESS REQUESTS
New Form W-4 Now Available
Are employers required to have employees complete a new W-4 each year? Not necessarily. The employee's Form W-4 remains in effect until the employee submits a new one, except in the case where an employee claimed to be exempt. An employee claiming exemption from withholding must complete a new Form W-4 each calendar year. To receive resources on this topic, visit SHRM's Seasonal Express Request service and select key term W-4 FORMS in the Winter section.
Educational Requirements and the ADA
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has posted an "informal discussion letter" on its website. According to the EEOC, a qualification standard -- including a high school diploma requirement -- that screens out individuals on the basis of a disability may violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) if it is not job-related and consistent with business necessity. To receive resources on this topic, visit SHRM's Express Request service and select key term EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS & THE ADA in the Staffing Management section.
FINAL THOUGHT
2011 Had Its Share of Wacky Work Stories
Whether it was the man who faked his mother's obituary to get time off or a new law making Romanian witches pay taxes, there was no shortage of wacky, bizarre and sometimes perplexing work-related stories in 2011.
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