Miscellaneous

Quick Hits- May 22, 2013

Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

NLRB nominees facing mixed reception in Senate: The fate of the nominees—three Democrats and two Republicans—is tied in part to a January decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which ruled in Noel Canning v. NLRB that the recess appointments of two board members were unconstitutional. That decision is on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. If it is upheld, it is likely that all board decisions since the appointments were made (in January 2012) would be vacated for lack of a quorum. Also on May 16, 2013, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit fell in line with the D.C. Circuit, ruling that an NLRB recess appointment was invalid because it was made when the Senate was not in recess. The committee will vote on the nominees on May 29^th. Source: Law.com 5/20/13

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Why Does Health Care Cost so Much? Hospitals Don’t Know What Their Costs Are

Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

On May 8, 2013, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (www.cms.gov) published the prices charged by over 3,000 hospitals for the 100 most common procedures. The data provided include charges of specific hospitals that receive Medicare Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) payments paid under Medicare. Hospitals determine what they will charge for items and services provided to patients and these charges are the amount the hospital bills for an item or service.

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Executives Burn Out, Like Everyone Else. How Can They Stave it Off?

Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

A study conducted by Harvard Medical School found that 96% of senior leaders reported feeling burned out to some degree, with one-third describing their burnout as extreme.

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Quick Hits - May 15, 2015

Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

He will . . . he won’t . . . now he will—employee must reimburse employer after winning a judgment in car accident: US Airways paid $66,866 in medical expenses for injuries suffered by plan participant McCutchen, who was involved in a car accident caused by a third party. US Airways’ plan entitled the company to reimbursement if the employee recovered money from a third party.

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Quick Hits - May 8, 2013

Wed, 08 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

NLRB slapped down again by D.C. Circuit: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Monday invalidated the NLRB’s “poster rule,” which would require employers to hang posters informing employees of their right to organize and strike. This case started with NLRB’s requirement for this poster in 2011.

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Quick Hits - May 1, 2013

Wed, 01 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Reminder--New I-9 required usage starting May 7: As previously reported in everythingpeople.™ This Week!, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued a new Form I-9 (Rev. 03/08/13). According to the USCIS website, “improvements to Form I-9 include new fields, reformatting to reduce errors, and clearer instructions to both employees and employers

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Quick Hits - April 24, 2013

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

USDOL FY 2014 budget sends strong message to employers who wander from the straight and narrow: The Department of Labor (DOL) has requested $12.1 billion in discretionary budget authority (an increase $12.0 billion over the enacted 2013 budget) and 17,450 full-time equivalent employees (FTEs) for FY 2014.

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Quick Hits-April 17, 2013

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Michigan House introduces bill to increase minimum wage to $10 per hour: Democratic lawmakers have introduced more legislation to raise Michigan's minimum wage to $10 an hour over three years. The current state minimum wage is $7.40 per hour.

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Special Focus: Fire Those Darn HR Professionals! Fire Them All!

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

I recently read an op/ed piece in the online version of Forbes magazine entitled, “It's Time For Companies To Fire Their Human Resource Departments.” Well, that sparked my interest for two reasons. First, I work for a trade association that represents the Human Resource profession, so the headline was a bit alarming to put it mildly. Second, like the author of that article, I too have been accused of writing articles with incendiary headlines for the sole purpose of getting more “clicks” and “opens” for our newsletter.

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