Check out the latest Health Wonk Review posted by Peggy Salvatore at Healthcare Talent Transformation – it’s chock full of good posts and entertaining to boot: Health Wonk Review: Take Me To Your Leader – Egads!
And in a few other news items …
Can you offer unpaid internships? – Is your organization eligible to offer unpaid internships? If you are a profit-making entity, the answer is probably not. As part of its enhanced focus on employee misclassification, internships are one of the areas that the Department of Labor is examining. If your organization offers internships, you need to ensure you are in compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act. DOL’s Wage and Hour Division has issued guidance: Fact Sheet # 71: Internship Programs Under The Fair Labor Standards Act. If your organization’s internship qualifies as a “training program” you may be an exception to the rule. The linked Fact Sheet lists 6 criteria which organizations can use to determine eligibility for training programs that would be allowed as unpaid internships.
While on the topic of compliance with wage & hour laws, here’s a list of other Fact Sheets, which looks like a good page to bookmark for reference.
Work comp trends – Work Comp Complex Care Blog recently featured series on “Big 3 Trends in Workers Compensation” as noted by the Total Medical Solutions vice president of clinical services, Kevin Glennon. There’s some good information, if you haven’t seen them: Part One: Obesity; Part Two Aging Workforce; and Part Three: Antibiotic-Resistant Infections
Lost tax revenue – The IRS estimates that across the country, $345 billion of tax revenue is lost each year to the underground economy. Check out Roberto Ceniceros’ post at Comp Time fro more on the topic: Notes on the underground economy
Safety is top labor issue – A new study by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago found that more than eight in 10 workers ranked workplace safety as their most important labor issue. Family and maternity leave was ranked as the second most important issue, followed by minimum wage, paid-sick days and time-and-a-half overtime pay. David Shadovitz offers more on the study at Human Resources Executive: Putting Workplace Safety First.
Healthcare costs – A recent survey of 466 large and midsize employers conducted by Towers Watson projects that employers’ health care costs will rise by 8.2% in 2011. According to the Employee Benefit News coverage of the survey, “Among survey respondents, 59% plan to implement significant or moderate health care plan design changes in 2011, and 67% plan to do so in 2012.”
Tags: employment issues, HWR, interns, reports
