by Chris Schrader | Nov 18, 2013 | Affordable Care Act, Blog
Last week President Obama stunned the state insurance commissioners and insurers with his announcement that he would not enforce ACA mandated requirements on private insurance policy holders and that they can keep that plans that have been or will shortly be...
by Chris Schrader | Oct 15, 2013 | Blog, Human Resources
The Supreme Court is back in session. Three cases of importance to Human Resources professionals bear watching: Lawson v. FMR LLC (Fidelity Investments) Lawson v. FMR LLC asks the Supreme Court to determine whether an employee of a privately-held contractor or...
by Chris Schrader | Oct 3, 2013 | Blog, Human Resources
I recently spoke with a college student interested in a career in HR who asked me which job I had held in the past that led to my promotion to Global Vice President of Human Resources. I replied “Every job I ever had before I got into HR.” My first paying job was...
by Chris Schrader | Oct 2, 2013 | Affordable Care Act, Blog
This cartoon by Rich Ramirez pretty much sums up my experience today trying to sign up for a plan in the Indiana Health Insurance Market Place yesterday. Anybody not downing Administration Kool-Aid like a group of college students slamming down Red Bull in advance of...
by Chris Schrader | Oct 1, 2013 | Affordable Care Act, Blog, In The News
Today ends all of the suspense surrounding the health plans and costs available to citizens as the health insurance market places open for business. I expect a muted start for a variety of reasons: 1) The most frequent query on the healthcare.gov website through...
by Chris Schrader | Sep 16, 2013 | Affordable Care Act, Blog
Following its now familiar pattern of disclosure of important ACA information in obscure locations, the Obama Administration announced late Thursday afternoon that it will not penalize employers for failure to notify their employees of the health insurance market...
by Chris Schrader | Sep 9, 2013 | Blog, Human Resources, In The News
The headline numbers in the jobs report released last Thursday were 169,000 and 7.3% (new jobs and U3 unemployment rate). Tepid job growth, but hey, the unemployment rate dropped a tenth of a percent, so all in all not bad, right? WRONG! Here are the miserable...
by Chris Schrader | Aug 23, 2013 | Blog, Human Resources, In The News
It’s no secret that the traditional model of organizing workers is struggling. Union membership is at a 97 year low. The large manufacturing employers who provided millions of members to the AFL-CIO are either gone entirely or shells of their former selves (auto and...
by Chris Schrader | Aug 22, 2013 | Blog, Human Resources, In The News
The push for more flexibility in the workplace is slowly gathering steam. The media addresses it more often, legislation has been proposed (Working Families Flexibility Act to make comp time available but NOT mandated to private sector employees), and SHRM and other...
by Chris Schrader | Aug 21, 2013 | Affordable Care Act, Blog, Human Resources, In The News
The ACA provides clear structural and substantial support to corporate wellness plans. These plans are enjoying a revival of interest as full implementation of the ACA is merely months away. Businesses and HR pros should explore wellness plan opportunities with a...