Nearly all of us like to kick of the new year with a resolution; get in shape, eat healthier, break a bad habit, manage your money better, the list goes on. The new year gives us all a clean slate and our resolutions motivate us to start the year off right.

For HR professionals, one of the many ways to start the year off right is to make sure all policies in your employee handbooks are up-to-date and compliant with the latest regulations. This will help you strengthen your case in the event that an employee (or former employee) sues you for any type of bias.

When updating your handbook for the new year, employers and HR professionals should look at the following 4 policies first:

The new year is fast approaching and it will bring on many new changes for employers and employees both. However, the following are two things you can count on to stay the same.

1. Maximum contribution levels for 401(k) and other defined contribution plans: Due to the falling cost-of-living index, maximum retirement plan contribution rates will be the same in 2010 as they were in 2009. This means that plan participants will be able to contribute up to $16,500 to the plans in 2010. Also, the dollar limitation for catch-up contributions to an employer defined contribution plan for individuals ages 50 and older will stay the same at $5,500.
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Inside the new $626 billion dollar defense bill that Congress just passed (and the President is expected to sign) is a provision extending the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) COBRA subsidy.

For assistance eligible individuals (AEIs), the new legislation will:

• Extend the eligibility for the 65% COBRA subsidy from December 31, 2009 to February 28, 2010 (making workers whose COBRA eligibility begins on or before 2/28/2010 now eligible for the subsidy)
• Adds 6 months to the 9 month period during which the federal government would pay the 65% subsidy to ...

Take our recession economy, combine it with our population becoming more and more tech-savvy by the day add yet another holiday shopping season and what do you get? You guessed it, a perfect storm for identity theft.

Identity theft costs businesses over $221 billion a year and claimed nearly 10 million victims in 2008. On top of this, when an individual becomes a victim of identity theft they’re not the only affected by the damages—their employer is too.

Employers whose workers become victims of identity theft are vulnerable to huge productivity losses.

Studies show it takes 330 hours on average to clear up all the damages after an identi ...

When struck with a pandemic flu outbreak, many companies will do one of the following:

• Continue working short staffed while employees are out with the flu
• Close their businesses for a day, or two, or several
• Send everyone home to “telework” in an effort to stop the flu from spreading

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) COBRA subsidy President Obama signed back in February will soon come to an end for those who aren’t already qualified. To clear up any confusion that may arise from this, the Department of Labor (DOL) released two FAQs to guide employers on determining eligibility.

The first FAQ states that in order for employees to be eligible for the 65% COBRA subsidy, they must satisfy two conditions:

1. They must have been involuntarily terminated between September 1, 2008 and December 31, 2009

Title II, the employment-related provision of the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act of 2008 (GINA) took effect yesterday, December 7, 2009.

This provision prohibits employers from:

• Using genetic information to make decisions in “hiring, promotion, discharge, pay, fringe benefits, job training, classification, referral, and other aspects of employment” for all employees and/or job applicants
• Requesting or requiring employees a ...

With the holidays just around the corner, just about everyone is in a giving mood. Now more than ever we find ourselves dropping our extra change in the Salvation Army bucket outside the grocery store or giving that extra dollar to St. Jude’s whenever we buy something at CVS. Unfortunately, identity thieves are out there taking advantage of all this goodwill.

Every year, natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes and wildfires cause many people to lose their property, homes, loved ones or even lives. Thankfully, there are many compassionate people who donate a great deal of time and money to charities that help these victims. Several identity thieves are taking full advantage of this eagerness to help and are using it as an opportunity to capture personal information of unsuspecting individuals.

As part of the ARRA Act passed earlier this year, several legislative changes were made to HIPAA. These changes were documented in the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act.

Among other things, the HITECH Act:

• Added breach notification rules to HIPAA
• Extended the privacy responsibilities of covered entities to their business associates—This means that business associates of HIPAA covered entities ar ...

As many of you know, the health care reform bill just recently passed in the House of Representatives, but it still needs to pass through the Senate.

This next step could prove to be very difficult as the Senate and House only agree on a few things.

Among these are:

• A pay or play mandate for individualsà The House bill, the Senate HELP Committee bill and the Senate Finance Committee bill all require individuals to pay an annual penalty if they do not have qualifying health insurance coverage.