Michael Giardina

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s vigorous zeal for employer compliance with the Americans with Disability Act is not showing any signs of letting up. As a result, legal advisers in the labor and employment field recommend that employers of all sizes conduct a thorough review of their policies and accommodations.

With the employer mandate just around the corner, small- and medium-sized businesses are beginning to consider so-called "skinny" health plans to provide basic coverage and avoid major penalties.

Public HR departments may need to tweak their traditional management and operational techniques to be more in line with the private sector, as tax revenues grow shorter and employees' needs become more complex.

An abundance of veterans in the U.S. - and the litany of disabilities experienced by so many of them - makes it especially important to work to utilize their skills and experiences.

Dealing with the compliance and regulatory challenges of the Affordable Care Act and other employment legislation hasn’t left employers much time in recent years to deal with broader benefits strategy issues but the two areas – compliance and strategy – go hand-in-hand.

At SHRM's annual conference, leaders from Disney and Western Union address creating a better company culture through better recruiting, and how to boost employee learning and development through technology.

Attendees at this year’s Society for Human Resource Management conference have been voicing their opinions on the organization’s new competency-based certification system, and its somewhat jarring introduction to the industry it serves.

More than four years before the Affordable Care Act was signed into law, a county government in the state of Washington took action on its skyrocketing health care costs, becoming one of the first counties in the country to tie out-of-pocket health care expenses to participation in wellness activities.

A new proposal from the Department of Labor plans to extend the reach of the Family Medical Leave Act to all eligible employees in same-sex marriages, as the federal government continues to offer guidance after the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in United States v. Windsor.

The Society for Human Resource Management this week named its two-tiered competency-based HR certification program and provided other details about its accreditation effort.

As business leaders and government officials cope with surging health care costs, one global think tank is estimating that up to $303 billion can be saved through a healthier workforce should chronic disease prevention efforts in the workplace become the norm.

Newark is set to join the likes of several other large cities that require employers with 10 or more employees to offer paid sick time.

Search engine giant Google will soon introduce Google Fit, a new mobile platform service to collect, aggregate and analyze data from wearable health fitness tracking products and health care apps. Google's service will enter a competitive market that got larger on June 16 when WebMD launched a program to make biometric data understandable and actionable on iPhones.

The harsh reality for a couple retiring at age 65 this year is that they will need a small fortune just to cover their medical expenses in retirement.

The emergence of public and private health insurance exchanges, as well as the ongoing shift toward placing more responsibility on workers for health plan decisions, is creating a new normal for employers and employees alike.

When Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey froze its cash balance retirement plan in 2009, the organization knew it had to make its new benefit model work for current employees. And as a company charged with making health care work for both its clients and its employees, it realized that the only way to do so was through more education.

Even as employers of all sizes report increased success in their participants’ savings rates, having sufficient savings and income in retirement remains a top concern for many employees.

Massachusetts legislators are considering a proposal that will ban non-competition agreements for all employers – a measure that has legal experts cautioning employers to prepare.

Small businesses are poised to benefit from the Small Business Health Options Program but more education for small-business owners is needed, says an industry group supportive of the Affordable Care Act.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is bringing its personnel management system into the 21st century to remain competitive and efficient – a tactic that HR consultants say is being replicated by other higher learning institutions across the nation.