Banco Popular de Puerto Rico

Restricting an employee’s activity while on leave is okay, a federal court ruled recently, stating that an employer may enforce work rules that require employees to "remain in the immediate vicinity" of their home while on sick leave.

New research from Aon Hewitt reveals that slightly more than three-quarters (75.8%) of eligible employees participated in their company’s defined contribution retirement plan last year, up from 73.7% in 2009 and 67.2% in 2005, driven largely by auto-enrollment. Great news? Maybe, maybe not.

It’s not too surprising to learn that a larger group of workers plan to not retire at all, as Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies recently revealed in a new poll. However, what made me do a double take is that Transamerica officials view employees’ non-retiring retirement strategy as a bad thing.

In our winner-take-all culture, we rank, rate and score everything. So, in that vein, along comes the Institutional Retirement Income Council with a scorecard on how plan sponsors can evaluate the suitability of annuities as an investment option within an employer-sponsored defined contribution retirement plan.

Humans being humans, even when working within the Voluntary Correction Program to correct plan mistakes, plan sponsors naturally … make mistakes. So, the IRS recently released a tip sheet to help plan sponsors avoid common errors in VCP submissions.

I'm happy to introduce to you EBN's newest staff member: Associate Editor Brian Kalish. He brings you today's post about a new DOL iPhone app that allows employees to track their own hours. Sound like a nightmare waiting to happen? Some attorneys agree. Keep reading, share your thoughts in the comments and send Brian an email to welcome him (or pitch him a story!). You can reach him at brian.kalish@sourcemedia.com.

As if the health care reform law in the United States wasn’t enough for HR/benefits pros to worry about, now new analysis from Mercer concludes that multinational employers will need to keep close watch over international benefits due to health care reform in foreign countries.

A funny new app from Xerox called the Business of Your Brain app analyzes your emails and calendar notices to identify those distractions that steer focus away from work.

My mother has the day off every other Friday, which I highly envy. She also works nine-hour days for the privilege, which I do not envy. However, although the idea of clocking time has no appeal for me, I give her employer credit for trying to help employees gain greater control over their time by offering the compressed week option. …

Do you require nonexempt employees to review their timecards every pay period? Probably not. But according to Bob Yonowitz, partner at the Irvine, Calif. office of Fisher & Phillips LLP, you should.