Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Establishing Paid Sick Leave for Federal Contractors On Wednesday, February 24, 2016 the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division announced the release of Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to implement Executive Order (EO) 13706 Establishing Paid Sick Leave for Federal Contractors. Executive Order 13706 was signed by President Obama on Labor Day of 2015 and requires federal government contractors and subcontractors to provide up to seven days of paid sick leave a year to exempt and non-exempt employees working on government contracts.

So here we are in mid-January and most likely your new benefits plan year began January 1st. This cartoon conjures up memories of the myriad of phone calls an HR department receives as soon as the new plan year begins. Questions such as “what is my co-pay?” and “do I need a referral for services other than preventive care?” And how about the dreaded call from an employee at the doctor’s office telling you that the carrier says he is not covered! Ugh! While these questions are not uncommon, there are things you can do (and must do in some instances) to ensure all bases are covered.

If you are reading this, chances are your organization has recently gone through benefits Open Enrollment. It's been my experience that this can either go remarkably smoothly or NOT. And the latter may have you frustrated, discouraged and exhausted.

Yesterday morning (June 30th, 2015) news hit the wire that the Department of Labor (DOL) has officially released changes to the overtime exemption as it relates to the classification of employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Back in March, here at Helios we blogged about the (at the time proposed) changes to the regulation with a call to action:

As an senior HR leader, I have had the opportunity to work for organizations that went through Mergers and Acquisitions on multiple occasions. The biggest takeaway I have learned from all of these experiences was the value of communicating with the employees before, during, and after an acquisition to help manage their expectations. Of course if you are a publicly held company, any communication prior to the acquisition cannot be shared with your workforce. However, ensuring you have a communication strategy developed and ready to launch when the news is broadcasted will help pave the way for a smooth transition. Let’s start by constructing a communication plan.

Did you happen to hear the news story last week about the young man who was applying for a job with Staples via the web and was shocked to have received a questionnaire offering him the opportunity to disclose if he is an individual with a disability? As a Human Resource professional with a background in government contracting compliance I knew exactly why the opportunity to disclose was given to the applicant, and quite frankly I was not at all surprised the applicant was not aware of the new requirements in place for government contractors. But I began to wonder how many of the employees working for government contractors are unaware of these new regulations.