HEC members are encouraged to participate in the free Best Places to Work program presented by the University Health Alliance and featured in Hawaii Business. The program is dedicated to finding and recognizing the best employers in Hawaii, and for the first time invites participation of companies with 15 or more employees. Read more

An employer “who makes an affirmative representation that an employee reasonably and detrimentally believed” was a grant of leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act cannot later argue that the employee was not in fact entitled to that leave because she did not suffer a serious health condition, the Eighth Circuit rules. However, the Court also decides that the employee must first trigger FMLA protection by providing her employer with notice that she may need FMLA leave. Read more

A faith-based humanitarian organization is exempt from Title VII’s prohibition against religious discrimination when it terminated employees based on their religious beliefs, a Ninth Circuit panel rules in a 2-1 decision. Read more

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has a new web tool available for download that DHHS says simplifies searching for health coverage options and understanding the new benefits under the Affordable Care Act. Read more

The increased frequency and duration of COBRA use is creating a significant strain on the program, leading to higher health plan costs for the unemployed, according to Aon Consulting. In addition, the firm predicts that the new health reform law will increase health care costs by 2 percent to 4 percent during the next three years. Read more

Private employers with 100 or more employees, prime federal contractors and first tier subcontractors with 50 or more employees and contracts of $50,000 or more, and financial institutions serving as a federal depository or an issuing and paying agent for U.S. Savings Bonds and Notes must file their EEO-1 Report by Sept. 30. Read more

An employer who had a “zero tolerance” policy for sexual harassment and required managers to forward all complaints to Human Resources should not be automatically penalized for a manager’s failure to follow this policy in his attempt to remedy the problem, the Eighth Circuit decides. Read more

A majority of large U.S. employers are moving forward with plans to make changes to their 2011 health care benefit programs and plan to lose their grandfathered status under the recent health reform legislation, according to the National Business Group on Health, a non-profit association of large employers. Read more

For companies concerned about protecting sensitive electronic data, a new survey reveals an alarming set of worker attitudes: employees openly admit they would take company data, including customer data and product plans, when leaving a job. Read more

More than 20 million Americans have multiple Social Security numbers associated with their name in commercial records, according to ID Analytics, Inc., a consumer risk management company. Rather than serving as a unique identifier, more than 40 million SSNs are associated with multiple people, the company says. Read more

Tips on hiring the right employee aimed at small businesses can be found on a new Business.Gov webpage, which also included links to a new employer’s guide to processing new hires and complying with various employment laws. Business.Gov is an official site of the U.S. Small Business Administration. Read more