The National Football League’s new collective bargaining agreement will allow players to file workers’ compensation claims in states where their teams are not based, a loophole the league had tried desperately to close during negotiations.
The NFL and the National Football League Players Association signed off on the new CBA on July 25 with both sides agreeing on terms that will allow the season to start Aug. 4. Workers’ compensation was among the sticking points the two sides had yet to agree on as negotiations wound down over the past several days.
On July 23, an email by player representative and New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees outlined three primary issues the players association still was grappling with, including workers’ compensation.
“The NFL is trying to impose a system where they can restrict which states we can file for workers’ comp,” Brees wrote in his email, which was published by the NBC Sports blog, “Pro Football Talk.” Brees added that workers’ compensation is a “major benefit when it comes to long-term health care,” and that the players “will never let [the league] restrict our health and safety long term.”
Mostly at issue is California’s labor law, which has been the reason that several former pro football players file workers’ comp claims in the state despite not having played for any teams based there.
Under the state’s current law, it allows players to make a claim in California if the player has played at least one game within the state. The law grabbed attention in June when the Denver Broncos were sued by a subsidiary of Travelers Cos. Inc. regarding workers’ compensation claims made by retired Broncos players in California.
Under the new CBA, the ambiguity of California’s law for workers’ compensation benefits remains the same. However, California lawmakers are aggressively trying to close the loophole that allows claims to be freely filed by players on teams based in other states, according to reports.
Filed by Jeff Casale of Business Insurance, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, email editors@workforce.com.
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Adecco Announces Plan to Acquire Drake Beam Morin
Adecco Group, the world’s largest staffing firm, plans to acquire New York-based outplacement firm Drake Beam Morin Inc.
The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter.
Adecco’s Lee Hecht Harrison outplacement division ranked as the second-largest outplacement firm on Staffing Industry Analysts’ 2010 lists of largest staffing firms. Drake Beam Morin ranked as the third-largest. ManpowerGroup Inc.’s Right Management divison was the largest that year.
Adecco reported Lee Hecht Harrison’s main markets were in the United States and France, and the acquisition of Drake Beam and Morin will expand its geographic reach and give it a leading position in the United Kingdom, Canada and Brazil.
“I am very pleased that Drake Beam Morin Inc. is joining forces with Lee Hecht Harrison,” said Adecco CEO Patrick De Maeseneire. “The combined businesses will provide a global presence in the outplacement and talent development services sector, enabling us to better serve our clients internationally. This fits very well with our customers’ increasing needs for global solutions across the full range of HR services.
“The move strengthens Adecco with an effective counterbalance to the temporary and permanent staffing business, given the counter-cyclical nature of the career transition sector.”
Drake Beam Morin was founded in 1967. It was owned by Compass Partners, a London-based private equity firm.
Filed by Staffing Industry Analysts, a sister company of Workforce Management. To comment, email editors@workforce.com.
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Staffing Firm Randstad Announces Plan to Buy SFN Group
Randstad Holding, the world’s second-largest staffing firm, plans to acquire SFN Group Inc., the world’s 13th-largest staffing firm. The combined company would be the third largest staffing firm in the U.S.—Randstad currently ranks No. 6 and SFN Group No. 7—based on 2009 estimated U.S. staffing revenue.
Randstad plans to pay $14 per share equaling $771 million for SFN, the company reported. The transaction must still be approved by SFN shareholders, but SFN’s board has unanimously approved the deal.
The deal is expected to close in September, according to Randstad.
The companies had combined North American revenue of $4.6 billion in the last 12 months as of March 31, according to Randstad. Total revenue at Randstad in the past 12 months, on a pro forma basis including SFN, would total $22 billion.
Based on 2010 revenue of both firms, the deal would make Randstad the second-largest information technology staffing provider in the U.S. It could also become the second-largest provider of office clerical staffing.
“SFN Group is a great company with professional and dedicated people, a good match with Randstad,” the company’s CEO Ben Noteboom said in a written statement. “The future combination will increase opportunities for growth and development of all employees. And by sharing best practices and leveraging the cross selling potential, we will be well-positioned to offer our clients and candidates an unrivaled portfolio of services.”
SFN Group president and CEO Roy Krause said in an interview July 20 it will be business as usual at SFN for the next 60 days. While the deal still needs shareholder approval, the management team at SFN is committed to making this work as a combination, he said. In addition, plans call for Krause to be involved in the integration of the companies.
“This has happened very quickly,” Krause said. The company wasn’t up for sale, but Randstad approached it with an offer and the board evaluated it, he said.
“I think it will give a great opportunity for our employees and our customers,” Krause said. A significant number of U.S. companies have large operations overseas, and this merger will allow them to get worldwide services from the combined company, he said.
Randstad posted revenue of $18.8 billion in 2010, according to its annual report. It had 521,300 staffing employees and 3,085 branches and 1,110 on-premise sites. Based in the Netherlands, Randstad operates in 43 countries.
It’s expected the SFN deal would create $30 million in annual run rate pretax cost synergies. The deal would also be immediately accretive to Randstad’s earnings. Randstad plans to finance the deal under its existing credit facility with a group of seven banks.
Randstad’s last major acquisition was in October 2010 when it acquired FujiStaff of Japan, the world’s 38th-largest staffing firm, which had revenue of $620.2 million in its fiscal year ended March 31, 2010. However, in 2008, it acquired Vedior, at that time the fourth-largest staffing firm in the world, for $5.4 billion in cash and stock.
SFN, based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, posted revenue of almost $2.1 billion in 2010. It had a network of 559 locations in the U.S. and Canada in 2010, according to its annual report.
Its operations include temporary staffing (both professional and commercial), direct hire, managed service provider service and recruitment process outsourcing.
Filed by Staffing Industry Analysts, a sister company of Workforce Management. To comment, email editors@workforce.com.
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Longtime Safety Policy Trumps Workers Personal Needs
An employer does not have to change its long-standing safety policy to accommodate personal needs of an employee returning to work from an injury, Wisconsin’s Supreme Court has ruled.
In deBoer Transportation Inc. vs. Charles Swenson, Swenson suffered a work-related knee injury in August 2005 as a truck driver. After returning to work in January 2006, he sought an accommodation to care for his terminally ill father, according to court records.
As Swenson was his father’s primary caregiver, he requested deBoer to modify a 20-year requirement that all drivers off work for more than two months, regardless of the reason, be accompanied by another driver on a “check-ride” to regain safety skills before returning to the job.
While Swenson typically drove local routes that allowed him to be home daily, he was told the check-ride trip could last several days. So he asked his employer to pay for a nurse or find someone to train him locally, according to the ruling.
When the company declined the request, he refused to go on the check-ride trip and deBoer “discharged” Swenson, the opinion states. He sought workers’ compensation benefits, alleging the company unreasonably refused to rehire him.
An administrative law judge concluded that deBoer applied its check-ride policy as a pretext to refuse to rehire Swenson.
On appeal, a review commission concluded that deBoer’s refusal to rehire Swenson “evinced an unreasonable disregard for the applicant’s circumstances, leading to the credible inference that the work injury did play a part in the discharge.”
A circuit court affirmed, but an appeals court ruled that employers do not have to assess which requests not related to a work injury merit accommodations and that it was reasonable under Wisconsin state law for deBoer to refuse to adjust its policy.
In its ruling July 12, the Wisconsin Supreme Court agreed with the appeals court and remanded the case for dismissal. The high court said Wisconsin law does not require employers to change legitimate business policies to assist employees in meeting personal obligations.
In a dissent, however, Justice Ann Walsh Bradley wrote that a reasonable person could infer that deBoer engineered the details of the check-ride trip to force Swenson’s refusal.
Filed by Roberto Ceniceros of Business Insurance, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, email editors@workforce.com.
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Headhunter Firm Taps Insider Trina Gordon for CEO
Executive search firm Boyden World Corp. named Trina Gordon president and CEO, formalizing a post that the Chicago-based executive has held on an interim basis since last December.
She succeeds Chris Clarke, who stepped down last December after 11 years with the Hawthorne, New York-based company. The firm also named Gerhard Raisig to chairman from interim chairman and managing partner of Boyden Germany.
Gordon, 55, earlier was managing director of the Chicago office and chairman of the board. Her second two-year term as chairman expired in May and had exceeded the firm’s term limit. She is one of the highest-ranking women in the executive recruitment industry.
“We are moving forward with a new global strategy so it was an opportune time in the evolution of the firm as we built upon an old strategy and took it in a new direction,” she said in an interview. The new strategy will use a global account model for client companies growing or expanding worldwide.
Gordon joined Boyden in 1990 from William H. Clark Associates Inc. where she was a partner when the two companies merged. She has been a member of Boyden’s board since 2001.
Filed by Crain’s Chicago Business, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, email editors@workforce.com.
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HHS, Labor Survey to Ask Employers About Wellness Programs
The departments of Labor and Health and Human Services say they plan to conduct a survey that asks employers to evaluate their wellness programs.
The survey is intended to “assess the effectiveness and impact of workplace wellness programs, as well as identify best practices and lessons learned in program implementation with a particular focus on the use of incentives,” according to an HHS notice issued July 11.
The notice seeks Office of Management and Budget approval to launch the survey.
As part of the survey, 3,000 employers selected from a Dun & Bradstreet Inc. database will be contacted to assess the prevalence and types of corporate wellness programs, as well as the use of employee incentives. In addition, data collection will include employee focus groups and “wellness leaders” at four employers to provide in-depth case studies of those employers’ wellness programs.
The survey is to be completed within 18 months after OMB approval, according to HHS.
A survey last year by Hewitt Associates Inc., done before Aon Corp. purchased the consultant, found that 47 percent of employers either have or plan within the next five years to implement financial penalties on employees who do not participate in certain health improvement programs.
Filed by Jerry Geisel of Business Insurance, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, email editors@workforce.com.
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Wisconsin to Review Health Savings Accounts for State Employees
Budget legislation that has been signed into law requires Wisconsin regulators to examine the feasibility of offering state employees a high-deductible health insurance plan linked to health savings accounts.
Under A.B. 40, which Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signed into law last month, the director of state employment relations and the secretary of employee trust funds are to make their recommendations to the governor and state lawmakers by Oct. 31.
Earlier this year, Wisconsin lawmakers approved legislation that revised the state’s tax law to follow the 2003 federal law that established HSAs and excludes HSA contributions from employees’ taxable income.
Filed by Jerry Geisel of Business Insurance, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, email editors@workforce.com.
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Verizon Settles $20 Million Disability Discrimination Lawsuit
Verizon Communications Inc. has agreed to pay $20 million to resolve a nationwide class disability discrimination lawsuit involving the company’s “no fault” attendance plans, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said July 7.
The case is the largest disability discrimination settlement in a single lawsuit in EEOC history, according to the federal agency.
The EEOC charged that New York City-based Verizon violated the Americans with Disabilities Act when 24 Verizon subsidiaries unlawfully denied reasonable accommodations to hundreds of unionized employees and disciplined and/or fired them under its “no fault” attendance plans.
If an employee accumulated a designated number of “chargeable absences” under Verizon’s attendance plans, the worker was put on a disciplinary step that could result in more serious consequences, the EEOC said.
The EEOC charged that instead of providing reasonable accommodations for employees with disabilities, it disciplined or terminated them.
“An inflexible leave policy may deny workers with disabilities a reasonable accommodation to which they’re entitled by law—with devastating effects,” EEOC chair Jacqueline Berrien said in a written statement.
Also in a statement, Verizon said it agreed to settle the complaint “solely because it is in the best interest of our company, our employees and our customers to avoid the disruption, delay and expense of protracted litigation.
“In addition, this settlement, which applies only to union-represented wireline employees, provides Verizon with clearer guidance from the EEOC regarding when it may be appropriate to provide additional leave as a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act. This was previously lacking and was a significant factor in Verizon agreeing to settle the matter.” According to a Verizon spokesperson, wireline employees install, maintain and repair landline phone services.
Verizon said it complies with all employment laws, “and in fact has not in this case conceded any violation of those laws. In addition, no court has ever found that Verizon violated the ADA or any other law in the manner alleged by the EEOC. Verizon believes it has accommodated employees with fairness to all, consistent with a company that has a long-standing public record recognized by many third parties—for commitment to and support of people with disabilities. In fact, Verizon’s leave-of-absence and accommodation policies continue to far exceed what is required by law.”
Settlement of the litigation, which was filed in federal court in Baltimore the same day as the lawsuit, is subject to judicial approval.
In March, the EEOC released regulations on what qualifies as a disability and what constitutes adequate protection of individuals under the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008.
Filed by Judy Greenwald of Business Insurance, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, email editors@workforce.com.
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Lesser-Known Defined Contribution Providers Tops in Service Study
Few defined contribution service providers are able to provide service and support in addition to brand recognition, according to a study from Cogent Research.
Cogent asked defined contribution plan executives with which providers they were most familiar and which they would want based on the knowledge of their service and support, according to Christy White, a principal at Cogent Research.
“Very few brands were able to succeed at both things simultaneously,” White said. While brands like Fidelity Investments, Charles Schwab and Vanguard Group topped the list as recognized leaders in the defined contribution industry, smaller firms were better able to distinguish their brands on service and support. The top three providers cited for service and support were Ascensus, Milliman and Affiliated Computer Services.
Providing strong service and support “comes more easily for a niche player that’s not trying to be all things to all people,” according to White. “The challenge that plays up against is they’re not well known.”
“It is a great opportunity for them to capture [market] share if they can get their message out in the right places,” White said.
The Cogent Research Retirement Planscape 2011 Study is based on a survey of 1,600 DC plan sponsors on 13 attributes identified as significant drivers in choosing a plan provider, including service and support, and brand recognition.
Filed by Rob Kozlowski of Pensions & Investments, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, email editors@workforce.com.
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