Labor Glossary

Labor Glossary

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A

6-Month claims

Cumulative count of initial claims filed between December 2008 and May 2009 with occupations that are linked to the listed training program, based on the occupation-training crosswalk. The source of this data is the unemployment insurance Administrative Records.

6-Month Openings

Cumulative count of new job openings posted between December 2008 and May 2009 which require matched to the listed training, based on the occupation-training crosswalk provided by the US Department of Education. The source of job openings is Employon, the database of job announcements available to job seekers and workforce professionals through LWD Website.

6-Month Trainees

Cumulative count of individuals who enrolled or completed the listed training through our One-Stop Offices. The source of this data is America’s One Stop Operating System (AOSOS).

ABC Test

The ABC Test (26 M.R.S.A 13 sec.1043(11)(E)(1, 2, 3)) is the standard used by the Maine Department of Labor, Bureau of Unemployment compensation to determine if the services performed by an individual for an employer have the status of covered employment or if the individual’s services are those of someone independently established in the trade, occupation, or business. Independently established service providers are commonly referred to as "independent contractors." However, no definition of an independent contractor exists under Maine Employment Security Law. For the purpose of unemployment contributions (tax), the ABC Test determines whether employment exists. The ABC Test has three important parts, all of which an employer must meet for the presumption of employment to be negated. If the employer fails to meet even one part of the ABC Test, the presumption remains and the services are considered employment. The three parts of the ABC Test review employer control/direction of the worker, place(s) of business or courses of business, and proof that the worker is independently established in the trade. You can read the statutory language about the ABC Test by visiting this site.

Absent or Absence (Scheduled Time Off)

An absence is the scheduled time off from work that occurs when an employee is not present at work during a normally scheduled work period.

Absence or Absent (Unscheduled)

Definitions of unscheduled absence or absent for the human resources glossary of human resources related terms.

Absence rate (Current Population Survey)

The ratio of workers with absences to total full-time wage and salary employment. Absences are defined as instances when persons who usually work 35 or more hours per week worked less than 35 hours during the reference week for one of the following reasons: own illness, injury, or medical problems; childcare problems; other family or personal obligations; civic or military duty; and maternity or paternity leave.

Absenteeism Policy

Absenteeism policy is a policy that provides guidance within an organization about how to manage the state of chronic absence from work.

Abuse

"Abuse" means the following:

1. Intentionally or recklessly to cause or attempt to cause bodily injury.

2. Sexual assault.

3. Placing a person in reasonable apprehension of imminent serious bodily injury to that person or to another.

4. Engaging in any of the following behavior: molesting, attacking, striking, stalking, threatening, sexually assaulting, battering, harassing, telephoning, including, but not limited to, annoying telephone calls, destroying personal property, contacting, either directly or indirectly, by mail or otherwise, coming within a specified distance of, or disturbing the peace of the other party. Family Code Section 6203.

Accidental death and dismemberment (National Compensation Survey—Benefits)

A term used to describe a policy that pays additional benefits to the beneficiary if the cause of death is due to a non-work-related accident. Fractional amounts of the policy will be paid out if the covered employee loses a bodily appendage or sight because of an accident.

Accident year

The year in which the accident or condition occurred giving rise to the injury or illness. In accident-year data, all claims and costs are tied to the year in which the accident occurred. Accident year, used with insurance data, is equivalent to injury year, used with Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) data.

Accommodation of Disabled Employees

For many small to midsize businesses, having an employee suddenly become disabled (because of an accident or an illness) can be somewhat daunting if it’s a new experience for the employer. These tips will help you accommodate disabled employees and welcome them back to work. They will also help you accommodate employees with longer term disabilities.

Acculturation

Acculturation is a socialization process by which new workers adjust to, and become part of, the corporate culture of their new company, office, department, etc.

Acquisition

Something that has recently been bought or obtained.

ADA

Americans with Disabilities Act.

Administrative conference

An expedited, informal proceeding where parties present and discuss viewpoints of a dispute. If agreement is not achieved, a "decision and order" is issued that is binding unless appealed. Currently, Department of Labor and Industry Benefit Management and Resolution conducts administrative conferences for medical issues involving less than $1,500 and for vocational rehabilitation issues, and the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) conducts conferences for medical issues involving more than $1,500 and for discontinuance disputes presented on a Request for Administrative Conference form.

Adopted Child

A child who is adopted or placed for adoption, as defined by the state in which the adoption takes place.

Adverse action

An act or action taken by an employer against an employee that works to the employee's detriment in some aspect of his or her employment, including a poor evaluation, surveillance, an unfavorable recommendation for a promotion, less desirable duties, a transfer, demotion, a cut in pay, or a discharge.

Affiliation Period

A period of time that must pass before Health Insurance coverage provided by an HMO (Health Maintenance Organization) becomes effective. If a group health plan provides coverage to you through an HMO with an affiliation period, the affiliation period cannot be longer than 2 months (3 months for a late enrollee) from your enrollment date, and the plan cannot impose a pre-existing condition exclusion. During the affiliation period, the plan cannot charge you premiums, and the HMO is not required to provide benefits. The affiliation period must run concurrently with any waiting period for coverage under the plan.

Affinity

Used in the context of "victim of domestic violence" signifies the connection existing in consequence of marriage between each of the married persons and the blood relatives of the other. Family Code Section 6205.

AFL-CIO

American Federation of Labor –Congress of Industrial Organizations.

Age Discrimination

Age discrimination is adverse work treatment of an employee based on a class or category that the employee belongs to – employees over age 40 - rather than on the employee's individual merit. Age discrimination is unlawful under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) of 1967.

AGENCY SHOP

A union security clause whereby all members of a bargaining unit must pay a service fee, the equivalent of dues, whether or not they are union members.

Agile Organization (Agility)

An agile organization is able to quickly adapt to changing circumstances; it is ready for anything. It can respond instantaneously to changing customer demands. The agile organization innovates rapidly, and immediately tailors products and services to customer needs. Agility means nimble and quick.

Agricultural Labor

Agricultural labor generally refers to services performed on a farm for an employing unit that is connected to cultivating soil or raising or harvesting any agricultural, aquacultural or horticultural commodity. This includes tending to livestock, bees, poultry, and other animals. Types of farms acceptable in this definition are stock, dairy, poultry, fruit, fur-bearing animals, truck farms, plantations, ranches, nurseries, ranges, greenhouses, orchards and similar structures.

AIMS

Apprenticeship Information Management System.

AJB

America’s Job Bank.

All other occupational illnesses

Illnesses other than skin diseases or disorders, respiratory conditions, or poisoning. Examples include anthrax, brucellosis, infectious hepatitis, malignant and benign tumors, food poisoning, histoplasmosis, coccidioidomycosis.

ALMIS

America’s Labor Market Information System.

Alternative employment arrangements (Current Population Survey)

BLS has collected data for workers in four types of alternative employment arrangements: 1) independent contractors, 2) on-call workers, 3) temporary help agency workers, and 4) workers provided by contract firms.

Alternate Base Period

The last four completed calendar quarter prior to the quarter in which a valid claim is filed.

Alternative workweek schedule

Any regularly scheduled workweek requiring an employee to work more than eight hours in a 24-hour period.

AMERICAN PLAN

A post-World War I employer movement which stressed freedom of industry to manage its business without union interference.

Annual taxable wages

Annual taxable wages are the amounts of wages on which an employer pays unemployment contributions in a calendar year.

APEC

Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation.

Appeal

The formal request by a claimant or employer to have a case reconsidered by the next higher level authority (see Hearing).

Applicant Tracking Software

Researching business technology can be a daunting task and finding a Human Resources Management System (HRMS), that meets the unique needs of your business and offers ease of acceptance by your employees, can present a challenge. To begin this process, I suggest exploring a Web-based HRMS solution, which avoids the pitfalls of a costly software purchase, internal IT involvement or a lengthy implementation process.

Applicant Tracking System for Candidate Data Management

An applicant tracking system (ATS) works in conjunction with an online job application to track and manage applicants for your jobs online. Applicant tracking software allows the employer to deal with job applications and to manage the data collected from resumes. Most large corporations use applicant tracking software to manage the resume database created by online job applications at the compan....

APPRENTICE

An individual in training for a skilled trade. An individual who is employed to learn an apprenticeable occupation and is registered with a sponsor in an approved apprenticeship program according to RCW 49.04 and these rule.

Apprenticeable occupation

A skilled trade(s) or craft(s), which has been recognized by the United States Department of Labor, Office of Apprenticeship, Training, Employer, and Labor Services or the WSATC and meets the criteria established in WAC 296-05.

Apprenticeship agreement

A written agreement between an apprentice and either the apprentice's employer(s), or an apprenticeship committee acting as agent for employer(s), containing the terms and conditions of the employment and training of the apprentice.

Apprenticeship committee

A quasi-public entity approved by the WSATC to perform apprenticeship and training services for employers and employees.

Apprenticeship program

A plan for administering an apprenticeship agreement(s). The plan must contain all terms and conditions for the qualification, recruitment, selection, employment and training of apprentices, including such matters as the requirement for a written apprenticeship agreement.

Apprenticeship Training, Employer and Labor Services (ATELS)

Federal apprenticeship agency that oversees federal apprenticeship program registration and standard changes and approvals.

Approved

Approved by the WSATC or a person or entity authorized by the WSATC to do so.

Arbitration

The referral of collective bargaining or grievance disputes to an impartial third party. Usually the arbitrator's decision is final and binding, although there is "advisory arbitration" in which the decision of the arbitrator is taken under advisement by the parties...

ASP

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy.

Assessment

The determination of the amount of premiums due based upon available information when an employer fails to file his quarterly Wage Reports (LB-0851) and Premium Reports (LB-0456).

Assigned Risk Plan (ARP)

The workers' compensation insurer of last resort, which insures employers unable to insure themselves in the voluntary market. The ARP is necessary because all nonexempt employers are required to have workers' compensation insurance or self-insure. The Department of Commerce operates the ARP through contracts with private companies for administrative services and sets the ARP premium rates, which are different from the voluntary-market rates.

At Will Employment

At will employment describes the employment relationship between employers and employees in almost every state. At will employment means that the Company does not offer tenured or guaranteed employment for any period of time. In at will employment either the Company or the employee can terminate the employment relationship at any time, with or without cause, with or without notice.

ATUS

American Time Use Survey.

Audit Program

As part of the Maine Department of Labor’s Quality Control program, a minimum of 2 percent of Maine’s employers are selected for audit each year. The audit is performed to ensure proper reporting of wages over a single calendar year. Other reasons for audits include new employer status, large increases/decreases in employment, or industry examinations.

AUTOMATION

Self-correcting feedback and computer electronics. Also, dramatic technological innovation of any sort at the workplace. Often regarded by unions as a cause of unemployment, job alienation, and dislocation.

Average Employer Rate

This is the rate assigned all new employers upon receiving an employer account number. After two full rating periods (a minimum of 30 months), the employer will be eligible for the experience rate.

Average hours per day (American Time Use Survey)

This term refers to the average number of hours spent in a 24-hour day (between 4 a.m. on the diary day and 4 a.m. on the interview day) doing a specified activity.

Average hours per day, population (American Time Use Survey)

The average number of hours per day is computed using all responses from a given population, including respondents who did not do a particular activity on their diary day.

Average hours per day, persons reporting the activity on the diary day (American Time Use Survey)

The average number of hours per day is computed using only responses from those who engaged in a particular activity on their diary day.

AWBA

Average Weekly Benefit Amount.

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Back Pay Award: Wages paid retroactively as a result of a determination by a judicial or quasi-judicial body. May be as a result of a wrongful discharge or the difference between wages allready paid an employee and higher wages granted retroactively.
BARGAINING UNIT: A specified group of employees empowered to bargain collectively with their employer...
Base period: A point in time used as a reference point for comparison with some later period.
Base Period Employer: Any employer employing the worker during the worker's base period.
Base Salary: Base salary is a fixed amount of money paid to an employee by an employer in return for work performed. Base salary does not include benefits, bonuses or any other potential compensation from an employer. Base salary is paid, most frequently, in a bi-weekly paycheck to an exempt or professional employee. In most years, an employee’s base salary is paid in 26 even paychecks over the cour…..
BAT: Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training.
BCCP: Business Continuity and Contingency Plans.
Behavioral Interview: Want to know the best way to identify whether a candidate's characteristics and motivations match the behaviors needed for your job? A behavioral interview is the best tool you have to identify candidates who have the behavioral traits and characteristics you believe are essential for success in your open job. Find out more about how to prepare.....
Benefit incidence: Any employer employing the worker during the worker's base period.
Benefit Management and Resolution (BMR; formerly Customer Assistance or CA): A unit of the Department of Labor and Industry that provides information and clarification about workers' compensation statute, rules and procedures, carries out a variety of dispute prevention activities, conducts informal dispute resolution activities including mediations and conducts administrative conferences about some issues (see administrative conference).
Benefit Rate: The amount of money to which a claimant may be entitled each week. The amount is based on the claimant's wages paid during the base period.
Benefit Week: The seven-day period ending Saturday at midnight.
Benefit Year: The benefit year is the one year period beginning with the Monday following the week you file your valid original claim. You may be paid up to 26 weeks (or the equivalent) of benefits during a benefit year. The 52-consecutive-week period beginning with the first day of the calendar week in which an individual files the first valid claim for benefits.
Benefits - Comprehensive List of Options: Employers provide a package of additions to the base salary to employees. These benefits can include Health Insurance, Dental insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, a severance package, tuition assistance, and more. On average, organizations spend 41 cents for benefits for every dollar of payroll. That’s 29 percent of the total employee compensation package.
Benefits Package: Benefits are a form of compensation paid by employers to employees over and above the amount of pay specified as a base salary or hourly rate of pay. Benefits are a portion of a total compensation package for employees. A comprehensive, common set of benefits includes the following components.
Benefits: Basic Benefits Package for Employees: Employers of choice provide a comprehensive employee benefits package to attract and retain employees. In addition to salary, an employee benefits package is a standard – and expected - part of employee compensation. These are the standard components of an employee benefits package. Find out the employee benefits package that your employees want.
Bereavement Policy: Definition for the Human Resources Glossary: Definition of bereavement policy for the human resources glossary of human resources related terms.
Benefit incidence: A measure of the availability of a benefit. The National Compensation Survey (NCS) presents data on the percent of workers with access to, and who participate in, employee benefits. Access is defined as the percent of workers in an occupation who are offered a benefit. For example, an employee may have access to an employer-sponsored fitness center, but may or may not use it. Employees in contributory plans are counted as participating in an insurance plan or a retirement plan if they have paid required contributions and met any applicable service requirements. Employees in noncontributory plans are counted as participating regardless of whether they have fulfilled their service requirements.
Benefits: Nonwage compensation provided to employees. The National Compensation Survey groups benefits into five categories: paid leave (vacations, holidays, sick leave); supplementary pay (premium pay for overtime and work on holidays and weekends, shift differentials, nonproduction bonuses); retirement (defined benefit and defined contribution plans); insurance (life insurance, health benefits, short-term disability, and long-term disability insurance) and legally required benefits (Social Security and Medicare, Federal and State unemployment insurance taxes, and workers’ compensation).
Bereavement Policy: Definition for the Human Resources Glossary: Definition of bereavement policy for the human resources glossary of human resources related terms.
BLS: Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Blue collar and service occupations (National Compensation Survey): Includes precision production, craft, and repair occupations; machine operators and inspectors; transportation and moving occupations; handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers; and service occupations.
BLUE-COLLAR WORKERS: Those in private and public employment who engage in manual labor or the skilled trades.
Bonus: Money promised to an employee in addition to the monthly salary, hourly wage, commission or piece rate usually due as compensation. Bonuses are in addition to any other remuneration rate and may be predicated on performance over and above that which is paid for hours worked, pieces made, or sales completed. A bonus may be in the form of a gratuity where there is no promise for their payment, for example, a holiday bonus at the end of the year. Additionally, a bonus may be a contractually required payment where a promise is made that a bonus will be paid in return for a specific result, such as exceeding a minimum sales figure or piece quota, or as an inducement to remain in the employ of the employer for a certain period of time. Sums earned as bonuses are wages under the definition found in Labor Code Section 200.
Bonus Pay: A bonus is compensation over and above the amount of pay specified as a base salary or hourly rate of pay. The base amount of compensation is specified in the employee offer letter, in the employee personnel file, or in a contract. A bonus can be distributed randomly as the company can afford to pay a bonus, or the amount of the bonus can be specified by contract.
BOYCOTT: The term originated in 1880 when an Irish landowner, Captain Charles Boycott, was denied all services. Today the expression means collective pressure on employers by refusal to buy their goods or services.
BREAD-AND-BUTTER UNIONISM: Also called "business unionism" or "pure-and-simple unionism." Adolph Strasser, president of the Cigar-Makers Union and one of the founders of the AFL, once told a Congressional Committee: "We have no ultimate ends. We are going from day to day. We fight only for immediate objectives--objectives that will be realized in a few years--we are all practical men.
Breaks and Lunch Requirements: The U.S. Department of Labor has no requirements for employer supplied breaks and lunch free time at work. However, if the employer does supply coffee breaks and lunch time away from the job, the employer is required to count these hours as compensated. They also count toward the accumulation of hours eligible for overtime payment.
Broadbanding: Definition for the Human Resources Glossary: Definition of broadbanding for the human resources glossary of human resources related terms.
Brown Bag Lunch: A brown bag lunch is an opportunity for employees to learn at work. A brown bag lunch is used to convey work information occasionally, but mostly serves to enhance employee knowledge about non-work or job specific issues and ideas. Find out more about brown bag lunches.
BtB: Business-to-Business.
Buddy (Mentor): A buddy is an employee who is assigned to participate in a formal or informal relationship that is established between an experienced, knowledgeable employee and an inexperienced or new employee. The purpose of mentoring from the buddy is to help the new employee quickly absorb the organization’s cultural and social norms. The buddy assists an.....
Bullying: Bullying is intentionally causing pain to or harming another employee. Bullying takes many forms: verbal abuse from swearing to belittling, physical abuse from standing close in a threatening manner to punching, mental abuse from undermining a coworker’s work to keeping track of and reporting mistakes. Bullying is sometimes obvious, but more subtle forms of bullying often cause the most damage.
Business Casual Dress Code: The Company's objective, in establishing a business casual dress code, is to enable employees to project a professional, business-like image while experiencing the advantages of more casual and relaxed clothing. Business casual dress is the standard for this dress code which is described in detail in the Business Casual Dress Code policy.
Business sector (Productivity and Costs): The business sector is a subset of the domestic economy and excludes the economic activities of the following: general government, private households, and nonprofit organizations serving individuals. The business sector accounted for about 78 percent of the value of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2000.
Buyout: Buyouts are a common method for reducing the number and cost of employees. In a buyout, the employer offers some employees or all employees the opportunity to receive a large severance package in return for leaving their employment.
BYE: The Benefit Year Ending date (BYE) is the date your unemployment insurance claim ends and you can no longer collect benefits on that claim. The date of the BYE for your claim can be found on the website under View Payment History. If you remain unemployed after the BYE date and believe that you had sufficient employment in the past year to qualify for a new claim, you must immediately file a new claim, either on our website or by calling the Telephone Claims Center. An acronym for Benefit Year Ending. It is the date where an unemployment claim expires. Under normal circumstances, when your BYE ends, you cease to be eligible for benefits on the claim you are drawing upon and must file a new unemployment claim. Because of all the federal extensions, if you file a new claim after your BYE ends, if you are not eligible for a new claim, you can be placed back on to your old claim to receive Emergency Unemployment compensation (EUC).

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Cafeteria Plan Gives Employees Choices About Their Benefits: Looking for a way to customize your benefits plan to the needs of your individual employees? A cafeteria plan is an employee benefits plan that allows your employees to choose among a variety of options to create a benefits plan that best meets their needs and those of their family. In a cafeteria plan, an employee receives a certain number of.....
Calendar Quarter: The calendar quarter is the time period wherein an employer become liable if wages are paid to any worker totaling more than $1,500 or for 20 weeks of employment. calendar quarter are also important for wage reporting, such as the "Quarterly Wage Report" (form 941C1-ME). The four calendar quarter are noted as January through March (1/1 to 3/31), April through June (4/1 to 6/30), July through September (7/1 to 9/30), and October through December (10/1 to 12/31). A period of three months ending March 31, June 30, September 30, or December 31.
Calendar Week: The seven-day period ending Saturday at midnight.
Camp counselor or program counselor: Camp counselor or program counselor" means a staff member whose main responsibility involves either direct supervision of living-group campers or direct program relationships with campers.
Cancellation: The termination of the registration or approval status of a program at the request of the supervisor or sponsor. Cancellation also refers to the termination of an apprenticeship agreement at the request of the apprentice, supervisor, or sponsor.
Capital services: A chain-type index of service flows derived from the stock of physical assets and software. Assets include equipment and software, structures, land, and inventories. Capital services are estimated as a capital-income weighted average of the growth rates of each asset. Capital services differ from capital stocks because short-lived assets such as equipment and software provide more services per unit of stock than long-lived assets such as land.
Career Clusters: A Career Cluster is a grouping of occupations and/or industries based on certain commonalities. They provide an organizing tool for schools, small learning communities, academies and magnet schools. There are 16 Career Clusters defined in the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1998.
Career Pathing: Career pathing is the process used by an employee to chart a course within an organization for his or her career path and career developmen.
Career Pathways: Career pathways articulate the learning requirements, across educational and training levels, through which a student can prepare for skilled employment in a specific industry cluster and, from there, to continued education and career progression. Career pathways are developed through partnerships among secondary and postsecondary education, employers, and community agencies. Career pathways serve the emerging and incumbent workforce, from high school students to unemployed and underemployed adults. In order to conform to the cluster taxonomy developed by the federal Department of Education and to align the development of “demand” data with the curriculum content design of the New Jersey Department of Education, career pathways have been used. This allows for the development of demand information that can be readily used to support curriculum development and/or to justify the delivery of training programs. Career clusters link what students learn in school with the knowledge and skills they need for success in college and careers. They are designed to identify pathways from secondary school to two- and four year colleges, graduate school, and the workplace. According to the federal Department of Education this connection to future goals motivates students to work harder and enroll in more rigorous courses. It is at the Pathway level that the demand for training is computed.
Cases with days away from work, Days of restricted work activity or job transfer (DART): For Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses results in 2002 and later, these are cases that involve days away from work, or days of restricted work activity or job transfer, or both.
Cases without lost workdays: For Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses results prior to 2002, the Bureau of Labor Statistics divides total cases into two types: lost-workday cases and cases without lost workdays. "Cases without lost workdays" are those with medical treatment but no lost workdays.
CATI: Computer-Assisted Telephone Interview.
CCI: Correct Coding Initiative.
CDC: Center for Disease Control.
CE: Consumer Expenditure.
Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI): The CFOI, conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics with state and other federal agencies, covers all fatal work-injuries in the private and public sectors, whether the workplaces concerned are covered by the Occupational Safety and Health Act or other federal or state laws, or are outside the scope of regulatory coverage. For example, the CFOI includes federal employees and resident armed forces, even though they have different legal and regulatory coverage than other workers. It also includes self-employed and unpaid family workers, including family farm workers. Work-related fatal illnesses are excluded from the CFOI, because many occupational illnesses have long latency periods and are difficult to link to work. The CFOI provides a complete count of fatal work-injuries by using multiple sources to identify, verify and profile these incidents. Information is obtained from several sources, including death certificates, coroners' reports, workers' compensation reports, news media and others. Because of larger numbers, the national data has greater detail and greater statistical reliability than state data. Available national-level tables present data such as: nature of the fatal injury; how it occurred; industry, occupation and worker characteristics. Other nationwide tabulations focus on special topics, such as: fatalities involving cranes; falls; electrocutions; and excavation and trenching cave-ins.
CENTRAL LABOR COUNCIL: A city or county federation of local unions which are affiliated with different national or international unions.
CEO: Chief Executive Officer: The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is the highest ranking executive manager in a corporation or organization. The CEO has responsibility for the overall success of an entire organization. The CEO has the ultimate authority to make final decisions for an organization. Responsibilities of a CEO include these.
Certificate of completion: A record of the successful completion of a term of apprenticeship (see WAC 296-05-323).
Certificate of Creditable Coverage: A written certificate issued by a group health plan or Health Insurance issuer (including an HMO) that shows your prior health coverage (creditable coverage). A certificate must be issued automatically and free of charge when you lose coverage under a plan, when you are entitled to elect COBRA continuation coverage or when you lose COBRA continuation coverage. A certificate must also be provided free of charge upon request while you have health coverage or within 24 months after your coverage ends. For more information, see Questions and Answers: Recent Changes in Health Care Law.
Certification: Written approval by the WSATC of: A set of apprenticeship standards established by an apprenticeship program sponsor and substantially conforming to the standards established by the WSATC. An individual as eligible for probationary employment as an apprentice under a registered apprenticeship program. Committee program: All apprenticeship programs as further described in WAC 296-05-309.
Certified managed care organization (CMCO): Managed care organization certified by the Department of Labor and Industry, under the 1992 law, to manage medical services to injured workers. If the employer and insurer have arranged for medical care to be provided through a CMCO, injured workers must, with certain exceptions, obtain medical care for work injuries through health providers in the CMCO network.
CFBCI: Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.
CFO: Chief Financial Officer.
CFOA: Chief Financial Officers Act.
CFR: The Code of Federal Regulations.
CHECKOFF: A clause in union contract authorizing the employer to deduct dues or service fees from employees' paychecks and remit them to the union.
CHOICES: Clearinghouse on Implementation of Child Care and Elder Care Services.
CIP Code:: The CIP (Classification of Instructional Program) is a taxonomic coding scheme of instructional programs. It is intended to facilitate the organization, collection, and reporting of program completions data using classifications that capture the majority of reportable program completion activity. The CIP titles and program descriptions are intended to be generic categories into which program completions data can be placed, not exact duplicates of specific major field of study titles used by individual institutions.
Civilian noninstitutional population (Current Population Survey): Included are persons 16 years of age and older residing in the 50 States and the District of Columbia who are not inmates of institutions (for example, penal and mental facilities, homes for the aged), and who are not on active duty in the Armed Forces.
Civilian workers (National Compensation Survey): The National Compensation Survey defines Civilian Workers as the sum of all private industry and State and local government workers. Federal Government, military and agricultural workers are excluded.
Claim petition: A form by which the injured worker contests a denial of primary liability or requests an award of indemnity, medical or rehabilitation benefits. In response to the claim petition, the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) generally schedules a settlement conference or formal hearing.
Claimant: An individual who has applied for unemployment insurance benefits.
Classification - What Is Job Classification: Job classification is a system for objectively and accurately defining and evaluating the duties, responsibilities, tasks, and authority level of a job. The Job classification, done correctly, determines the relative compensation for a job, so it is critically important to employees that job classification is fair and equitable. Find out more....
CLOSED SHOP: The hiring and employment of union members only. Illegal under the Taft-Hartley Act.
CO: Compliance Officer.
Coaching: Use Employee Coaching to Improve Performance: The first step in any effort to improve employee performance is counseling or coaching. Counseling or coaching is part of the day-to-day interaction between a supervisor and an employee who reports to her, or an HR professional and line managers. Coaching often provides positive feedback about employee contributions. But, coaching also helps an employee improve performance.
COBRA: The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) set forth regulations that give employees and their families, who lose their health benefits because of unemployment, the right to choose to continue group health benefits provided by their group health plan. These health care benefits may be extended for limited periods of time under certain circumstances according to the COBRA regulations.
COBRA (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985): COBRA is a federal law that provides rights to temporary continuation of group health plan coverage for certain employees, retirees and family members at group rates when coverage is lost due to certain qualifying events...
COBRA Continuation Coverage: The temporary continuation of group health plan coverage available after a qualifying event to certain employees, retirees and family members who are qualified beneficiaries. Those who are eligible may be required to pay for COBRA continuation coverage and are generally entitled to coverage for a limited period of time (from 18 months to 36 months), depending on certain circumstances.
Code of Conduct: A Code of Conduct is a written collection of the rules, principles, values, and employee expectations, behavior, and relationships that an organization considers significant and believes are fundamental to their successful operation. A code of conduct enumerates those standards and values that make an organization remarkable and that enable it to stand out from similar organizations. Find out mor…..
Cohabitant: Cohabitant" means a person who regularly resides in the household. "Former cohabitant" means a person who formerly regularly resided in the household. Family Code Section 6209.
Cohort (National Longitudinal Surveys): A cohort in the BLS National Longitudinal Surveys (NLS) program is a group of people, defined by year of birth, that make up a particular study. For example, the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) cohort consists of people born between January 1, 1957, and December 31, 1964.
Collective bargaining agreement: An agreement negotiated between a labor union and an employer that sets forth the terms of employment for the employees who are subject to the agreement. This type of agreement may include provisions regarding wages, vacation time, working hours, working conditions, and Health Insurance benefits.
Collective bargaining: Method whereby representatives of employees (unions) and employers negotiate the conditions of employment, normally resulting in a written contract setting forth the wages, hours, and other conditions to be observed for a stipulated period (e.g., 3 years). The term also applies to union-management dealings during the term of the agreement.
Combined Quarterly Reports (CQR): Tax payments on reportable wages in a calendar quarter are due on or before the last day of the month following the quarter close on a "Combined Quarterly Report" (Form 941C1-ME).
Commission: Compensation paid to any person for services rendered in the sale of the employer's property or services and based upon the amount or value thereof. If the employee's compensation is based on a percentage of the cost or sale price of the product or service, then the compensation plan is a commission.
Commissioner: The commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
Comp Time: Compensatory or comp time is time worked by an employee beyond their required number of work hours, often calculated at 40 for exempt employees. Comp time is calculated and recorded and employees expect some remuneration for the extra hours worked, most often paid as time off from work, or comp time which compensates for the extra hours worked.....
Company filed rates: Rates used by insurance companies in determining premium for individual employers in the voluntary market. Each insurer determines its own filed rates (per $100 of payroll by insurance class) using the pure premium rates as the starting point, but adding: (1) certain components of loss costs that are excluded from the pure premium rates by law; and (2) company expenses, which include claims adjustment, litigation, insurance brokerage, overhead, assessments (including the Special Compensation Fund assessment) and profit. The insurer files these rates with the Department of Commerce for approval. The insurer determines premium for an individual employer by first applying its applicable filed rate(s) to covered payroll and then: (1) modifying the result on the basis of characteristics of the employer under rating plans approved by the Department of Commerce; and (2) adding taxes and assessments if these are not already included in the filed rates.
COMPANY STORE: A store operated by a company for its employees. Often prices were higher here than elsewhere. Occasionally, workers were paid in script redeemable only at the company store.
COMPANY UNION: An employee association organized, controlled, and financed by the employer. Outlawed by the National Labor Relations Act..
Comparative advantage: When one nation's opportunity cost of producing an item is less than another nation's opportunity cost of producing that item. A good or service with which a nation has the largest absolute advantage (or smallest absolute disadvantage) is the item for which they have a comparative advantage.
Compensation (National Compensation Survey): A term used to encompass the entire range of wages and benefits, both current and deferred, that employees receive in return for their work. In the Employment Cost Index (ECI), compensation includes the employer's cost of wages and salaries, plus the employer's cost of providing employee benefits.
Competitive Skills Scholarship Fund (CSSF): In 2007, the 123rd Legislature enacted legislation creating a program entitled the Competitive Skills Scholarship Fund Program (CSSF). This program has been created to address the serious and growing skills gap between the existing skills of today's workforce and the skill needs of tomorrow's jobs. This program will provide workers with the skills they need to successfully perform in the good jobs that are being created in our economy and help businesses find the qualified workforce needed to foster innovation and stay competitive in the global marketplace. Approximately $3 million will be collected each year for the CSSF that will then be available to assist workers earning below 200% of poverty to obtain a degree or certificate in a training program for jobs in high-growth industries. It will pay for tuition and fees that are not paid from other sources (including federal financial aid); and will fund educational supports for workers in training including childcare, transportation, books, supplies, equipment, and remedial and prerequisite training.
Complete income reporters (Consumer Expenditure Survey): The distinction between complete and incomplete income reporters generally is based on whether the respondent provided values for major sources of income, such as wages and salaries, self-employment income, and Social Security income. Even complete income reporters may not have provided a full accounting of all income from all sources. In the current survey, across-the-board zero income reporting was designated as invalid, and the consumer unit was categorized as an incomplete reporter. In all tables, income data are for complete income reporters only.
Computation Date: December 31 of each year. The reserve ratio computed as of this date is applicable for a 12-month period beginning the following July 1.
Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI): A structured system of microdata collection by telephone that speeds up the collection and editing of microdata; it also permits the interviewer to educate the respondents on the importance of timely and accurate data.
CONCILIATION: An attempt by an impartial third party to reconcile differences between labor and management.
Confidentiality Agreement: A confidentiality agreement is a written legal contract between an employer and employee. The confidentiality agreement lays out binding terms and conditions that prohibit the employee from disclosing company confidential and proprietary information. A confidentiality agreement is in effect for the duration of an employee’s employment and for a.....
Conflict of Interest: A conflict of interest arises in the workplace when an employee has competing interests or loyalties that either are, or potentially can be, at odds with each other. A conflict of interest causes an employee to experience a struggle between diverging interests, points of view, or allegiances. See examples of potential workplace conflicts of interest.
CONSPIRACY CASES: The Philadelphia cordwainers' case in 1806 and subsequent decisions involving labor disputes declared unions to be unlawful conspiracies. In 1842 the court decision in Commonwealth v. Hunt said that under certain circumstances unions were lawful.
CONSULTATION: Clauses in union contracts or in some state laws applicable to public employees stating that management must consult the union before making any major personnel changes.
Consumer unit (Consumer Expenditure Survey): A consumer unit is defined as either (1) all members of a particular household who are related by blood, marriage, adoption, or other legal arrangements; (2) a person living alone or sharing a household with others or living as a roomer in a private home or lodging house or in permanent living quarters in a hotel or motel, but who is financially independent; or (3) two or more persons living together who pool their income to make joint expenditure decisions. Financial independence is determined by the three major expense categories: housing, food, and other living expenses. To be considered financially independent, a respondent must provide at least two of the three major expense categories.
Contingent workers (Current Population Survey): Workers who do not have an implicit or explicit contract for long-term employment. BLS uses three alternative measures of contingent workers that vary in scope.
Contract escalation: Producer Price Index (PPI) data are commonly used in escalating purchase and sales contracts. These contracts typically specify dollar amounts to be paid at some point in the future. It is often desirable to include an escalation clause that accounts for changes in input prices. For example, a long-term contract for bread may be escalated for changes in wheat prices by applying the percent change in the PPI for wheat to the contracted price for bread. Consumer Price Index (CPI) data can also be used in escalation. For example, the CPI may be used to escalate lease payments or child support payments. More information
CONTRACT LABOR: Workers signed a contract in Colonial times making them indentured servants for the life of the agreement. The system was later used to import Orientals into California and Hawaii and Italians and Greeks for work on the East Coast. It was bitterly fought by organized labor for the contract worker meant low wage competition.
Contribution: Used interchangeably with "tax".
COOPERATIVE STORE: A nonprofit store that is collectively owned and operated for the benefit of both the seller and the shopper.
Core Values Are What You Believe: Core values are traits or qualities that you consider not just worthwhile, they represent an individual's or organization's highest priorities, deeply held beliefs, and core, fundamental driving forces. Core values or guiding principles define what your organization believes and how you want your organization resonating with and appealing to....
Cost-of-living adjustment (COLA): An annual adjustment of temporary total disability (TTD), temporary partial disability (TPD), permanent total disability (PTD) and dependents' benefits, computed from the annual change in the statewide average weekly wage (SAWW). The percent adjustment is equal to the proportion by which the SAWW in effect at the time of the adjustment differs from the SAWW in effect one year earlier, not to exceed a statutory limit. The timing of the first adjustment and the annual percent limit have changed over time, as described in Appendix B.
Cost-of-living index: A cost-of-living index measures differences in the price of goods and services, and allows for substitutions to other items as prices change. A consumer price index measures a price change for a constant market basket of goods and services from one period to the next within the same city (or in the Nation). The CPIs are not true cost-of-living indexes and should not be used for place-to-place comparisons.
Counseling: Counseling (work coaching) is providing day-to-day feedback to employees about areas in which their performance at work can improve.
Covered Employee: An individual who is (or was) provided coverage under a group health plan that is subject to COBRA because that individual was employed by one or more persons maintaining the group health plan.
Covered Employment: An employer must provide unemployment insurance coverage for most types of work. This means the employer pays a separate tax which is used to pay your benefits. There are a few types of work which are not covered by law. Check with the office where you filed your claim to find out what is or isn't covered.
CPI: Consumer Price Index.
CPI-I: Consumer Price Index – Improvement.
CPI-R: Consumer Price Index – Revised.
CPS: Current Population Survey.
CRA: Construction Resource Analysis.
CRAFT UNIONS: Trade unions organized along lines of their skilled crafts. They formed the base of the American Federation of Labor...
CRC: Civil Rights Center.
Creditable Coverage: Health coverage you have had in the past, such as coverage under a group health plan (including COBRA continuation coverage), an HMO, an individual Health Insurance policy, Medicare or Medicaid, and this prior coverage was not interrupted by a significant break in coverage. The time period of this prior coverage must be applied toward any pre-existing condition exclusion imposed by a new health plan. Proof of your creditable coverage may be shown by a certificate of creditable coverage or by other documents showing you had health coverage, such as a Health Insurance ID card. For more information, see Questions and Answers: Recent Changes in Health Care Law.
CRIMINAL SYNDICALISM: Syndicalism comes from the French word for union "syndicat." Syndicalists believe unions should run the economy. The term is associated with the Industrial Workers of the World. Half the states just after World War I passed criminal syndicalist laws. In California a person could be convicted for having once belonged to the IWW. In New Mexico, an employer could be prosecuted for hiring an "anarchis.
Cultural Fit: You can only understand the concept of cultural fit when you consider it within the following framework that describes culture and how an organization's culture is formed. A potential employee may express and exhibit the characteristics, language, and values that exist within the current organizational culture - or not. The candidate whose values, beliefs, outlook and behavior is congruent with those existing is likely to be a good cultural fit for the organization.
Culture: Culture is made up of the values, beliefs, underlying assumptions, attitudes, and behaviors shared by a group of people. Culture is the behavior that results when a group arrives at a set of - generally unspoken and unwritten - rules for working together. An organization's culture is made up of all of the life experiences each employee brings.....
Current instruction: The related/supplemental instructional content is and remains reasonably consistent with the latest trade practices, improvements, and technical advances.
Customer Assistance (CA; changed to Benefit Management and Resolution, BMR): A unit of the Department of Labor and Industry that provides information and clarification about workers' compensation statute, rules and procedures, carries out a variety of dispute prevention activities, conducts informal dispute resolution activities including mediations and conducts administrative conferences about some issues (see administrative conference.
CY: Calendar Year.

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Dating relationship

Dating relationship" means frequent, intimate associations primarily characterized by the expectation of affection or sexual involvement independent of financial considerations. Family Code Section 6210.

Days away from work

Used in the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, days away from work are days after the injury or onset of illness when the employee would have worked, but does not because of the injury or illness. The day of the injury or onset of illness is not counted.

Days of restricted work activity or job transfer

Used in the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses results for 2002 and later years, these are days after the injury or onset of illness when the employee works reduced hours, has restricted duties or is temporarily assigned to another job as a result of the injury or illness.

Days-away-from-work (DAFW) cases

Used in results from the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, DAFW cases are subset of lost-workday (LWD) cases prior to 2002, and a subset of DART cases for 2002 and later years. DAFW cases are cases with any days away from work. These cases may have days of restricted work activity in addition to days away from work. Cases where the only missed work is the day of the injury or of onset of the illness are not counted.

DAYWORK

The worker is paid a fixed amount for the day rather than being paid a salary or being paid for the individual piece produced.

DCC

Dependent Care Connection.

Defined benefit pension plan

A retirement plan that uses a specific predetermined formula to calculate the amount of an employee’s future benefit. The most common type of formula is based on the employee’s terminal earnings. Under this formula, benefits are based on a percentage of average earnings during a specified number of years at the end of a worker’s career—for example, the highest 5 out of the last 10 years—multiplied by the maximum number of years of credited service under the plan. In recent years, a new type of defined benefit plan, a cash balance plan, has become more prevalent. Under this type of plan, benefits are computed as a percentage of each employee’s account balance. Employers specify a contribution—usually based on a percentage of the employee’s earnings—and a rate of interest on that contribution that will provide a predetermined amount at retirement, usually in the form of a lump sum. In the private sector, defined benefit plans are typically funded exclusively by employer contributions. In the public sector, defined benefit plans often require employee contributions.

Defined contribution plan

A retirement plan in which the amount of the employer's annual contribution is specified. Individual accounts are set up for participants and benefits are based on the amounts credited to these accounts (through employer contributions and, if applicable, employee contributions) plus any investment earnings on the money in the account. Only employer contributions to the account are guaranteed, not the future benefits. In defined contribution plans, future benefits fluctuate on the basis of investment earnings. The most common type of defined contribution plan is a savings and thrift plan. Under this type of plan, the employee contributes a predetermined portion of his or her earnings (usually pretax) to an individual account, all or part of which is matched by the employer.

Deflator

A value that allows data to be measured over time in terms of some base period; or, in more obscure terms, an implicit or explicit price index used to distinguish between those changes in the money value of gross national product which result from a change in prices and those which result from a change in physical output. The import and export price indexes produced by the International Price Program are used as deflators in the U.S. national accounts. For example, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) equals consumption expenditures plus net investment plus government expenditures plus exports minus imports. Various price indexes are used to "deflate" each component of the GDP in order to make the GDP figures comparable over time. Import price indexes are used to deflate the import component (i.e., import volume is divided by the Import Price index) and the export price indexes are used to deflate the export component (i.e., export volume is divided by the Export Price index).

Demand for additional workers (Employment Projections)

Job openings resulting from employment growth and the need to replace workers who leave an occupation.

Dental Insurance

Dental insurance is an insurance policy that will pay specified amounts of money to cover dental and oral hygiene expenses or treatments. Employer-provided dental insurance policies offer employees many different options for insurance coverage. Employer-provided dental insurance policies vary in their approaches to coverage. Find out more about.....

Department

The Department of Industrial Relation, a California state agency. The Department is also known as "DIR.". The Department of Labor & Industries. Departments are the entity organizations form to organize people, reporting relationships, and work in a way that best supports the accomplishment of the organization's goals. Departments are usually organized by functions such as human resources, marketing, administration, and sales. Find out more about a department.

Dependents' benefits

Benefits paid to dependents of a worker who has died from a work-related injury or illness. These benefits are equal to a proportion of the worker's gross pre-injury wage and are paid for a specified period of time, depending on the dependents concerned.

Designated person (American Time Use Survey)

One individual age 15 or older who is randomly selected from each sampled household to participate in the American Time Use Survey. The designated person is interviewed by telephone once about only his or her activities on the day before the interview. No other household member may respond for the designated person.

Developed numbers

Estimates of what the number of claims or their cost will be at a given maturity. Developed numbers are relevant for accident-year, policy-year and injury-year data. They are obtained by applying development factors, based on historical rates of development of claim and cost figures, to tabulated numbers.

Development

The change, over time, in the reported number or cost of claims for a particular accident-year, policy-year or injury-year. Claim costs develop whether the costs are paid or incurred. The reported figures develop both because of the time necessary for claims to mature and, in the case of Department of Labor and Industry data, because of reporting lags.

Diary day (American Time Use Survey)

The diary day is the day about which the designated person reports his or her activities for the American Time Use Survey. For example, the diary day of a designated person interviewed on Tuesday is Monday.

Direct Reimbursement Employer

Governmental entities and 501(C)(3) nonprofit organizations can chose to make reimbursement payments to the Bureau of Unemployment compensation (BUC) instead of making regular contributions paid by taxes. To sign up for direct reimbursement status, the employer must file a written request within 30 days of its subject status determination. Changing the payment method should occur within 60 days prior to the beginning of the year of the change.

Disability

According to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, a person with a disability is defined as a person that has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, has a record of such impairment, or is regarded as having such an impairment. Major life activities means functions such as caring for one's self, performing manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, working and receiving education or vocational training.

Disability insurance

Includes paid sick leave, short-term disability benefits, and long-term disability benefits.

Disability Insurance - Long Term

Long term disability insurance (LTD) is an insurance policy that protects an employee from loss of income in the event that he or she is unable to work due to illness, injury, or accident for a long period of time. Some estimates state that the average employee with a long term disability misses 2.5 years of work. Find out more about long term.....

Discharge (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey)

A separation of an employee from an establishment that is initiated by the employer; an involuntary separation

Discipline

Progressive discipline is a process for dealing with job-related behavior that does not meet expected and communicated performance standards.

Discouraged workers (Current Population Survey)

Persons not in the labor force who want and are available for a job and who have looked for work sometime in the past 12 months (or since the end of their last job if they held one within the past 12 months), but who are not currently looking because they believe there are no jobs available or there are none for which they would qualify.

Discretionary Energy

Discretionary energy is the energy that an employee chooses to exert in service to coworkers or customers at work - or not. An employer pays for the fundamental tasks that he hires an employee to perform. The employee's willingness to perform above and beyond the basic requirements of the job is a reflection of the employee's willingness to engage his or her discretionary energy. Find out more ab…..

DISCRIMINATION

Unequal treatment of workers because of race, sex, religion, nationality, or union membership.

Discrimination in Any Aspect of Employment Is Illegal

Discrimination is adverse work treatment of an employee or prospective employee based on a class or category of which the employee is a member. This is differentiated from employment treatment that is based on the employee's individual merit. Discrimination in the workplace is the act of treating a particular group or person differently based solely on his or her protected classificatio.

Discriminatory/retaliatory act

An act and/or action, or series of acts and/or actions taken by an employer against an employee that adversely affects the employee in some aspect of his or her employment as a result of the employee exercising a protected right, engaging in a protected activity, or because the employee falls within a particular category specifically protected by law. An example of a discriminatory/retaliatory act would be an employer discharging an employee because he or she filed a wage claim against their employer with the Labor Commissioner's office. In order to establish a prima facie case, the employee must show:

1. That he or she engaged in a protected activity;

2. That the employer took some adverse action against him or her; and

3. That there exists a causal connection or nexus between the engaging in the protected activity and the employer's taking of the adverse action. "Prima facie case" in context used above means a case will suffice until contradicted and overcome by other evidence. "Engaged in protected activity" means the engaging in or exercising of a right that is protected by law. Some examples of "protected activity" under the Labor Code include:

1. Filing or threatening to file a claim or complaint with the Labor Commissioner.

2. Taking time off from work to serve on a jury or appear as a witness in court.

3. Disclosing or discussing your wages.

4. Using or attempting to use sick leave to attend to the illness of a child, parent, spouse, domestic partner, or child of the domestic partner of the employee.

5. Engaging in political activity of your choice.

6. For complaining about safety or health conditions or practices. "adverse action" is an act or action taken by an employer against an employee that works to the employee's detriment in some aspect of his or her employment, including a poor evaluation, surveillance, an unfavorable recommendation for a promotion, less desirable duties, a transfer, demotion, a cut in pay, or a discharge.

Displaced workers (Current Population Survey)

Persons 20 years and over who lost or left jobs because their plant or company closed or moved, there was insufficient work for them to do, or their position or shift was abolished.

Division

The Division of Labor Standards Enforcement. The Division is also known as "DLSE" and the "Labor Commissioner's Office." The Division is an agency within the Department of Industrial Relations. The Labor Commissioner is the Chief of the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement.

Division, Geographic or Census

One of nine geographic areas of the United States defined by the Census Bureau and widely used by BLS for presenting regional data.

Documentation Is the Written and Retained Record of Employment Events

Documentation is the written record of employees actions, discussion, performance coaching, witnessed policy violations, disciplinary action, positive contributions, reward and recognition, employee contributions, and more. Documentation allows the employer or employee to preserve a written record of the happenings and discussions that occurred around a specific event. Learn more about documentat….

DOD

U.S. Department of Defense.

DOED

U.S. Department of Education.

DOJ

U.S. Department of Justice.

DOL

U.S. Department of Labor.

DOLAR$

Department of Labor Accounting and Related Systems.

DOT

U.S. Department of Transportation.

Downsizing

Downsizing means to reduce the number of employees in an organization. Downsizing or lay-offs reduce the size of a work force. Used sparingly, and with planning, downsizing can be an organizational lifesaver, but when layoffs are used repeatedly without a thoughtful strategy, downsizing can destroy an organization's effectiveness. Also known as: reduction in force.

Dress Code

A work dress code is a set of standards that companies develop to help provide their employees with guidance about what is appropriate to wear to work. Work dress codes range from formal to business casual to casual. The formality of the workplace dress code is normally determined by the amount of interaction employees have with customers. Learn more about work dress codes.

Dress Code for Business Casual

The Company's objective, in establishing a business casual dress code, is to enable employees to project a professional, business-like image while experiencing the advantages of more casual and relaxed clothing. Business casual dress is the standard for this dress code which is described in detail in the Business Casual Dress Code policy.

Dress Code for Customer Interaction and Trade Shows

Even if you work in a casual dress code environment or a business casual work environment, the rules may change when you hit the road for your company with a business mission. Whether you are exhibiting at a trade show, attending a conference or training session, or visiting a customer, the dress code in effect at your \office may change for travel and meeting customers. Take a look at this sample dress code for travel and customer interaction.

DRG

Diagnostic Related Group.

Drug Formulary

A list of all the medicines that will be covered by your group health plan.

Drug-free Workplace

In a drug-free workplace, the employer has taken steps and initiated policies to ensure that employees are not taking or using alcohol or drugs, selling drugs, or affected by the after effects of indulging in alcohol or drugs outside of the workplace. The goal of a drug-free workplace program is to encourage an employee with a substance abuse...

DTAA

Division of Trade Adjustment Assistance.

DUA

Disaster Unemployment Assistance - Section 407 of the Disaster Relief Act of 1974 created a program for the payment of unemployment assistance to unemployed individuals whose unemployment is the direct result of a major disaster as declared by the President of the United States.

DUAL-UNIONISM

The AFL expelled most CIO unions in 1937 for dual unionism because industrial unions were encroaching on the jurisdiction of craft unions within factories.

Duration of unemployment (Current Population Survey)

The length of time in weeks (through the current reference week) that persons classified as unemployed had been looking for work. For persons on layoff who are counted as unemployed, duration of unemployment represents the number of full weeks they had been on layoff. The data do not represent completed spells of unemployment. (See Unemployed persons.)

DVOP

Disabled Veterans’ Outreach Program.

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Early Retirement

Early retirement occurs when an employee decides to retire before the age at which he or she becomes eligible to collect retirement resources such as Social Security, a company pension, or distributions from a 401(k) or another retirement plan. Early retirement is an option for employees who have saved substantial financial resources aside from....

Earnings

Remuneration (pay, wages) of a worker or group of workers for services performed during a specific period of time. The term usually carries a defining word or phrase, such as straight-time average hourly earnings. Because a statistical concept is usually involved in the term and its variations, the producers and users of earnings data should define them clearly. In the absence of such definitions, the following may serve as rough guidelines:

Hourly, daily, weekly, annual: period of time to which earnings figures, as stated or computed, relate. The context in which annual earnings (sometimes weekly earnings) are used may indicate whether the reference includes earnings from one employer only or from all employment plus other sources of income.
Average: usually refers to the arithmetic mean; that is, total earnings (as defined) of a group of workers (as identified) divided by the number of workers in the group.
Gross: usually refers to total earnings, before any deductions (such as tax withholding) including, where applicable, overtime payments, shift differentials, production bonuses, cost-of-living allowances, commissions, etc.
Straight-time: usually refers to gross earnings excluding overtime payments and (with variations at this point) shift differentials and other monetary payments. (Also see Wages and Salaries.)

EC

Enterprise Community.

ECI

Employment Cost Index.

Educational attainment

The highest diploma or degree, or level of work towards a diploma or degree, an individual has completed.

Educational attainment cluster (Employment Projections)

Six clusters are defined based on the distribution of educational attainment across occupations. The clusters are as follows: high school occupations, high school/some college occupations, some college occupations, high school/some college/college occupations, some college/college occupations, and college occupations.

EEO

Equal Employment Opportunity.

EEOC

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

EER

Entered Employment Rate.

Effective Date

The first day of the week in which the claimant initially files for benefits.

Elect

When referring to health coverage, this means to choose, generally in writing, to participate in a group health plan.

Election Notice

Written notification that you are eligible for COBRA continuation coverage. This notice should explain how long you will have to decide whether or not to elect COBRA continuation coverage. The group health plan must give you at least 60 days from the date the notice is provided to you, or from the date your coverage ended, whichever is later, to elect COBRA continuation coverage. The election notice should explain, among many other things, how much you must pay for coverage and when and to whom the payments are due.

Employ

To engage, suffer, or permit to work.

Employed persons (Current Population Survey)

Persons 16 years and over in the civilian noninstitutional population who, during the reference week, (a) did any work at all (at least 1 hour) as paid employees; worked in their own business, profession, or on their own farm, or worked 15 hours or more as unpaid workers in an enterprise operated by a member of the family; and (b) all those who were not working but who had jobs or businesses from which they were temporarily absent because of vacation, illness, bad weather, childcare problems, maternity or paternity leave, labor-management dispute, job training, or other family or personal reasons, whether or not they were paid for the time off or were seeking other jobs. Each employed person is counted only once, even if he or she holds more than one job. Excluded are persons whose only activity consisted of work around their own house (painting, repairing, or own home housework) or volunteer work for religious, charitable, and other organizations.

Employee

Any person employed by an employer. Independent contractors and volunteers are not employees.

Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs)

Do Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) actually provide value for employers and employees? Or, are Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) a way for employers to feel good about doing something positive for employees? - that may or may not provide a value add for employee wellness and work productivity. Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) are part....

Employee Benefits Package

Employers of choice provide a comprehensive employee benefits package to attract and retain employees. In addition to salary, an employee benefits package is a standard – and expected - part of employee compensation. These are the standard components of an employee Benefits Package. Find out the employee benefits package that your employees want....

Employee Empowerment, Empower Employees, Empowered Employees

Empowerment is the process of enabling or authorizing an individual to think, behave, take action, and control work and decisionmaking in autonomous ways. It is the state of feeling self-empowered to take control of one's own destiny. Empowerment rules as a development strategy. Learn more about what empowerment is – and is not.

Employee Engagement

Does your workplace encourage employee engagement? Probably not. But, it should. Employee engagement is a powerful factor for business success. Engaged employees are more productive, customer-focused, and profit-generating. Employers are more likely to retain engaged employees. According to the Gallup organization, employee engagement is a...

Employee Evaluation

An employee evaluation is the assessment of a worker’s job performance. Most companies have an employee evaluation system wherein employees are evaluated on a regular basis (often once a year).

Employee Furlough

An employee furlough is mandatory time off work with no pay. Used as an alternative to a layoff, an employee furlough can occur in both public and private sector organizations when revenue or projected revenue fails to match expenses. Revenue is generated through product sales, grants, and governmental support and subsidies.

Employee Handbook

An employee handbook is a compilation of the policies, procedures, working conditions, and behavioral expectations that guide employee actions in a particular workplace. Employee handbooks generally also include information about the company, employee compensation and benefits, and additional terms and conditions of employment.

Employee Involvement

Employee involvement is creating an environment in which people have an impact on decisions and actions that affect their jobs. Employee involvement is not the goal nor is it a tool, as practiced in many organizations. Rather, employee involvement is a management and leadership philosophy about how people are most enabled to contribute. Find out more about employee involvement.

Employee Morale

Employee morale is the overall outlook, attitude, satisfaction, and happiness that an employee feels in the workplace. When employees are positive about their work environment and believe that they can meet their most important needs at work, employee morale is positive. Find out more about employee morale,describes the overall outlook, attitude, satisfaction, and confidence that employees feel at work. When employees are positive about their work environment and believe that they can meet their most important needs at work, employee morale is positive. Employee morale is defined by the employee's outlook, optimism,....

Employee of the Month

Employee of the Month is an organizational recognition that companies have used - both successfully - and unsuccessfully - for years. In some organizations, Employee of the Month is a joke, a popularity or take-turns contest for management fawning employees. In others, Employee of the Month is cherished. With so many forms of employee recognition available, why pursue Employee of the Month?..

Employee Organization

ny labor union or organization of any kind in which employees participate and which exists for the purpose of dealing with employers concerning an employee benefit plan (including group health plans) or other matters involving employment relationships. An employee organization can also be an employee beneficiary association.

Employed persons (American Time Use Survey)

Same as definition for Employed persons (Current Population Survey), EXCEPT that in the American Time Use Survey, the definition includes persons 15 years and over and the reference period is the last 7 days prior to the American Time Use Survey interview.

Employee Performance Appraisal

In the conventional performance appraisal or review process, the manager annually writes his opinions of the performance of a reporting staff member on a document supplied by the HR department. In some organizations, the staff member is asked to fill out a self-review to share with the supervisor. The supervisor then share the performance appraisal with the employee and it's all down hill from there....

Employee Referral Program

Want to tap into the power of an employee referral program? A referral program that emphasizes potential employee referrals from current employees is a method employers use to find superior employees. In this age of online social media and social networking, a referral program has even broader potential to locate qualified candidates. With or.....

Employee Reprimand

An employee reprimand is an official notice to an employee, either verbal or written, that his or her performance is failing in some expected component. The employee reprimand is provided following the failure of informal supervisory coaching to help the employee improve.

Employee Satisfaction

Employee satisfaction is the terminology used to describe whether employees are happy and contented and fulfilling their desires and needs at work. Employee satisfaction is often measured by anonymous surveys administered periodically that gauge employee satisfaction in areas such as management and teamwork.

Employee Turnover

You can reduce employee turnover, valued employees leaving your company and organization by their choice. Competitive salary and benefits, flexible schedule options, and tuition assistance are three basics in employee retention. Especially for millennial employees, these are ways in which employers can reduce employee turnover. Find out more about employee turnover.

Employee Turnover Is Often Preventable

Employee turnover is expensive, disruptive, and impacts the morale of the remaining employees. Employee turnover is often preventable when an employer offers market driven compensation, better than average employee benefits, and a workplace culture that appreciates employees. Employee turnover is occasionally not preventable, but with attention,.....

Employees in the healthcare industry

Employees in the healthcare industry" means any of the following: 1. Employees in the healthcare industry providing patient care; or 2. Employees in the healthcare industry working in a clinical or medical department, including pharmacists dispensing prescriptions in any practice setting; or 3. Employees in the healthcare industry working primarily or regularly as a member of a patient care delivery team. 4. Licensed veterinarians, registered veterinary technicians and unregistered animal health technicians providing patient care.

Employer

Any person, association, organization, partnership, business trust, limited liability company, or corporation who directly or indirectly, or through an agent or any other person, employs or exercises control over the wages, hours, or working conditions of any person. Any employing unit that has met a condition of liability for unemployment insurance . Any person or organization employing an apprentice whether or not such person or organization is a party to an apprenticeship agreement with the apprentice. "Employer" includes both union and open shop employers.

Employer - What Is an Employer?

An employer is an organization, institution, government entity, agency, company, professional services firm, nonprofit association, small business, store, or individual who employs or puts to work, an employee. An employer has certain legal, ethical, and contractual obligations. Find out more about being an employer.

Employer (Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

A person or business employing one or more persons for wages or salary; the legal entity responsible for payment of quarterly unemployment insurance taxes or for reimbursing the State fund for unemployment insurance benefits costs in lieu of paying the quarterly taxes.

Employer Account Number

New employers are issued account numbers when they have met liability by filing an application or submitting a quarterly report. The account number is used to process all of the employer’s reports and payments. The eight-digit number (0000-000-0) assigned by the department that is used for recording and filing all premium and benefit information related to each employer's account. Enter your Employer Account Number on all remittances to the department and refer to this number in all correspondence concerning an account.

Employer Accounts Auditor

An employer's personal contact with the Department of Labor and Workforce Development. There are approximately 60 auditors working out of the eight Employer Accounts Offices throughout Tennessee. One is assigned specifically to your area. An employer accounts auditor's duties include the auditing of employer's records, collecting delinquent monies and reports, determining employer liability, keeping the employers in his area updated on changes in unemployment insurance laws and policies, and assisting employers with problems or questions concerning unemployment insurance. Call your employer accounts auditor when you need assistance. Your auditor will be happy to help you in any way he can. Employer accounts auditors carry identification issued by the department. Employers should not hesitate to ask for proper identificatio.

Employer Accounts Office

Office from which employer accounts auditors work. See a directory of the eight Employer Accounts Offices.

Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (National Compensation Survey)

The Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC) series shows employer costs per hour worked for wages and salaries and individual benefits. Cost data are presented in both dollar amounts and as percentages of compensation.

Employer/Employing Unit

Under the law "employer" and "employing unit" are considered the same. An employer is any business or individual that pays an individual for services. Employers can take many of the forms listed below: Governmental - federal, state, county and municipal; Limited Liability - individuals, partnerships, corporations; Individuals - estates and trusts, Partnerships - firms, associations, trusts, joint ventures; Corporations - public, private, foreign, domestic, c-corp and s-corp.

Employment

Employment is the entire service of an individual performed for some kind of wage, under any type of contract. The law presumes that a worker’s services are employment unless the employer can prove that the worker’s services are exempt. A three-part test determines whether a worker’s services should be considered covered employment (see ABC Test above).

EMPLOYMENT ACT

Passed in 1946 by a Congress which intended to establish machinery to maintain full employment. A Council of Economic Advisers was created to survey the status of the American economy and to advise the President. The Act, however, failed to solve the unemployment problem.

Employment At Will

at will employment describes the employment relationship between employers and employees in almost every state. At will employment means that the Company does not offer tenured or guaranteed employment for any period of time. In at will employment either the Company or the employee can terminate the employment relationship at any time, with or without cause, with or without notice.

Employment Contract

An employment contract is a written legal document lays out the terms and conditions of employment between an employee and an employer. An employment contract generally covers salary, benefits, paid holidays, paid vacation, paid time off (PTO), bonus potential, profit sharing, details of employment termination including reasons, severance.. .

Employment Cost Index (National Compensation Survey)

The Employment Cost Index (ECI) is a measure of the change in the cost of labor, free from the influence of employment shifts among occupations and industries. The series measures changes in compensation costs (wages and salaries and employer costs for employee benefits).

Employment Eligibility Verification (I-9)

The Employment Eligibility Verification (I-9) is the form that is required by the Department of Homeland Security U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to document eligibility for employment in the United States. All employees, citizens and noncitizens, hired after November 6, 1986, must complete Section 1 of this form at the time of hire,....

Employment Gap

An employment gap is a period of months or years when the job applicant was not employed at a job. Employees choose to spend time unemployed for purposes such as attending school full time and having and raising children. Employment gaps also occur for involuntary reasons such as layoffs and downsizing, serving time in prison, or employment termination for cause. An employment gap or gap in employment...

Employment or a Job

Employment is an agreement between an employer and an employee that the employee will provide certain services on the job. What else does employment or a job for an employer imply?..

Employment References - Verification of Employment Policy

All employment reference check inquiries from current or former employees, prospective employers of current or former employees or other organizations should be directed to Human Resources for an official company response. Under no circumstances is any other employee authorized to provide a written or official employment reference.

Employment Termination

The decision to terminate or end an individual’s employment with your company, for whatever reason, carries with it the risk of a possible legal challenge. Depending upon an employer’s policies or whether an employee has an employment contract, an employee may, for example, have a breach of contract or “wrongful discharge” claim. Learn the right questions to ask before you terminate an employee's employment.

Employment Verification

An employment verification is a response to an inquiry by a prospective employer, a government agency, or an outside entity, such as a lending institution, that the current or former employee is or was employed by your organization. Learn about employment verification.

(Current Population Survey)

The proportion of the civilian noninstitutional population aged 16 years and over that is employed.

Enculturation

Enculturation is a socialization process by which new workers adjust to, and become part of, the corporate culture of their new company, office, department, team, or so forth.

Enrollment Date

The first day of coverage or, if there is a waiting period, the first day of the waiting period. If you enroll when first eligible for coverage, your enrollment date is generally the first day of employment. If you enroll as a late enrollee, your enrollment date is the first day of coverage.

EO

Equal Opportunity.

EPA

Environmental Protection Agency.

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Equal employment opportunity (EEO) laws make it illegal for employers to discriminate against an employee or potential employee in certain workplaces. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which was created by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, is the federal agency that has the responsibility to handle discrimination complaints.

ERISA

Employee Retirement Income Security Act, a federal law.

ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974)

ERISA is a federal law that regulates employee benefit plans, such as group health plans, that private sector employers, employee organizations (such as unions), or both, offer to employees and their families.

ES

U.S. Employment Service.

ESA

Employment Standards Administration.

ESCALATOR CLAUSE

A clause in the union contract which provides for a cost-of-living increase in wages by relating wages to changes in consumer prices. Usually the Consumer Price Index is used as the measure of price changes.

Establishment

The physical location of a certain economic activity—for example, a factory, mine, store, or office. A single establishment generally produces a single good or provides a single service. An enterprise (a private firm, government, or nonprofit organization) can consist of a single establishment or multiple establishments. All establishments in an enterprise may be classified in one industry (e.g., a chain), or they may be classified in different industries (e.g., a conglomerate).

ETA

Employment and Training Administration.

Event or exposure (Safety and Health Statistics)

Signifies the manner in which an occupational injury or illness was produced or inflicted—for example, overexertion while lifting, or a fall from a ladder.

Excess Contributions

A relevant factor of how an employer’s experience rate is determined, "excess" is defined as the difference when the amount of contributions charged to the employer’s account is subtracted from the amount of contributions the employer made to the account.

Excess Wages

Any wages paid in excess of the State’s taxable wage base.

Executive Compensation

Executive compensation is often different than compensation for lower-level employees, and often includes a base salary, long-term incentives, bonuses, benefits, and perquisites. The combination of salary, incentives, and bonuses is often referred to as Total Cash Compensation (TCC).

Executive exemption

A person employed in an executive capacity means any employee:

1. Whose duties and responsibilities involve the management of the enterprise in which he or she is employed or of a customarily recognized department or subdivision thereof; and

2. Who customarily and regularly directs the work of two or more other employees therein; and

3. Who has the authority to hire or fire other employees or whose suggestions and recommendations as to the hiring or firing and as to the advancement and promotion or any other change of status of other employees will be given particular weight; and

4. Who customarily and regularly exercises discretion and independent judgment; and

5. Who is primarily engaged in duties, which meet the test of the exemption.

6. An executive employee must also earn a monthly salary equivalent to no less than two times the state minimum wage for full-time employment. Full-time employment means 40 hours per week as defined in Labor Code Section 515(c). With respect to the requirement that management duties must be exercised over the entire enterprise or a customarily recognized department or subdivision thereof, it is important to note that the phrase "customarily recognized department or subdivision thereof" has a particular meaning. The phrase is intended to distinguish between " a mere collection of employees assigned from time to time to a specific job or series of jobs" and " a unit with permanent status and function." Thus, in order to meet the criteria of a managerial employee, one must be more than merely a supervisor of two or more employees. The managerial exempt employee must be in charge of the unit, not simply participate in the management of the unit. The IWC Orders require as a basic condition for the executive exemption that the manager must supervise two or more employees. This may be one full-time and two half-time employees. It has been the experience of the DLSE that a managerial employee supervising as few as two employees rarely spends as much as 50% of his or her time primarily engaged in managerial duties. Regarding the requirement for the exemption to apply that the employee "customarily and regularly exercises discretion and independent judgment," this phrase means the comparison and evaluation of possible courses of conduct and acting or making a decision after the various possibilities have been considered. The employee must have the authority or power to make an independent choice, free from immediate direction or supervision and with respect to matters of significance. With respect to the executive exemption, the most frequent cause of misapplication of the phrase "discretion and independent judgment" is the failure to distinguish discretion and independent judgment from the use of independent managerial skills. An employee who merely applies his or her memory in following prescribed procedures or determining which required procedure out of the company manual to follow, is not exercising discretion and independent judgment.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10988

President John F. Kennedy issued this Executive Order which recognized the right of federal employees to bargain with management.

Exempt

Exempt status deprives an employee of certain protections of the Industrial Welfare Commission Orders. The exemption has far-reaching ramifications since exempt status deprives the employee not only of the right to overtime compensation, but also to many of the other protections afforded to nonexempt employees by such orders. Some of the protections that do not apply to exempt employees are:

Section 3, overtime premium;

Section 4, minimum wage;

Section 5, reporting time pay;

Section 7, requirement of records under the IWC Orders (but not records required by the Labor Code);

Section 9, requirement that employer furnish uniforms and equipment (except, of course, that any expenditure by an employee is recoverable under Labor Code Section 2802).

Section 10, requirement that meals and lodging amounts be limited;

Section 11, meal period requirement; and

Section 12, rest period requiremen.

Exempt Employee

An exempt employee is an employee who, because of his or her positional duties and responsibilities and level of decision making authority is exempt from the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Exhausted COBRA Coverage

The end of your COBRA continuation coverage because the period of time that this coverage was available to you has lapsed, or for any reason other than your failure to pay premiums on time or for cause (such as making a fraudulent claim or an intentional misrepresentation of a material fact in connection with your plan). Additional reasons for exhaustion of COBRA coverage are possible besides the time being up. You have exhausted your COBRA continuation coverage if the coverage ends because your employer failed to pay the premiums on time or you no longer live or work in an HMO service area and there is no similar COBRA coverage available to you. You need not accept a conversion policy at the end of your COBRA coverage in order to exhaust your COBRA coverage.

Exit Interview

An exit interview is a meeting with a terminating employee that is generally conducted by Human Resources staff. The exit interview provides your organization with the opportunity to obtain frank, honest feedback from the employee who is leaving your employment. Learn more about exit interviews.

Exit Interviews: Questions for Exit Interviews

The exit interview is your opportunity to obtain information about what your organization is doing well - and, what your organization needs to do to improve. Exit interviews are key to organization improvement since rarely will you receive frank feedback from current employees. The exit interview questions you ask help you obtain actionable....

Expenditure shares (Consumer Expenditure Survey)

Expenditure shares are the portions of total expenditures (as percentages) allotted to each expenditure category. Tables organized by various demographic characteristics are available.

Expenditures (Consumer Expenditure Survey)

Expenditures consist of the transaction costs, including excise and sales taxes, of goods and services acquired during the interview or recordkeeping period. Expenditure estimates include expenditures for gifts, but exclude purchases or portions of purchases directly assignable to business purposes. Also excluded are periodic credit or installment payments on goods or services already acquired. The full cost of each purchase is recorded even though full payment may not have been made at the date of purchase. Expenditure categories include food, alcoholic beverages, housing, apparel and services, transportation, health care, entertainment, personal care products and services, reading, education, tobacco products and smoking supplies, cash contributions, personal insurance and pensions, and miscellaneous).

Experience

Prior premiums and losses. In determining pure premium rates, the Minnesota Workers' Compensation Insurers Association uses "experience" in the form of voluntary market indemnity and medical losses relative to pure premium for the most recent report periods.

Experience Rate

Employers are eligible for the experience rate after the new account has been set up and the employer has been assigned the average employer rate. The employer’s experience rate is determined through multiple factors over time. The rate may be higher or lower than the average employer rate. The rate reflects an employer’s history of average taxable wages, contributions paid, and benefits charged.

Experience rating

All insurers and the Assigned Risk Plan (ARP) are required to use experience rating, following a standard formula, for those employers with at least $3,000 of premium annually. Under experience-rating, premium is adjusted, by means of an experience modification factor, to reflect the employer's recent claims costs. This factor is calculated annually by the Minnesota Workers' Compensation Insurers Association (MWCIA) for every insured employer. It is based on claims costs, which reflect both the incidence of claims and the average cost per claim. The "mod factor" reflects the employer's claims costs for the most recent three years relative to the average for all employers in the same insurance class. It is greater than, equal to or less than 1.0, depending on whether the employer's claims costs per $100 of payroll are, respectively, greater than, equal to or less than the average for the employer's insurance class. Actual claims costs are a better indicator of underlying injury and illness tendencies for larger employers than for smaller ones; therefore, the modification factor is more sensitive to actual claims costs for larger employers than for smaller ones. The modification factor enters multiplicatively into the formula the insurance carrier uses to calculate the employer's premium. Thus, experience-rating increases premiums for employers with higher-than-average claims costs and reduces premiums for those with lower-than-average costs. A system under which premiums collected are related to benefit costs and taxable wages to determine premium rates.

Export

A domestic good or service that is sold to a foreign resident from a U.S. resident. Exports include government and nongovernment goods and services; however they exclude goods and services sold to the U.S. military and diplomatic and consular institutions abroad. Exports do include goods and services that were previously imported.

Extended Benefits

Additional weeks of benefits paid during periods of high unemployment as provided by the U.S. Congress. Benefits payable for up to 13 additional weeks during periods of high unemployment. Extended benefits are payable to individuals who have exhausted their entitlement to regular benefits.

Extended mass layoff

Layoff of at least 31 days in duration and involving 50 or more individuals from a single establishment filing initial claims for unemployment insurance during a consecutive 5-week period.

EZ

Empowerment Zone.

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F.L.S.A.: for a definite period of time If a written contract of employment contains a specific term of employment (at least one month, see Labor Code Section 2922) and is not terminable by either party except for cause, then the contract is one for "a definite period of time." If, on the other hand, either party may, during the term of the contract, terminate the employment simply by giving notice of such intention to the other party, then it is not a written contract for a definite period of time.
FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT: Passed in 1938, this law set minimum wages and overtime rates and prohibited child labor for industry connected with interstate commerce. The Fair Labor Standards Act (F.L.S.A.) is a comprehensive federal wage and hour law that is the principal source of federal wage and hour regulation for most employers, covering a myriad of areas including minimum wage, overtime pay requirements and child labor.
FALL RIVER SYSTEM: The factory system which employed men, women, and children and made no special provisions for their housing.
FASAB: Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board.
Fatality rate (Safety and Health Statistics): Represents the number of fatal injuries per 100,000 workers, calculated as follows: (N/W) X 100,000, where N = number of fatal injuries, W = number of workers employed, and 100,000 = base to express the fatality rate per 100,000 workers.
FBI: Federal Bureau of Investigation.
FDIC: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
FEATHERBEDDING: Employing more workers than are actually necessary to complete a task.
FECA: Federal Employees’ Compensation Act.
Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS): Standards for information processing issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology of the U.S. Department of Commerce; includes a numeric designation for geographic areas such as States, counties, and metropolitan areas.
Feedback - Receive: Interested in hearing about how others view your work? Make it easy for them to tell you. If they think you'll appreciatively consider their feedback, you'll get lots more. And, that is good - really.
Feedback Give: Feedback is information to another person about the impact of their actions on a person, situation, or activity. Effective feedback is specific, timely, and focuses on a specific behavior.
FERSA: Federal Employment Retirement Security Act.
FESAC: Federal Economics Statistics Advisory Committee.
FFMIA: Federal Financial Management Improvement Act.
Flexible benefits: A type of plan under Section 125 of the Internal Revenue Code that provides employees a choice between permissible taxable benefits, including cash, and nontaxable benefits such as life and health insurance, vacations, retirement plans, and child care. Although a common core of benefits may be required, the employee can determine how his or her remaining benefit dollars are to be allocated for each type of benefit from the total amount promised by the employer.
Flexible Schedule: A flexible schedule allows an employee to work hours that differ from the normal company start and stop time. Particularly in an environment for exempt employees, those hours are generally 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. or 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. A flexible schedule involves either a compressed work week or flexible starting and stopping times. A flexible schedule is one of the benefits most appreciated by employees.
Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs): Health care premiums continue to increase and employers are shifting part of insurance costs to employees. Or, employers are not offering comprehensive health care benefits because of their cost. To help offset the sting associated with these higher costs to both employers and employees, some employers are implementing Health Care Flexible.....
FLSA: Fair Labor Standards Act.
Flu (Swine) H1N1 Should Matter to Employers: Employers have a legal obligation to provide a safe, disease-free workplace for employees. Consequently, you need to take proactive steps to prevent the potential spread of any contagious disease, including Swine Flu H1N1, in your workplace. Employers also need to address business continuity in the event that a Swine Flu H1N1 outbreak affects the ability of your employees to come to work.
FMFIA: Federal Managers’ Financial Integrity Act.
FMLA: Family Medical Leave Act.
Four Tips to Reduce Turnover - Quickly: Turnover is expensive, disruptive, and impacts the morale of the remaining employees. Turnover is often preventable when an employer offers market driven compensation, better than average employee benefits, and a workplace culture that appreciates and engages employees. Turnover is occasionally not preventable, but with attention, reducing....
Fraud: The crime of obtaining money or some other benefit by deliberate deception.
Full Time Employee: The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not define full time employee or part time employee. What is counted as a full time employee is generally defined by the employer by policy. The definition of a full time employee is published in the employee handbook. Furlough of Employees.
Full-time employees (National Compensation Survey): Employees are classified as full time or part time as defined by their employer.
Full-time workers (Current Population Survey and American Time Use Survey): Persons who work 35 hours or more per week.
Full-time-equivalent (FTE) covered employment: An estimate of the number of full-time employees that would work the same number of hours during a year as the actual workers' compensation covered employees, some of whom work part-time. It is used in computing workers' compensation claims-incidence rates.
Furlough of Employees: An employee furlough is mandatory time off work with no pay. Used as an alternative to a layoff, an employee furlough can occur in both public and private sector organizations when revenue or projected revenue fails to match expenses. Revenue is generated through product sales, grants, and governmental support and subsidies.
FUTA: Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA) is one of two taxes generally paid by employers, that finances the administrative costs of unemployment insurance .
FY: Fiscal Year.

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GAO: U.S. General Accounting Office.
Garnishment: Wage garnishment is a legal procedure in which a person’s earnings are required by court order to be withheld by an employer for the payment of a debt such as child support.Garnishment is the process of taking money from an employee's compensation to pay off a debt that the employee owes. The garnishment is usually the result of a court order. The employer is required to cooperate with a wage garnishment order. Find out more about garnishment.
Gen Y - Millennials: The Gen Y workers joining your workforce now were born between 1980 and 2000. Unlike the Gen-Xers and the Boomers, the Gen Ys have developed work characteristics and tendencies from doting parents, structured lives, and contact with diverse people. Learn more about your Gen Y - millennials.
Generation X: Generation Xers are people born between 1965 and 1976 – 1980, depending on the source. Gen Xers are independent, enjoy Informality, are entrepreneurial, and seek emotional maturity. They are the core of your current workforce. Learn about Gen-Xers.
Genetic Information: Information about genes, gene products and inherited characteristics that may derive from you or a family member. This includes information regarding carrier status and information derived from laboratory tests that identify mutations in specific genes or chromosomes, physical medical examinations, family histories and direct analysis of genes or chromosomes.
Gift Policy: A gift policy provides guidance to company employees about what is and isn’t appropriate to accept as a present, offering, advertisement, award, or token of appreciation from a customer, vendor, supplier, potential employee, or potential vendor or supplier. The gift policy states whether employees are allowed to accept gifts both within and outside of work premises. Find out more about a compan….
GMRA: Government Management Reform Act.
Goal Setting: Beyond Traditional SMART Goals: Once upon a time, in a business world that seems remote, SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-based) were enough to support business success. No more. Goal setting is the foundation for success. It is time, however, in today's business environment, to expand the meaning of SMART goals. And, perhaps, one word per letter is no longer enough to define a useful acronym.
Goals: Goals are objectives, targets, purposes, intentions and plans that you intend to achieve. You set your goals to inspire yourself to further success and achievement. Goals are most powerful when they are written and regularly reviewed. Find out more about goals.
Good faith dispute: A "good faith dispute" that any wages are due occurs when an employer presents a defense, based in law or fact which, if successful, would preclude any recovery on the part of the employee. The fact that a defense is ultimately unsuccessful will not preclude a finding that a "good faith dispute" did exist if the defense was reasonable and presented in good faith. Defenses presented, which, under all the circumstances, are unsupported by any evidence, are unreasonable, or are presented in bad faith, will preclude a finding of a "good faith dispute." Title 8, California Code of Regulations, Section 13520.
Goods-producing industries (North American Industry Classification System): Includes manufacturing, construction, and natural resources and mining.
Goods-producing industries (Standard Industrial Classification): Includes manufacturing, mining, and construction.
GPRA: Government Performance and Results Act.
Gratuity: Gratuity means any tip, gratuity, money, or part thereof that has been paid or given to or left for an employee by a patron of a business over and above the actual amount due the business for services rendered or for goods, food, drink, or articles sold or served to the patron. Any amounts paid directly by a patron to a dancer employed by an employer subject to IWC Order No. 5 or 10 shall be deemed a gratuity. Labor Code Section 350(e).
Gross Misconduct: The term "gross misconduct" is not specifically defined in COBRA or in regulations under COBRA. Therefore, whether a terminated employee has engaged in "gross misconduct" that will justify a plan in not offering COBRA to that former employee and his or her family members will depend on the specific facts and circumstances. Generally, it can be assumed that being fired for most ordinary reasons, such as excessive absences or generally poor performance, does not amount to "gross misconduct.
Gross Negligence: Gross" negligence has been defined as an extreme departure from the ordinary standard of conduct, as an entire failure to exercise care, as the exercise of so slight a degree of care as to justify the belief that there was an indifference to the interest and welfare of others, and as that want of care that raises a presumption of conscious indifference to consequences. A determination of gross negligence is a legal conclusion that can only be arrived at by a court of law. The distinction between ordinary negligence and gross negligence amounts to a rule of policy that a failure to exercise due care in those situations where the risk of harm is great will give rise to legal consequences harsher than those arising from negligence in less hazardous situations.
Group Health Plan: An employee benefit plan established or maintained by an employer or by an employee organization (such as a union), or both, that provides medical care to employees and their dependents directly or through insurance (including an HMO), reimbursement or otherwise.
GSA: General Services Administration.

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Handbook

Health and Safety Code Section 1596.881

1596.881. No employer shall discharge, demote, or suspend, or threaten to discharge, demote, or suspend, or in any manner discriminate against any employee who takes any of the following actions:

1. Makes any good faith oral or written complaint of the violation of any licensing or other laws by the employer to the State Department of Social Services or other agency having statutory responsibility for enforcement of the law or to the employer or representative of the employer.

2. Institutes, or causes to be instituted, any proceeding against the employer in relation to the violation of any licensing or other laws.

3. Is, or will be, a witness or testify in a proceeding in relation to the violation of any licensing or other laws.

4. Refuses to perform work in violation of a licensing law or regulation after notifying the employer of the violation. Employees shall be notified in writing at the time of employment of their rights under this chapter, as evidenced by their signature on a notification form outlining actions protected by this section. Forms to be utilized for this purpose shall be kept on file at the facility. The department shall provide each facility with the notification forms, which shall include information regarding enforcement pursuant to relevant Labor Code sections. "Other laws" for the purposes of this section, includes, but is not limited to, laws relating to staff-child ratios, transportation of children, or child abuse.

Health Care Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs)

Health care premiums continue to increase and employers are shifting part of insurance costs to employees. Or, employers are not offering comprehensive health care benefits because of their cost. To help offset the sting associated with these higher costs to both employers and employees, some employers are implementing Health Care Flexible....

Health Insurance

Health insurance is the foundation of a comprehensive Benefits Package for employees. Health insurance is the preferred benefit of the majority of people who work. Health insurance marks an employer as an employer of choice when desirable candidates select job opportunities. Health insurance is an insurance policy that will pay specified amounts....

Health insurance plan

Insurance plans that include coverage for one or more of the following: medical care, dental care, and vision care.

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) is a federal law that requires employers to protect employee medical records as confidential. HIPAA includes regulations that cover how employers must protect employees’ medical privacy rights and the privacy of their health information. Find out more about HIPAA.

Healthcare industry

Healthcare industry" is defined in IWC Orders 4 and 5-2001, and means "hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, intermediate care and residential care facilities, convalescent care institutions, home health agencies, clinics operating 24-hour per day, and clinics performing surgery, urgent care, radiology, anesthesiology, pathology, neurology or dialysis." The term "clinic" does not apply to a physician's office unless the office meets the requirements of a "clinic" given above.

Hearing

A formal proceeding about a disputed issue or issues in a workers' compensation claim at the Office of Administrative Hearings or Workers' Compensation Court of Appeals, after which the judge issues a decision that is binding unless appealed.

HHS

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)

HIPAA is a federal law that limits pre-existing condition exclusions, permits special enrollment when certain life or work events occur, prohibits discrimination against employees and dependents based on their health status, and guarantees availability and renewability of health coverage to certain employees and individuals.

HIPPA

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

Hire (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey)

Any addition to an establishment's payroll, including newly hired and rehired employees.

Hires rate (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey)

The number of hires during the month divided by the number of employees who worked during or received pay for the pay period that includes the 12th of the month.

Hiring Freeze

In a hiring freeze, an employer decides to stop hiring employees for all non-essential positions. A hiring freeze allows an employer to consolidate current employees and potentially restructure departments, to complete the work that is essential for serving the customers of the business.

Hiring Manager

The hiring manager is the employee who requested a new position to be filled or an employee to fill an open job. The hiring manager is the employee to whom the new employee will report when hired. Find out more about the hiring manager.

Hispanic or Latino ethnicity

Refers to persons who identified themselves in the enumeration process as being Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino. Persons of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity may be of any race.

HMO (Health Maintenance Organization)

Legal entity consisting of participating medical providers that provide or arrange for care to be furnished to a given population group for a fixed fee per person. HMOs are used as alternatives to traditional indemnity plans.

Holidays

Holidays" under Government Code Section 19853 means:

January 1 (New Year's Day)

Third Monday in January (Martin Luther King, Jr. Day)

February 12 (Abraham Lincoln's Birthday)

Third Monday in February (President's Day)

March 31 (Cesar Chavez Day)

Last Monday in May (Memorial Day)

July 4 (Independence Day)

First Monday in September (Labor Day)

Second Monday in October (Columbus Day/Indigenous People's Day)

November 11 (Veteran's Day)

Thanksgiving Day

Day after Thanksgiving

December 25 (Christmas)

Other days designated by the governor for a public fast, thanksgiving, or holiday. In addition to the above, under Government Code Section 6700 every Sunday is considered a "holiday," and under Code of Civil Procedure Section 12a, "holiday" means all day on Saturdays. The significance of which days are "holidays" is that whenever any act of a secular nature, other than a work of necessity or mercy, is appointed by law or contract to be performed upon a particular day, which day falls upon a holiday, it may be performed upon the next business day with the same effect as if it had been performed upon the day appointed. Thus, for example, if the regularly scheduled payday is the 20th of the month, and the 20th falls on a Sunday, the wages for that payroll period may be paid on Monday. Just because a day is designated by the state as a "holiday," does not mean that an employee automatically gets that day off. Time off from work on a holiday, with or without pay, is entirely (1) at the discretion of the employer, or (2) pursuant to the terms of a collective bargaining or similar type of agreement, or (3) pursuant to the terms of a private agreement between the employer and employee. And just because an employee works on a holiday does not mean that the employer must pay the employee at a rate other than the employee's regular rate of pay, as any premium pay to reward the employee for working on the holiday is entirely (1) at the discretion of the employer, or (2) pursuant to the terms of a collective bargaining or similar type of agreement, or (3) pursuant to the terms of a private agreement between the employer and employee. And if an employee gets a paid day off for a holiday, such day is not counted for determining overtime for that workweek as no hours were worked on the holiday.

Holidays: Paid

Benefits are a form of compensation paid by employers to employees over and above the amount of pay specified as a base salary or hourly rate of pay. Benefits are a portion of a total compensation package for employees. A comprehensive, common set of benefits includes the following components.

Hourly compensation (Productivity and Costs)

Compensation costs are defined as the sum of wage and salary accruals and supplements to wages and salaries. Wage and salary accruals consist of the monetary remuneration of employees, including the compensation of corporate officers; commissions, tips, and bonuses; voluntary employee contributions to certain deferred compensation plans, such as 401(k) plans; employee gains from exercising nonqualified stock options; and receipts in kind that represent income. Supplements to wages and salaries consist of employer contributions for social insurance and employer payments (including payments in kind) to private pension and profit-sharing plans, group health and life insurance plans, privately administered workers' compensation plans. For employees (wage and salary workers), hourly compensation is measured relative to hours at work and includes payments made by employers for time not at work, such as vacation, holiday, and sick pay. Because compensation costs for the business and nonfarm business sectors would otherwise be severely understated, an estimate of the hourly compensation of proprietors of unincorporated businesses is made by assuming that their hourly compensation is equal to that of employees in the same sector.

Hourly compensation costs (International Labor Comparisons)

Hourly compensation costs, as measured in the BLS international comparison series, are defined as (1) all payments made directly to workers—pay for time worked (basic time and piece rates plus overtime premiums, shift differentials, other premiums and bonuses paid regularly each pay period, and cost-of-living adjustments), pay for time not worked (such as for vacations and holidays), seasonal or irregular bonuses and other special payments, selected social allowances, and the cost of payments in kind—before payroll deductions of any kind, and (2) employer expenditures for legally required insurance programs and contractual and private benefit plans (such as retirement plans, Health Insurance, unemployment insurance, and family allowances). In addition, for some countries, compensation is adjusted for other taxes on payrolls or employment (or reduced to reflect subsidies), even if they do not finance programs that directly benefit workers, because such taxes are regarded as labor costs. The BLS definition of hourly compensation costs used in its international comparisons series is based on the International Labour Office standard definition of total labor costs. However, it does not include all items of total labor costs; the items excluded are the costs of recruitment, employee training, and plant facilities and services, such as cafeterias and medical clinics. Hourly compensation costs include all the items of compensation covered in the BLS series Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, the Employment Cost Index, and the index of hourly compensation (published with the index of labor productivity); hourly compensation costs also include the costs of payments in kind and other taxes and subsidies, which may not be included in the other BLS compensation series. The classification of the compensation items and the terminology used in the definitions differ among the series.

Hours at work (Productivity and Costs)

For productivity measurement, the proper measure of hours is "hours at work," which include paid time working, traveling between job sites, coffee breaks, and machine downtime. Hours at work, however, exclude hours for which employees are paid but not at work (examples: vacation time, holidays, and paid sick leave).

Hours worked

The time during which an employee is subject to the control of an employer, including all the time the employee is suffered or permitted to work, whether or not required to do so.

Hours worked (Current Population Survey)

There are two different hours concepts measured in the CPS: usual hours and actual hours at work. Usual hours refer to a person’s normal work schedule versus their actual hours at work during the survey reference week. For example, a person who normally works 40 hours per week, but was off for a 1-day holiday during the reference week, would report his or her usual hours as 40 but actual hours at work for the reference week as 32.

Household occupations

Household occupations" means all services related to the care of persons or maintenance of a private household or its premises by an employee of a private householder. Said occupations shall include, but not be limited to, the following: butlers, chauffeurs, companions, cooks, day workers, gardeners, graduate nurses, grooms, house cleaners, housekeepers, maids, practical nurses, tutors, valets, and other similar occupations.

HUD

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Human Resource

A human resource is a person or employee who staffs and operates a function within your organization. Read the definition of a Human Resource.

Human Resource Department

Departments are the entity organizations form to organize people, reporting relationships, and work in a way that best supports the accomplishment of the organization's goals. Departments are usually organized by functions such as human resources, marketing, administration, and sales. But, a department can be organized in any way that makes....

Human Resource Development (HRD)

Human Resource Development is the framework for helping employees develop their personal and organizational skills, knowledge, and abilities. Human Resource Development includes such opportunities as employee training, employee career development, performance management and development, coaching, succession planning, key employee identification, and organization development.

Human Resource Management

Human Resource Management is the function within an organization that focuses on recruitment, management, and the direction of the people in the organization. Human Resources management is also performed by line managers.

Human Resources

Human resources are the people that staff and operate an organization. Read the definition of Human Resources.

Human Resources Command

The Human Resources Command is a field agency under the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel. The Human Resources Command is responsible for U.S. Army Human Resources programs, processes, and services. The advantage to the combined Human Resources Command is that it enables every soldier in the U.S. Army to manage their entire career from basic training until retirement and later through one office.

Human Resources Information System (HRIS)

The Human Resource Information System (HRIS is a software or online solution for the data entry, data tracking, and data information needs of the Human Resources function within a business. Normally packaged as a data base, hundreds of companies sell some form of HRIS and every HRIS has different capabilities. Pick your HRIS carefully based on the capabilities you need in your company.

Human Resources Job Descriptions

In the past, HR personnel have been associated with performing the administrative function of an organization, such as handling employee benefits or recruiting, interviewing, and hiring new personnel in accordance with policies and requirements that have been established. Today's human resources workers juggle these tasks and, increasingly, consult top executives regarding strategic planning.

HVRP

Homeless Veterans’ Reintegration Project.

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I-9 (Employment Eligibility Verification): The Employment Eligibility Verification (I-9) is the form that is required by the Department of Homeland Security - U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to document eligibility for employment in the United States. All employees, citizens and noncitizens, hired after November 6, 1986, must complete Section 1 of this form at the time of....
I-9 File Contents: Filling out an I-9 form on every employee is required by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), formerly the INS. You may want to keep all employee I-9 forms in a separate personnel file for these reasons.
ILAB: Bureau of International Labor Affairs.
ILO: International Labor Organization.
IMIS: Integrated Management Information System.
Import: A good or service that is sold to a U.S. resident from a foreign resident. Imports include government and nongovernment goods and services; however they exclude goods and services to the U.S. military, diplomatic, and consular institutions abroad. Imports do include goods and services that were previously exported.
Incidence rate (Safety and Health Statistics): Represents the number of injuries and/or illnesses per 100 full-time workers, calculated as follows: (N/EH) X 200,000, where: N = number of injuries and/or illnesses, EH = total hours worked by all employees during the calendar year, and 200,000 = base for 100 full-time equivalent workers (working 40 hours per week, 50 weeks per year).
Income before taxes (Consumer Expenditure Survey): Income before taxes is the total money earnings and selected money receipts of all consumer unit members aged 14 years or older during the 12 months prior to the interview date. It includes the following components: wages and salaries; self-employment income; Social Security, private and government retirement; interest, dividends, rental income, and other property income; unemployment, workers’ compensation and veteran’s benefits; public assistance, supplemental security income, and food stamps; regular contributions for support (including alimony and child support); other income (including cash scholarships, fellowships or stipends not based on working, and meals and rent as pay).
Incurred costs (or incurred losses): Indemnity and medical costs already paid, plus amounts reserved for future payments on claims included in a given report period.
Indemnity benefit: A benefit to the injured or ill worker or survivors to compensate for wage loss, functional impairment or death. Indemnity benefits include temporary total disability (TTD), temporary partial disability (TPD), permanent partial disability (PPD) and permanent total disability (PTD) benefits, supplementary benefits, death benefits, and, in insurance industry accounting, vocational rehabilitation costs.
Indemnity claim: A claim with paid Indemnity benefits. Most indemnity claims involve more than three days of total or partial disability, since this is the threshold for qualifying for the temporary total disability (TTD) benefits or temporary partial disability (TPD) benefits paid on most of these claims. Indemnity claims typically include medical costs as well as indemnity costs.
Independent Contractor: An independent contractor is a person or a business that performs services, produces a particular outcome, or produces a product for a person or a business under a written or implied agreement or contract.
Individual agreement: A written agreement between an apprentice and/or trainee and either the apprentice's employer or an apprenticeship committee acting as agent for the employer.
Induction: new employee orientation is the process for welcoming a new employee into your organization. New employee orientation, often spearheaded by a meeting with the Human Resources department, generally contains information about safety, the work environment, the new job description, benefits and eligibility, company culture, company history, and anything else relevant to working in the new company.
Industrial Welfare Commission: A commission made up of five members appointed by the Governor with the consent of the Senate that is responsible for setting the wages, hours of work, and working conditions of California employees. The Industrial Welfare Commission is within the Department of Industrial Relations. The Industrial Welfare Commission is also known as the "IWC.".
Industrial Welfare Commission Wage Orders: Orders of the Industrial Welfare Commission regulating the wages, hours, and working conditions in certain industries or occupations. There are 17 such orders that are also known as "IWC Orders," or "Wage Orders."
Industry: A group of establishments that produce similar products or provide similar services. For example, all establishments that manufacture automobiles are in the same industry. A given industry, or even a particular establishment in that industry, might have employees in dozens of occupations. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) groups similar establishments into industries. NAICS is replacing the former Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system.
Industry wide standards: The current, acceptable trade practices, including technological advancements that are being used in the different trades.
Inflation: Inflation has been defined as a process of continuously rising prices, or equivalently, of a continuously falling value of money.
Informational Interviews - Conduct Informational Interviews: Informational interviews allow people who are interested in a particular career field, job, company, or industry to interview (talk with) a person who is currently, successfully employed in a job in their field of interest. People who request informational interviews want to know about the job, career, industry or company from the perspective of an insider. They want information about real life e….
Initial claimant: A person who files any notice of unemployment to initiate a request either for a determination of entitlement to and eligibility for compensation, or for a subsequent period of unemployment within a Benefit Year or period of eligibility.
Injury year: The year in which the injury occurred or the illness began. In injury-year data, all claims, costs and other statistics are tied to the year in which the injury occurred. Injury year, used with Department of Labor and Industry data, is essentially equivalent to accident year, used with insurance data.
INS: Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Insurance - Life: life insurance is an employee benefit frequently offered by employers. Life insurance is an insurance policy that provides compensation upon the death of an employee. Life insurance marks an employer as an employer of choice when desirable candidates select job opportunities. Find out more about life insurance.
Insurance Continuation: The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) set forth regulations that give employees and their families, who lose their health benefits because of unemployment, the right to choose to continue group health benefits provided by their group health plan. These health care benefits may be extended for limited periods of time under certain circumstances.
Insurance: Dental: Dental insurance is an insurance policy that will pay specified amounts of money to cover dental and oral hygiene expenses or treatments. Employer-provided dental insurance policies offer employees many different options for insurance coverage. Employer-provided dental insurance policies vary in their approaches to coverage. Find out more about.....
Insurance: Health: Health Insurance is the foundation of a comprehensive Benefits Package for employees. Health insurance is the preferred benefit of the majority of people who work. Health insurance marks an employer as an employer of choice when desirable candidates select job opportunities. Health insurance is an insurance policy that will pay specified amounts....
Insurance: Long Term Disability: Long term disability insurance (LTD) is an insurance policy that protects an employee from loss of income in the event that he or she is unable to work due to illness, injury, or accident for a long period of time. Some estimates state that the average employee with a long term disability misses 2.5 years of work. Find out more about long term....
Insurance: Short Term Disability: Short term disability insurance is an insurance policy that protects an employee from loss of income in the case that he or she is temporarily unable to work due to illness, injury, or accident. Find out more about Short term disability insurance.
Insurance: Vision: Vision insurance is a lower cost addition to a comprehensive Benefits Package for employees that is provided by employers. Vision insurance is often an optional addition to a comprehensive health policy. Vision insurance pays for employees to have regular vision examinations and pays for a percentage of the cost of corrective equipment to treat...
Interested Parties: The commissioner, the claimant, the separating employer, and all base period employers.
Interview: There are screening interviews and hiring or selection interviews. Screening interviews qualify a candidate before he meets with a hiring authority for possible selection. Hiring interviews allow the employer to assess the fit of the candidate. The candidate also interviews the employer for job suitability. Most of these interviews take place in an office setting one-on-one or in a small group.
Interview Questions: The job interview is a powerful factor in the employee selection process in most organizations. While the job interview may not deserve all the attention that the job interview receives, it is still a powerful force in hiring. Other background checking and work history references provide much less personalized and more factual information. Ask these questions during your interviews.
IPEC: International Program for the Elimination of Child Labor.
IRS: Internal Revenue Service.
IRS Mileage Reimbursement: The IRS mileage reimbursement rate is an optional rate, recommended by the Internal Revenue Service in the U.S., that is used to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, medical, charitable, or moving purposes. The IRS mileage reimbursement rate is adjusted depending on the IRS-determined cost of operating a motor vehicle.
IT: Information Technology.
Item specification: The description of a good or service that includes all price-determining characteristics and any other information necessary to distinguish the item from all others.
IV&V: Independent Verification and Validation.
IWC: See Industrial Welfare Commission.
IWC Order: Order See Industrial Welfare Commission Wage Orders.

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Job Analysis: A job analysis is the process used to collect information about the duties, responsibilities, necessary skills, outcomes, and work environment of a particular job. You need as much data as possible to put together a job description, which is the frequent outcome of the job analysis.
Job Application: The job or employment application is the official form that employers ask all applicants for a position to fill out. The job application provides a consistent format with the same questions that must be answered by each person who applies for your open position. The job application is a legally defensible listing of your job applicant’s employment history, educational background, degrees, quali….
Job Classification: Job classification is a system for objectively and accurately defining and evaluating the duties, responsibilities, tasks, and authority level of a job. The job classification, done correctly, determines the relative compensation for a job, so it is critically important to employees that job classification is fair and equitable. Find out more...
Job Description: Job descriptions are written statements that describe the duties, responsibilities, most important contributions and outcomes needed from a position, required qualifications of candidates, and the reporting relationship of a particular job.
Job Descriptions: Human Resources: In the past, HR staff have been associated with the administrative functions of an organization, such as benefits and payroll or recruiting, interviewing, and hiring new employees. Today's human resources workers juggle these tasks and, increasingly, consult top executives regarding strategic planning.
Job Descriptions: Why Effective Job Descriptions Make Good Business Sense: Effectively developed, job description are communication tools that are significant in your organization's success. Poorly written job descriptions, on the other hand, add to workplace confusion and hurt communication. Here's why effective job descriptions are so important.
Job leavers (Current Population Survey): Unemployed persons who quit or otherwise terminated their employment voluntarily and immediately began looking for work.
Job losers (Current Population Survey): Unemployed persons who involuntarily lost their last job or who had completed a temporary job. This includes persons who were on temporary layoff expecting to return to work, as well as persons not on temporary layoff. (See Unemployed persons.) Those not on temporary layoff include permanent job losers and persons whose temporary jobs had ended. (See Permanent job losers.)
Job Offer Letter: A job offer letter is a document that confirms the details of an offer of employment. The job offer letter includes details such as job description, reporting relationship, salary, bonus potential, benefits, and more. The job offer letter generally confirms the terms .....
Job opening (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey): A specific position of employment to be filled at an establishment; conditions include the following: there is work available for that position, the job could start within 30 days, and the employer is actively recruiting for the position.
Job openings rate (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey): The number of job openings on the last business day of the month divided by the sum of the number of employees who worked during or received pay for the pay period that includes the 12th of the month and the number of job openings on the last business day of the month.
Job or Employment: Employment is an agreement between an employer and an employee that the employee will provide certain services on the job. What else does employment or a job for an employer imply?.
Job Postings: Job postings are advertisements meant to notify active job searchers and passive job searchers that a company has a job opening available. Job postings have several distinct purposes. Job postings contain a written summary or overview of the requirements and qualifications that an employer seeks to find in applicants for their job opening. Job.....
Job Shadowing Is Effective Internal Training: Job shadowing is a type of internal employee training in which a new employee or an employee desiring to become familiar with a job, follows and observes a trained and experienced employee. Job shadowing is an effective form of training for certain jobs. Find out more about job shadowing.
Job Share: A job share occurs when two employees cooperatively share the same job. There are advantages, disadvantages, challenges, and opportunities when employees job share. As an employer, a job share can benefit both the employee and you. Find out how.
Job Specification: A job specification describes the knowledge, skills, education, experience, and abilities you believe are essential to performing a particular job. The job specification is developed from the job analysis. Ideally, also developed from a detailed job description, the job specification describes the person you want to hire for a particular job. Learn more about the job specification.
Job tenure (Current Population Survey): The length of time an employee has worked for his or her current employer. The data do not represent completed spells of tenure.
Job Titles: What Do Job Titles Signify?: Job titles are official names or designations for the title of an employee performing a specific job. Job titles designate a specific role, in a specific job, that has a particular status, at a particular level in the hierarchy of an organization. Find out more about job titles.
Job transfer or restriction cases: Used in the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses results for 2002 and later years, these cases occur when, as a result of a work-related injury or illness, an employer or health care professional keeps, or recommends keeping an employee from doing the routine functions of his or her job or from working the full workday that the employee would have been scheduled to work before the injury or illness occurred.
Joint: Indicates a program that is jointly sponsored by a group of employers and a labor organization with a Collective bargaining agreement. It is administered by employer and employee representatives from an apprenticeship and training committee composed equally from management and labor.
JOLTS: Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.
Journey level: An individual who has sufficient skills and knowledge of a trade, craft, or occupation, either through formal apprenticeship training or through practical on-the-job work experience, to be recognized by a state or federal registration agency and/or an industry as being fully qualified to perform the work of the trade, craft, or occupation. Practical experience must be equal to or greater than the term of apprenticeship.
JTPA: Job Training Partnership Act.

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Labor

Labor includes labor, work, or service whether rendered or performed under contract, subcontract, partnership, station plan, or other agreement if the labor to be paid for is performed personally by the person demanding payment. Labor Code Section 200(b).

Labor and Workforce Development Local Office

The local office where an unemployed worker goes to file a claim for unemployment insurance benefits and/or to register with Job Service for assistance in finding employment. Most local offices are both claims offices and Job Service offices.

Labor and Workforce Development Toll-Free Help-Line Number: 1-800-344-8337

The toll-free automated attendant number for you to call if you have questions concerning unemployment insurance , need forms, or want to report cases of claimant or employer fraud. This automated attendant can be called weekdays between 9:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. eastern time and between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. central time.

Labor Commissioner

The executive officer that is the Chief of the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement.

Labor Department: U.S. Department of Labor

The US Department of Labor (DOL) is a federal agency that promotes the best interests of wage earners, job searchers, and retirees by: improving their working conditions, advancing their opportunities for profitable employment, protecting their retirement and health care benefits, helping employers find workers, strengthening free labor markets.

Labor dispute

See Labor Management Dispute.

Labor force (Current Population Survey)

The labor force includes all persons classified as employed or unemployed in accordance with the definitions contained in this glossary.

Labor force participation rate

The labor force as a percent of the civilian noninstitutional population.

Labor management dispute

A conflict between employees, typically represented by a union, and management or the employer. This general term covers all types of conflicts from a grievance to a strike or a lockout. Labor management disputes are more common during collective bargaining or union contract negotiations.

Labor productivity

Labor productivity refers to the relationship between output and the labor time used in generating that output. It is the ratio of output per hour.

Labor Shortage

The difference between demand and 150 percent of supply. Demand is measured by the aggregate number of job openings over the six-month period. Supply is measured by the total number of claims of individuals whose occupations required the listed training program plus the total number of individuals who enrolled or completed the listed training program over the six month period.

Labor Shortage=6-month openings-150%*(6 month claims+6 month trainees)

If labor shortage is positive, the training program is considered in Demand according to the 2009 Real Time Demand List. If it is negative, then it is not.

Laspeyres index

Sum(p2q1)/Sum(p1q1): A weighted aggregative index showing the ratio of expenditures in the current period (p2q1, where p2 is the current period price and q1 is the base period quantity) to the expenditure in the base period (p1q1, where p1 is the base period price and q1 is the base period quantity) to purchase the identical market basket of items. It answers the question "How much more or less does it cost now to purchase the same items as in the base period?" The main shortcoming of the Laspeyres index is that it does not track actual expenditures because consumers adjust their buying in response to changes in relative price, which changes the composition of the market basket. This invalid assumption that consumer demand is totally price inelastic causes the index to overstate the actual effect on consumers when there is a change in prices.

Late Enrollee

An individual who enrolls in a group health plan on a date other than either the earliest date on which coverage can begin under the plan terms or on a special enrollment date. Under HIPAA, a late enrollee may be subject to a maximum pre-existing condition exclusion of up to 18 months.

Lateral Move Is One Form of Career Path

n a lateral move, an employee moves to an equivalent role in an organization, usually with a similar salary range and a job title at the same level. In a lateral move, though, the employee's job responsibilities change thus affording the employee new opportunities. See more about a lateral move.

LAUS

Local Area Unemployment Statistics.

Layoff (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey)

A separation of an employee from an establishment that is initiated by the employer; an involuntary separation; a period of forced unemployment

Layoff and discharges rate (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey)

The number of layoffs and discharges during the month divided by the number of employees who worked during or received pay for the pay period that includes the 12th of the month.

Learners

Employees during their first 160 hours of employment working in occupations in which they have no previous similar or related experience. A learner may be of any age.

Learning Organization

Peter Senge defined the learning organization. He said they were “organizations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning how to learn together.

Leave of Absence

A leave of absence is time away from work, generally requested by an employee, to cover unusual circumstances occurring in the employee’s life. The leave of absence is used when the employee’s time off from work is not covered under an employer’s existing benefits such as sick pay, paid vacation, paid holidays, and paid personal time off.

Legally required benefits (National Compensation Survey)

Legally required benefits include the employer's costs for Social Security, Medicare, Federal and State unemployment insurance , and workers' compensation.

Letter of Resignation

Definitions for a letter of resignation or a resignation letter for the human resources glossary of human resources related terms.

Liability

In general, an employer becomes liable when he or she pays workers $1,500 or more in gross wages in a calendar quarter or for work performed in any part of the day in 20 weeks in the calendar year. This encompasses most employers. An employer is determined to be liable under 26 M.R.S.A. Chapter 13. section 1043 (9)(A)(1-10).

Life insurance

A contract that pays the beneficiary a set sum of money upon the death of the policyholder. These plans pay benefits usually in the form of a lump sum, but they may be distributed as an annuity.

List of Clusters

1. Agriculture and Natural Resources

2. Architecture and Construction

3. Arts, Audio-Video Technology and Communications

4. Business Management and Administration

5. Education and Training

6. Finance

7. Government and Public Administration

8. Health Science

9. Hospitality and Tourism

10. Human Services

11. Information Technology

12. Law, Public Safety and Security

13. Manufacturing

14. Marketing, Sales and Service

15. Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

16. Transportation, Distribution and Logistics

Within each cluster are a series of specific pathways individuals can follow to master the competencies needed to enter one of the many careers for which the programs prepare students.

LMI

Labor Market Informatio.

LMRDA

Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act.

Locality of origin indexes

U.S. import price indexes based on country or region, rather than product type.

Location Quotient

Ratio that compares the concentration of a resource or activity, such as employment, in a defined area to that of a larger area or base. For example, location quotients can be used to compare State employment by industry to that of the nation. More information

Lockout

A temporary withholding or denial of employment during a labor dispute in order to enforce terms of employment upon a group of employees. A lockout is initiated by the management of an establishment.

Long Term Disability Insurance

Long-term disability insurance (National Compensation Survey—benefits)

Provides a monthly benefit to employees who, due to a non-work-related injury or illness, are unable to perform the duties of their normal occupation or any other, for periods of time extending beyond their short-term disability or sickness and accident insurance.

Longitudinal data (National Longitudinal Surveys and Business Employment Dynamics)

Data in which the same units are observed over multiple time periods. Another term for longitudinal data is panel data. For example, the BLS National Longitudinal Surveys (NLS) program collects data from several groups of individuals over many years on an annual or biennial basis.

Loss costs

See pure premium rates.

Lost workdays

Used in the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses prior to 2002, lost workdays are a combined category of days after the injury that includes days away from work and days away from work.

Lost-workday (LWD) cases

For Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses results prior to 2002, the Bureau of Labor Statistics divides total cases into two types: lost-workday cases and cases without lost workdays. LWD cases are cases with any lost-workdays. LWD cases are then divided into days-away-from-work (DAFW) cases and restricted-work-activity-only (RWAO) cases.

Lost-worktime cases (Safety and Health Statistics)

Cases involving days away from work, or days away from work, or both.

Lost-worktime cases involving days away from work (Safety and Health Statistics)

Cases resulting in days away from work, or a combination of days away from work and days away from work.

Lost-worktime cases involving restricted work activity (Safety and Health Statistics)

Cases resulting in restricted work activity only.

Lost-worktime rate (Current Population Survey)

Hours absent as a percent of hours usually worked. Absences are defined as instances when persons who usually work 35 or more hours per week worked less than 35 hours during the reference week for one of the following reasons: own illness, injury, or medical problems; childcare problems; other family or personal obligations; civic or military duty; and maternity or paternity leave.

Love Contract Policy

A love contract policy is a document signed by the two employees in a consensual dating relationship that declares that the relationship is by consent. Additionally, organizations may include guidelines on behavior appropriate at work from the dating couple. The contracts generally make arbitration the only grievance process available to the participants in the office romance. Love contracts eliminate the possibility of a later sexual harassment lawsuit when the relationship ends.

LOWELL SYSTEM

The system associated with Lowell, Massachusetts, whereby workers, mainly young women, lived in boarding houses owned and run by the company.

LPD

Lost Production Days.

Lump-sum payments (National Compensation Survey)

Payments made to employees in lieu of a general wage rate increase. The payment may be a fixed amount as set forth in a labor agreement or an amount determined by a formula—for example, 2.5 percent of an employee’s earnings during the prior year. Lump-sum payments are not incorporated into an employee’s base pay rate or salary, but are considered as nonproduction bonuses in the Employment Cost Index and Employer Costs for Employee Compensation series.

LVER

Local Veterans’ Employment Representative.

LWDII

Lost Workday Injury and Illness.

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MAINTENANCE OF MEMBERSMP: A provision in the union contract which says that a worker who voluntarily joins the union must remain a member for the duration of the agreement.
Major fraction thereof: In connection with rest period requirements, anything more than two hours.
Manager: What Does a Manager Do?: The best description that I've seen recently for what a manager does or should do, from the Harvard Business Review, is "Management is responsibility for the performance of a group of people." My traditional definition echoes a similar role: A manager is responsible for overseeing and leading the work of a group of people. But, what else does...
Managing Human Resources: Managing human resources refers to the functions that a manager performs relative to the organization's employees. Managing human resources includes, but is not limited to these functions. Learn more about managing human resources.
Marginally attached workers (Current Population Survey): Persons not in the labor force who want and are available for work, and who have looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months (or since the end of their last job if they held one within the past 12 months), but were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. Discouraged workers are a subset of the marginally attached. (See Discouraged workers.)
Market basket (Consumer Price Index): The market basket is a package of goods and services that consumers purchase for day-to-day living. The weight of each item is based on the amount of expenditure reported by a sample of households.
Mass layoff: A situation in which 50 or more persons have filed initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits against an establishment during a consecutive 5-week period.
MASSACRE: Union descriptions of tragic events in labor history. Examples include Chicago's Memorial Day Massacre where ten steelworkers were shot dead and over eighty were wounded by police on May 30, 1937. There was the Hilo, Hawaii, Massacre of 1938 where nearly fifty unionists were shot or bayonetted by police while sitting on a government pier protesting the unloading of a struck ship. Also, the Ludlow Massacre of 1914 which included the killing of eleven children and two women by the state militia.
MAY DAY: n 1889 the International Socialist Congress meeting in Paris fixed May 1 as the day to publicize the eight-hour day because America's AFL was going to hold an eight-hour-day demonstration on May 1, 1890. Since that time May Day has become a major celebration in communist countries. President Eisenhower in 1955 proclaimed May 1 as "Loyalty Day.
Mean wage (Occupational Employment Statistics): An average wage; an occupational mean wage estimate is calculated by summing the wages of all the employees in a given occupation and then dividing the total wages by the number of employees.
MECHANICS INSTITUTES: AA workers' education movement for self-improvement in the1830s and '40s.
Median days away from work (Safety and Health Statistics): The measure used to summarize the varying lengths of absences from work among the cases with days away from work. The median is the point at which half of the cases involved more days away from work and half involved less days away from work.
Median wage: An occupational median wage estimate is the boundary between the highest paid 50 percent and the lowest paid 50 percent of workers in that occupation. Half of the workers in a given occupation earn more than the median wage, and half the workers earn less than the median wage.
MEDIATION: Attempts by an impartial third party to get labor and management to find agreement during a dispute. A voluntary, informal proceeding conducted by Department of Labor and Industry Benefit Management and Resolution to facilitate agreement among the parties in a dispute. If an agreement is reached, the terms are formally recorded. A mediation occurs when one party requests it and the others agree to participate. This often takes place after attempts at resolution by phone and correspondence have failed.
Medical care coverage: A type of insurance coverage that provides for the payment of benefits as a result of sickness or injury. Medical care coverage can be provided in a hospital or a doctor's office. There are two main types of medical care plans. An indemnity plan—also called a fee-for-service plan—reimburses the patient or the provider as expenses are incurred. The most common type of indemnity plan is a preferred provider organization (PPO). A PPO provides coverage to the enrollee through a network of selected health care providers (such as hospitals and physicians). Enrollees may go outside the network, but would incur higher costs in the form of higher deductibles and higher coinsurance rates than if they stayed within the network. The second type of medical care plan is called a prepaid plan—also called a health maintenance organization. A prepaid plan assumes both the financial risks associated with providing comprehensive medical services and the responsibility for health care delivery in a particular geographic area, usually in return for a fixed prepaid fee from its members.
Medical cost: The cost of medical services and supplies provided to the injured or ill worker, including payments to providers and certain reimbursements to the worker. All reasonable and necessary medical costs related to the injury or illness are covered, subject to a maximum-fee schedule.
Medical File and Medical File Contents: The employee medical file is the repository for everything that has to do with health, health benefits, employee health-related leave, and benefits selections and coverage for the employee. Because the medical file contains sensitive and confidential information, it must reside in a safe, locked, inaccessible location. Access to employee medical....
Medical Request form: A form by which a party to a medical dispute requests assistance from the Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) for resolving the dispute. The request may lead to mediation or other efforts toward informal resolution by DLI Benefit Management and Resolution or to an administrative conference.
Medical-only claim: A claim with paid medical costs and no Indemnity benefits.
Medicare Tax: The medicare tax is a payroll tax that must be withheld from an employee's paycheck by an employer. The medicare tax is one part of the employer's obligation to withhold FICA taxes which also include social security taxes. Employers pay a matching percentage of FICA taxes. Self-employed individuals pay the whole amount of medicare and social security taxes. Find out more about medicare taxes.
Mental Health Parity Act (MHPA): MHPA is a federal law that requires annual or lifetime dollar limits on mental health benefits provided by a group health plan to be no lower than the annual or lifetime dollar limits for medical and surgical benefits offered by that plan. MHPA applies to employers with more than 50 employees. NOTE: The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA) requires group health plans and Health Insurance issuers to ensure that financial requirements (such as co-pays, deductibles) and treatment limitations (such as visit limits) applicable to mental health or substance use disorder (MH/SUD) benefits are no more restrictive than the predominant requirements or limitations applied to substantially all medical/surgical benefits. For more information on MHPAEA, see the fact sheet.
Mentor: A Mentor Is Key in Employee Development: A mentor is an employee who participates in a formal or informal relationship that is established between an experienced, knowledgeable employee and an inexperienced or new employee. Learn more about what a mentor is and what a mentor does.
Mentoring: Use Mentoring to Develop Employees: Mentoring is a formal or informal relationship established between an experienced, knowledgeable employee and an inexperienced or new employee. The purpose of mentoring is to help the new employee quickly absorb the organization’s cultural and social norms. Mentoring assists an employee, new to a job or responsibility, to quickly learn what they....
Merged Demand List: Is a list of all instructional training programs provided by the US Department of Education. Each training program title has two demand indicators, one (yes/no) indicator that is based on 2007 methodology and one (yes/no) based on the 2009 Real Time Demand methodology.
Merit Pay: Merit pay is used generally to recognize and reward employee contribution toward company productivity, profitability, team work, safety, quality, or some other metric deemed important. Merit pay changes depending upon the circumstances. Learn more about merit pay.
MERIT SYSTEM: The major grievance of public employees was the indignity and insecurity fostered by the political patronage system which ruled government employment. They wanted a system where they would be hired and promoted on their merit. The merit system was introduced by passage of the Civil Service Act of 1883.
Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs): The general concept of an MSA is one of a large population nucleus, together with adjacent communities which have a high degree of economic and social integration with that nucleus. These are defined by the Office of Management and Budget as a standard for Federal agencies in the preparation and publication of statistics relating to metropolitan areas. More information
Mileage Reimbursement: IRS: The IRS mileage reimbursement rate is an optional rate, recommended by the Internal Revenue Service in the U.S., that is used to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, medical, charitable, or moving purposes. The IRS mileage reimbursement rate is adjusted depending on the IRS-determined cost of operating a motor vehicle.
Millennials: The millennials joining your workforce now were born between 1980 and 2000. Unlike the Gen-Xers and the Boomers, the Millennials have developed work characteristics and tendencies from doting parents, structured lives, and contact with diverse people. Learn more about millennials.
MINIMUM WAGE: The lowest rate of pay an employer is allowed to pay under the law or a union contract. The minimum amount of compensation per hour that an employer is required by law to pay an employee for all hours worked. The federal minimum wage for covered nonexempt employees is $5.15 an hour. The federal minimum wage provisions are contained in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Many states also have minimum wage laws.
Minnesota Workers' Compensation Insurers Association (MWCIA): Minnesota's workers' compensation data service organization (DSO). State law specifies the duties of the DSO and the Department of Commerce designates the entity to be the DSO. Among other activities, the MWCIA collects data about claims, premium and losses from insurers, and annually produces pure premium rates.
Minor: Any person under the age of 18 years.
Mission Is What You Do: A mission is your expression of what it is that your organization does. Your mission tells a customer, employee, shareholder, vendor or interested job candidate exactly what you are in business to do. Learn more about what a mission is at it relates to corporate or organizational strategic planning.
MOA: Memorandum of Agreement.
Mobility of Labor and the Workforce: Mobility indicates a worker's ability to physically move around freely in the workplace to accomplish work. Mobility also refers to a worker's ability to take advantage of various job opportunities, including the ability to relocate, move to a superior job position, commute a particular distance to work daily, or change positions due to family and civic responsibilities. Some impediments to the …..
MODIFIED UNION SHOP: A provision in the union contract requiring all new employees to join the union and requiring all workers already in the union to remain as union members.
MOHAWK VALLEY FORMULA: Developed by James Rand, president of Remington Rand, in 1936 to break strikes. The formula included discrediting union leaders by calling them "agitators," threatening to move the plant, raising the banner of "law and order" to mobilize the community against the union, and actively engaging police in strike-breaking activity, then organizing a back-to-work movement of pro-company employees. While the National Association of Manufacturers enthusiastically published the plan, the National Labor Relations Board called it a battle plan for industrial war.
MOLLY MAGUIRES: A group of Irish miners who in the 1860s and '70s vandalized the mines and terrorized the bosses. Ten were hanged as the leaders of the conspiracy after Pinkerton agent, James McParland, exposed them in 1877.
MOONLIGHTING: Working more than one job.
Most significant source of postsecondary education or training (Employment Projections): An occupation is classified into 1 of 11 categories that best describes the postsecondary education or training needed by most workers to become fully qualified in the occupation. The categories are as follows: first professional degree; doctoral degree; master's degree; bachelor's or higher degree, plus work experience; bachelor's degree; associate degree; postsecondary vocational award; work experience in a related occupation; long-term on-the-job training; moderate-term on-the-job training; and short-term on-the-job training.
MOU: Memorandum of Understanding.
MSA: Metropolitan Statistical Area.
MSHA: Mine Safety and Health Administration.
MSPA: Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act.
Multifactor productivity: For the private business and private nonfarm business sectors, the growth rate of multifactor productivity is measured as the growth rate of output less the growth rate of combined inputs of labor and capital. Labor is measured by a weighted average of the number of hours worked classified by education, work experience, and gender. Capital services measure the flow of services from the stocks of equipment and software, structures, land, and inventories. For the manufacturing sector, multifactor productivity is the growth rate of output less the combined inputs of labor, capital, and intermediate purchases. Labor is measured by the number of hours worked.Capital services measure the flow of services from the stocks of equipment and software, structures, land, and inventories. Intermediate purchases are composed of materials, fuels, electricity, and purchased services.
Multiple jobholders (Current Population Survey and American Time Use Survey): Employed persons who, during the reference week, either had two or more jobs as a wage and salary worker, were self-employed and also held a wage and salary job, or worked as an unpaid family worker and also held a wage and salary job. Excluded are self-employed persons with multiple businesses and persons with multiple jobs as unpaid family workers.

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NAFTA-TAA: North American Free Trade Agreement –Transitional Adjustment Assistance.
NAICS: North American Industry Classification System.
NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS ACT OF 1935: Also known as the "Wagner Act" after the law's chief sponsor, Senator Robert Wagner of New York. It represented a fundamental turnaround in government's attitudes toward labor relations. The law created a National Labor Relations Board to carry out its goals of guaranteeing the right of workers to form unions of their own choosing and to bargain collectively with employers.
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB): The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is a federal government agency, founded by Congress in 1935. The primary responsibility of the NLRB is to administer the National Labor Relations Act. The Act is the main law governing relationships between unions and private sector employers.. The Act guarantees the right of employees to organize and bargain collectively with their employers.
Nature of injury or illness: Names the principal physical characteristic of a disabling condition, such as sprain/strain, cut/laceration, or carpal tunnel syndrome.
Negativity: Negativity is the feeling and expressing of unhappiness, anger, frustration, or upset to other employees in your workplace; it is often accompanied by resistance. According to Gary S. Topchik, author of Managing Workplace Negativity , negativity is often the result of a loss of confidence, control, or community. Knowing what people are....
Negligence: Negligence means the omission to do something that a reasonable person, guided by those considerations that ordinarily regulate the conduct of human affairs, would do, or the doing of something that a prudent and reasonable person would not do. Negligence is not an absolute term, but a relative one, and whether or not a particular act or omission constitutes negligence depends by definition on the particular circumstances, considering especially the time, place, and persons involved. A determination of negligence is a legal conclusion that can only be arrived at by a court of law.
Net 10 minutes: A rest period is defined as a "net" 10 minutes, and means that the rest period begins when the employee reaches an area away from the work area that is appropriate for rest. Employers are required to provide suitable resting facilities that shall be available for employees during working hours in an area separate from the toilet rooms.
New Employee Orientation: New employee orientation is the process for welcoming a new employee into your organization. New employee orientation, often spearheaded by a meeting with the Human Resources department, generally contains information about safety, the work environment, the new job description, benefits and eligibility, company culture, company history, and anything else relevant to working in the new company.
New entrants (Current Population Survey): Unemployed persons who never worked before and who are entering the labor force for the first time.
Newborns' and Mothers' Health Protection Act (Newborns' Act): The Newborns' Act is a federal law that prohibits group health plans and insurance companies (including HMOs) that cover hospitalization in connection with childbirth from restricting a mother's or newborn's benefits for such hospital stays to less than 48 hours following a vaginal delivery or 96 hours following delivery by cesarean section, unless the attending doctor, nurse midwife or other licensed health care provider, in consultation with the mother, discharges earlier.
NFDL: Non-Fatal Days Lost.
NGO: Non-Governmental Organization.
NIOSH: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
NLSY: National Longitudinal Survey of Youth.
NMHRA: Newborns' and Mothers' Health Protection Act.
No significant amount of work other than the foregoing: The term "no significant amount of work other than the foregoing" means not more than 20% of the work time. Usually, "such other work" involves housekeeping duties such as cleaning house, washing dishes and clothes, ironing, and grocery shopping.
Non Compete Agreement: A non compete agreement is a written legal contract between an employer and employee. The non compete agreement lays out binding terms and conditions about the employee’s ability to work in the same industry and with competing organizations upon employment termination from the current employer. Generally, the non-compete agreement states that the employee may not work for a competing firm for six months to two years following employment ending.
Non Disclosure Agreement: A non disclosure agreement is a written legal contract between an employer and employee. The non disclosure agreement lays out binding terms and conditions that prohibit the employee from disclosing company confidential and proprietary information. A non disclosure agreement is in effect for the duration of an employee’s employment and for a....
Nonconference decision and order: A decision issued by the Department of Labor and Industry Benefit Management and Resolution unit without an administrative conference, about a dispute for which it has administrative conference authority (see "administrative conference"), when it has sufficient information without conducting a conference. The decision is binding unless appealed or overturned by review at the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH).
Nonexempt: Nonexempt status means that the provisions of the Industrial Welfare Commission Orders cover an employee.
Non-exempt employee: A non-exempt employee is an employee who, because of the type of duties performed, the usual level of decision making authority, and the method of compensation, is subject to all FLSA provisions.
Nonfarm business sector (Productivity and Costs): The nonfarm business sector is a subset of the domestic economy and excludes the economic activities of the following: general government, private households, nonprofit organizations serving individuals, and farms. The nonfarm business sector accounted for about 77 percent of the value of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2000.
Nonfinancial corporations (Productivity and Costs): The nonfinancial corporate business sector is a subset of the domestic economy and excludes the economic activities of the following: general government, private households, nonprofit organizations serving individuals, and those corporations classified as offices of bank holding companies, offices of other holding companies, or offices in the finance and insurance sector. Nonfinancial corporations accounted for about 54 percent of the value of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2000.
Non-joint: Indicates a program where there is no labor organization or Collective bargaining agreement. It is sponsored by employer association(s) and administered by an apprenticeship committee composed equally from employer and employee representatives.
Nonlabor payments (Productivity and Costs): These payments include profits, consumption of fixed capital, taxes on production and imports less subsidies, net interest and miscellaneous payments, business current transfer payments, rental income of persons, and the current surplus of government enterprises.
NORA: National Occupational Research Agenda.
North American Industry Classification System (NAICS): The successor to the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system; this system of classifying business establishments is being adopted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico. More information
Not employed (American Time Use Survey): The term refers to persons who are classified as unemployed as well as those classified as not in the labor force (using Current Population Survey definitions).
Not in the labor force (Current Population Survey): Includes persons aged 16 years and older in the civilian noninstitutional population who are neither employed nor unemployed in accordance with the definitions contained in this glossary. Information is collected on their desire for and availability for work, job search activity in the prior year, and reasons for not currently searching. (See Marginally attached workers.)
Not seasonally adjusted: This term is used to describe data series that have not been subjected to the seasonal adjustment process. In other words, the effects of regular or seasonal patterns have not been removed from these series.
NSTWO: National School-to-Work Office.
Nterns and Internships: Interns find internships to obtain experience in their degree field; to earn money; to find out about different jobs, fields, careers, employers, and workplaces; to obtain needed experience to obtain a job; to fulfill degree requirements; and to learn about the world of work, in general. Find out more about interns and internships.

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OASAM: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management.
Objection to Discontinuance form: A form by which an injured worker requests a formal hearing to contest a proposed discontinuance of wage-loss benefits (temporary total disability (TTD), temporary partial disability (TPD) or permanent total disability (PTD). The hearing is at the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH).
Occupation: A set of activities or tasks that employees are paid to perform. Employees that perform essentially the same tasks are in the same occupation, whether or not they work in the same industry. Some occupations are concentrated in a few particular industries; other occupations are found in many industries. (See Industry.)
Occupational groups: A group of related occupations; examples: sales occupations and service occupations.
Occupational illness: Any abnormal condition or disorder, other than one resulting from an occupational injury, caused by exposure to factors associated with employment. It includes acute and chronic illnesses or diseases which may be caused by inhalation, absorption, ingestion, or direct contact.
Occupational injury: Any injury such as a cut, fracture, sprain, amputation, etc., which results from a work-related event or from a single instantaneous exposure in the work environment.
Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System (Safety and Health Statistics): Defines many of the data elements—such as nature, part, event, and source—that are used in the production of safety and health statistics by BLS. More information
Occupational Outlook Handbook: The Occupational Outlook Handbook is a nationally recognized source of career and job information, designed to provide valuable assistance to individuals making decisions about their future work lives.
OCFO: Office of the Chief Financial Officer.
OCIA: Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations.
OCIO: Office of the Chief Information Officer.
OECD: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
OES: Occupational Employment Statistics.
OFCCP: Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.
Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH): An executive branch body that conducts hearings about administrative law cases. One section is responsible for workers' compensation cases; it conducts administrative conference and settlement conferences, as well as hearings.
Offset: A deduction from a claimant's unemployment benefits to satisfy an overpayment of previously received unemployment benefits.
OIG: Office of the Inspector General.
OLMS: Office of Labor-Management Standards.
OMB: Office of Management and Budget.
Onboarding: Onboarding or new employee orientation is the process for welcoming a new employee into your organization. Onboarding, often spearheaded by a meeting with the Human Resources department, generally contains information about safety, the work environment, the new job description, benefits and eligibility, company culture, company history, and anything else relevant to working in the new company.
On-call employees: Employees who are not permanent, but are called to work as needed, often on short notice, although they can be scheduled to work for several days or weeks in a row.
ONE BIG UNION: The slogan of the IWW which stressed the inclusion of everyone, regardless of trade, into an all encompassing union. This was also the rationale for the general strike where workers in all types of employment would strike at the same time.
On-the-Job Training: On-the-job training, also known as OJT, is teaching the skills, knowledge, competencies, and that are needed to perform a specific job within the workplace and work environment. On-the-job training uses the regular or existing workplace tools, machines, documents, equipment, knowledge and skills necessary for an employee to learn to effectively perform his or her job. Find out more about on-the-j…..
On-the-job training program: A program that is set up in the same manner as an apprenticeship program with any exceptions authorized by the WSATC and as further described in WAC 296-05-311.
OPA: Office of Public Affairs.
OPEN SHOP: A business that employs workers without regard to union membership. In the 1920s the "open shop" employed an ill-disguised attempt to get ride of bona fide unions. States with "Right to Work" laws have decreed the open shop.
OPM: Office of Personnel Management.
OPR: Office of Policy and Research.
Optimism: Optimism is the propensity to look at the bright side of any situation and expect the best possible outcome from any series of events.
Organizational Chart: An organizational chart is a visual communication tool. The organizational chart allows employees and other stakeholders to see the reporting relationships in an organization. The organizational chart is a reflection of your organization’s culture.
Organizational Culture: Culture is made up of the values, beliefs, underlying assumptions, attitudes, and behaviors shared by a group of people. Culture is the behavior that results when a group arrives at a set of - generally unspoken and unwritten - rules for working together. An organization's culture is made up of all of the life experiences each employee brings....
Organized camp: Organized camp" means a site with program and facilities established for the primary purposes of providing an outdoor group living experience with social, spiritual, educational, or recreational objectives, for five days or more during one or more seasons of the year. The term "organized camp" does not include a motel, tourist camp, trailer park, resort, hunting camp, auto court, labor camp, penal or correctional camp, child care institution, home-finding agency, or any charitable or recreational organization which complies with the rules and regulations for recreational trailer parks provided by Health and Safety Code Section 18897(a)...
Orientation: new employee orientation is the process for welcoming a new employee into your organization. New employee orientation, often spearheaded by a meeting with the Human Resources department, generally contains information about safety, the work environment, the new job description, benefits and eligibility, company culture, company history, and anything else relevant to working in the new company.
OSBP: Office of Small Business Programs.
OSEC: Office of the Secretary.
OSHA: Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Other separation (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey): A separation of an employee from an establishment for miscellaneous reasons, including retirement, death, separation due to employee disability, or transfer to another location of the enterprise.
Other separations rate (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey): The number of other separations during the month divided by the number of employees who worked during or received pay for the pay period that includes the 12th of the month.
Outside salesperson: Any person, 18 years of age or older, who customarily and regularly works more than half the working time away from the employer's place of business selling tangible or intangible items or obtaining orders or contracts for products, services, or use of facilities.
Outsourcing: Outsourcing is paying a second party to perform one or more of your internal processes or functions. Business process outsourcing of certain functions is an increasingly popular way to improve basic services while allowing HR professionals time to play a more strategic role in their organizations. Frequently outsourced: payroll, 401(k)...
Overnight trip: An "overnight trip" is comprised of a maximum of 12 hours worked within a period of no less than 24 hours compensated at a rate of no less than 12 times the hourly minimum wage.
Overpayment: Benefits received for which the claimant was not entitled because of a disqualification, earnings, or for other reasons.
Overtime: Overtime is considered to be hours that a nonexempt employee works over 40 hours during a work week. Learn more about overtime.
OWCP: Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs.

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PACE-SETTER

A method of speeding up work. The pace-setter is a person who sets the work pace, usually at an ever higher rate, by leading the work gang and necessitating its catching up with him.

Paid Holidays

Paid leave (National Compensation Survey)

Paid leave includes vacations, holidays, sick leave, and other leave with pay.

Paid Personal Days

Paid personal days are time off from work that an organization voluntarily provides employees as a benefit. The number of paid personal days is often accrued by employees based on years of service to the organization and the level of their position. Other companies, however, keep paid personal days simple - every employee receives the same.....

Paid Sick Days Policy

Paid sick days are time off from work that an organization voluntarily provides employees as a benefit. The number of paid sick days is often accrued by employees based on years of service to the organization and the level of their position. Other companies, however, keep paid sick days simple - every employee receives the same number of paid....

Paid Time Off Policy

Definition of the paid time off approach to employee vacation, sick days, and personal days for the human resources glossary of human resources related terms. Paid time off has advantages and disadvantages that are explored in this definition of paid time off.

Paid Vacation Days Policy

Paid vacation days are time off work an organization provides employees as a benefit. The number of paid vacation days is generally accrued by employees based on years of service to the organization.

PALMER RAIDS

In 1919-20, U.S. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer conducted raids on the headquarters of alleged radicals. Unionists, liberals, radicals, and aliens were indiscriminately arrested and around four thousand were tried for their dissent from the status quo with little regard for their civil rights.

Panel data (National Longitudinal Surveys and Business Employment Dynamics)

See Longitudinal data.

Part of body affected (Safety and Health Statistics)

Directly linked to the nature of injury or illness cited, such as back, finger, or eye.

Part Time Employee

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not define what constitutes a part time employee. What is counted as a part time employee is generally defined by the employer by policy. The definition of a part time employee is generally published in the employee handbook.

Partial Benefits

If you work less than four days in a week and earn $405 or less, you may receive partial benefits. Receiving partial benefits extends the length of time you may collect benefits until you receive your maximum benefit amount or until your Benefit Year ends.

Partial Claim

An employer-filed claim for an employee who worked less than full-time and earned some wages, but less than the employee's weekly benefit amount.

Part-time workers (Current Population Survey and American Time Use Survey)

Persons who work less than 35 hours per week.

PATERNALISM

The company considered itself the father of its employees and as such had the responsibility of regulating their lives through company houses, stores, hospitals, theaters, sports programs, churches, publications, and codes of behavior on and off the job. Paternalism was also prevalent in public employment. Teachers in 1915 were not permitted to marry, keep company with men, travel beyond the city limits, smoke, dress in bright colors, or wear skirts shorter than two inches above the ankles.

Pay Grade: How Does a Pay Grade Work?

Pay grade is a step within a compensation system that defines the amount of pay an employee will receive. Pay grade is generally defined by the level of the responsibilities performed within the job description of the position and the length of time the employee has performed the job. Occasionally, the horizontal axis is related to the.....

Pay period that includes the 12th of the month

Standard measurement period for all Federal agencies collecting employment data from business establishments; time unit that employers use to pay employees that overlaps the 12th of the month; length of the pay period does not matter, as long as the 12th of the month is included in the pay period: For establishments with a Monday-through-Friday pay period, if the 12th of the month falls on a Saturday, it should be taken as the last day of the requested pay period, and if the 12th of the month falls on a Sunday, it should be taken as the first day of the requested pay period.

Pay Raise: What Is a Pay Raise?

A pay raise is an increase in the amount of hourly pay or salary that an employee receives for work performed in an organization. Find out more about receiving a pay raise and what is entailed in an employee raise in pay.

Paycheck

paycheck is a check issued by an employer in order to satisfy the compensation commitment the employer has with the employee. The paycheck is most frequently issued by the employer, every two weeks, but some employers issue the paycheck weekly or monthly. The average employee receives 26 paychecks a year.

Payroll employment (Current Employment Statistics)

Employment is the total number of persons on establishment payrolls employed full or part time who received pay for any part of the pay period which includes the 12th day of the month. Temporary and intermittent employees are included, as are any workers who are on paid sick leave, on paid holiday, or who work during only part of the specified pay period. A striking worker who only works a small portion of the survey period, and is paid, would be included as employed under the CES definitions. Persons on the payroll of more than one establishment are counted in each establishment. Data exclude proprietors, self-employed, unpaid family or volunteer workers, farm workers, and domestic workers. Persons on layoff the entire pay period, on leave without pay, on strike for the entire period or who have not yet reported for work are not counted as employed. Government employment covers only civilian workers. With the release of NAICS-based estimates in June 2003, the scope and definition of Federal Government employment estimates changed due to a change in source data and estimation methods. The previous series was an end-of-month federal employee count produced by the Office of Personnel Management, and it excluded some workers, mostly employees who work in Department of Defense-owned establishments such as military base commissaries. Beginning in June 2003, the CES national series began to include these workers. Also, Federal Government employment is now estimated from a sample of Federal establishments, is benchmarked annually to counts from unemployment insurance tax records, and reflects employee counts as of the pay period including the 12th of the month, consistent with other CES industry series. The historical time series for Federal Government employment was revised to reflect these changes.

Payroll File Contents

The employee payroll file is the repository for everything that has to do with an employee's pay check. The main reason to create a payroll file is to limit access to other employee confidential information. The payroll file enables accounting staff to pay the employee without accessing employee confidential information. Accounting staff can....

PBGC

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

PERB

The abbreviation of state public employment relations boards.

Percentile wage estimate

Shows what percentage of workers in an occupation earn less than a given wage and what percentage earn more. For example, a 25th percentile wage of $15.00 indicates that 25% of workers (in a given occupation in a given area) earn less than $15.00; therefore 75% of workers earn more than $15.00.

Performance Appraisal

Performance Development Planning

Are you looking for the process that provides the heart of your performance management system? You've found it. The Performance Development Planning (PDP) process enables you and the people who report to you to identify their personal and business goals that are most significant to your organization's success.

Performance Improvement Plan

The Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) is designed to facilitate constructive discussion between a staff member and his or her supervisor and to clarify the work performance to be improved.

performance management Is NOT an Annual Appraisal (longer definition)

Performance management is the process of creating a work environment or setting in which people are enabled to perform to the best of their abilities. The goal of performance is to achieve the company mission and vision. Almost no one performs, for the organization, however, if his or her own mission and vision are not accomplished as well. Performance management accomplishes the dual role.

Performance Management: Definition

Performance Management is the process of creating a work environment or setting in which people are enabled to perform to the best of their abilities. Performance management is a whole work system that begins when a job is defined as needed. It ends when an employee leaves your organization.

Perks

Perks are employee benefits, usually in addition to salary and standard employee benefits. The word, perk or perks, is a short form of the word perquisite which means incentives, bonuses, extras, or sweeteners. In use in business, the term perks has come to mean... Find out more about perks.

Permanent job losers (Current Population Survey)

Unemployed persons whose employment ended involuntarily and who began looking for work.

Permanent partial disability (PPD)

A benefit that compensates for permanent functional impairment resulting from a work-related injury or illness. The benefit is based on the worker's impairment rating, which is a percentage of whole-body impairment determined on the basis of health care providers' assessments according to a rating schedule in rules. Currently, the PPD benefit is calculated under a schedule specified in law, which assigns a benefit amount per rating point with higher ratings receiving proportionately higher benefits. The scheduled amounts per rating point were fixed for injuries from 1984 through September 2000. The PPD benefit is paid after temporary total disability (TTD) has ended. For injuries from October 1995 through September 2000, it is paid at the same rate and intervals as TTD until the overall amount is exhausted. See Appendix B for related law changes.

Permanent total disability (PTD)

A wage-replacement benefit paid if the worker sustains a severe work-related injury specified in law. Also paid if the worker, because of a work-related injury or illness in combination with other factors, is permanently unable to secure gainful employment, provided that, for injuries on or after Oct. 1, 1995, the worker has a permanent partial disability (PPD) rating of 13 to 17 percent, depending on age and education. The benefit is equal to two-thirds of the worker's gross pre-injury wage, subject to minimum and maximum weekly amounts, and is paid at the same intervals as wages were paid before the injury. For injuries on or after Oct. 1, 1995, benefits end at age 67 under a rebuttable presumption of retirement. Minimum and maximum weekly benefit provisions are described in Appendix B. cost-of-living adjustments are described in this Appendix and Appendix B.

PERQUISITES

In addition to payment of wages, the company provided employees with room, board, and medical care.

Personal attendant (IWC Order 15-2001)

Personal attendant" includes babysitters and means any person employed by a private householder or by any third party employer recognized in the healthcare industry to work in a private household, to supervise, feed, or dress a child or person who by reason of advanced age, physical disability, or mental deficiency needs supervision. The status of "personal attendant" shall apply when no significant amount of work other than the foregoing is required.

Personal attendant (IWC Order 5-2001)

Personal attendant" includes babysitters and means any person employed by a nonprofit organization covered by IWC Order 5-2001 to supervise, feed or dress a child or person who by reason of advanced age, physical disability or mental deficiency needs supervision. The status of "personal attendant" shall apply when no significant amount of work other than the foregoing is required.

Personnel File Access Policy

All employees, former employees, and representatives of employees may view certain documents from their personnel file with advance notice to Human Resources staff. Documents that relate to the employee's qualifications for hire may be viewed. Documents that may not be reviewed are also described.

Personnel File Overview

An employee personnel file is an employers’ saved documentation of the history and status of the entire employment relationship with an individual employee. The employer maintains this employment documentation in a personnel file for three reasons. Multiple personnel files are maintained for each employee. Find out more about employee personnel.....

Personnel File Policy Sample

The Company maintains three employee files for each employee. The files maintained include the personnel file, the payroll file, and the medical records file. Employees may access their personnel file by contacting Human Resources staff. See more about personnel files in this sample personnel file policy.

Personnel Files

Petition to Discontinue Benefits form

A document by which the insurer requests a formal hearing to allow a discontinuance of wage-loss benefits (temporary total disability (TTD), temporary partial disability (TPD) or permanent total disability (PTD). The hearing is at the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH).

Petitions, requests, and correspondence

Any written business brought before the WSATC (examples may include: (1) Requests for new committees (2) Requests for revisions to the standards; and (3) Appeals). Plant: Indicates a program for a single physical location or a group of physical locations owned by the sponsor.

Phased Retirement or Semi Retired

Phased retirement or being semi retired occurs when an employee reduces his or her hours of employment. The semi retired employee may work part time. The employee who opts for phased retirement gradually reduces the hours that he or she works over time. Find out more about semi retired or phased retirement as retirement options.

Phone Interviews Screen Applicants Prior to an Onsite Job Interview

A phone interview allows you to call your most promising job applicants prior to bringing them in for a job interview in your organization. The phone interview allows you to screen the applicant's skills, knowledge, experience, and salary expectations before you invest company time in onsite interviews. The phone interview saves company time,.....

PICKETING

The stationing of persons outside a place of employment to publically protest the employer and to discourage entry of nonstriking workers or customers. Most picketing takes place during strikes although there is also informational picketing conducted against nonunion business establishments.

Piece rate

Work that is paid for according to the number of units turned out. A "piece rate" must be based on an ascertainable figure paid for completing a particular task or making a particular piece of goods. Examples of piece rate plans include the following:

1. Automobile mechanics paid on a "book rate" (that is, a brake job, one hour and fifty minutes, tune-up, one hour, etc.) usually based upon a pre-set standard.

2. Nurses paid on the basis of the number of procedures performed.

3. Carpet layer paid by the yard of carpet laid.

4. Technician paid by the number of telephones installed.

5. Factory worker paid by the number of widgets completed.

6. Carpenter paid by the linear foot on a framing job.

7. Truck driver paid by the number of loads hauled.

PIECEWORK

The incentive wage system by which workers are paid by the individual piece worked on or completed.

PINKERTONS

Agents of the Allan Pinkerton Detective Agency of Chicago who were hired by employers to break strikes or act as company spies within unions. Some believe the expression "Fink," a pejorative term for a worker not loyal to the union, originated by combining a common expletive with the word "Pinkerton.

Plan Sponsor

Generally, the employer, the employee organization (such as a union), or both, that establishes or maintains an employee benefit plan, including a group health plan.

Policy year

The year of initiation of the insurance policy covering the accident or condition that caused the injury or illness. In policy-year data, all claims and costs are tied to the year in which the applicable policy took effect. Because policy periods often include portions of two calendar-years, the data for a policy year includes claims and costs for injuries occurring in two calendar-years.

POLITICAL ACTION

Unions engaged in political action at least as far back as the 1820s, when they demanded universal free public education and abolition of imprisonment for debt as their major social reform issues. Today, AFL-CIO and independent unions expend a substantial amount of money and effort in the promotion of their political causes. Their rationale is that what is gained at the bargaining table can be taken away from unions through legislation. AFL-CIO's formal political organization which functions at the national, state, community and local union level is the Committee on Political Education (COPE).

PPI

Producer Price Index.

Predecessor

An employer acquired by another employer.

Pre-existing Condition

An illness or condition that was present before an individual's first day of coverage under a group health plan. For more information, see Questions and Answers: Recent Changes in Health Care Law.

Pre-existing Condition Exclusion

A limitation or exclusion of benefits for a condition based on the fact that you had the condition before your enrollment date in the group health plan. A pre-existing condition exclusion may be applied to your condition only if the condition is one for which medical advice, diagnosis, care or treatment was recommended or received within the 6 months before your enrollment date in the plan. A pre-existing condition exclusion cannot be applied to pregnancy (regardless of whether the woman had previous coverage), or to genetic information in the absence of a diagnosis. A pre-existing condition exclusion also cannot be applied to a newborn or a child who is adopted or placed for adoption if the child has health coverage within 30 days of birth, adoption or placement for adoption and does not later have a significant break in coverage. If a plan provides coverage to you through an HMO that has an affiliation period, the plan cannot apply a pre-existing condition exclusion. A pre-existing condition exclusion can not be longer than 12 months from your enrollment date (18 months for a late enrollee). A pre-existing condition exclusion that is applied to you must be reduced by the prior creditable coverage you have that was not interrupted by a significant break in coverage. You may show creditable coverage through a certificate of creditable coverage given to you by your prior plan or insurer (including an HMO) or by other proof. The plan can apply a pre-existing condition exclusion to you only if it has first given you written notice. If your plan has both a waiting period and a pre-existing condition exclusion, the exclusion begins when the waiting period begins. In some states, if plan coverage is provided through an insurance policy or HMO, you may have more protections with respect to pre-existing condition exclusions.

Pre-existing Condition Exclusion Period

The period of time that a group health plan can legally limit your access to the health benefits offered by that plan because of a pre-existing condition. Under HIPAA, the maximum pre-existing condition exclusion period that can be applied to an individual is 12 months (18 months for late enrollees).

Premiums

Payments made by the employer into the unemployment insurance Trust Fund.

President

The president is the leader of a business, organization, agency, institution, union, university, government, or branch of government. President is also a title used to designate the leader of portions or divisions of organizations that report to an overall organization, such as an acquired company that now is a subsidiary of a larger corporation.

PREVAILING WAGE

In 1861, Congress passed a prevailing wage rate law which said in part: "That the hours of labor and the rates of wages of the employees in the navy yards shall conform as nearly as possible with those of private establishments in the immediate vicinity of the respective yards. The hourly wage, usual benefits and overtime, paid in the largest city in each county to the majority of workers, laborers, and mechanics. Prevailing wages are established by the Department of Labor & Industries for each trade and occupation employed in the performance of public work. They are established separately for each county and are reflective of local wage conditions. (RCW 31.12.010 and 015).

Primary activity (American Time Use Survey)

A primary activity is the main activity a respondent was doing at a specified time. Most published time use estimates reflect time spent in primary activities only.

Primary liability

The overall liability of the insurer for any costs associated with a claim when the injury is determined to be compensable. An insurer may deny primary liability (deny the injury is compensable) if it has reason to believe the injury was not work-related, was intentionally self-inflicted, resulted from intoxication or happened during participation in a nonrequired recreational program.

PRM

Periodic Roll Management.

Probation

Initial: The period following the apprentice's acceptance into the program which is limited in time by these rules and during which the apprentice's appeal rights are impaired.

Disciplinary:

A time assessed when the apprentice's progress is not satisfactory. During this time the program sponsor may withhold periodic wage advancements, suspend or cancel the apprenticeship agreement, or take further disciplinary action. A disciplinary probation may only be assessed after the initial probation is completed. During the disciplinary probation, the apprentice has the right to file an appeal of the committee's action with the WSATC (as described in WAC 296-05-009).

Price Index

A price index is a tool that simplifies the measurement of price movements in a numerical series. Movements are measured with respect to the base period, when the index is set to 100.

Primarily engaged in

Each of the exemptions - administrative, executive and professional - require that the employee be "primarily engaged in" the duties which meet the test for the exemption. The term "primarily engaged in" means that more than one-half of the employee's work time must be spent engaged in exempt work and differs substantially from the federal test which simply requires that the "primary duty" of the employee falls within the exempt duties.

Producer Price Index (PPI)

A family of indexes that measure the average change over time in selling prices received by domestic producers of goods and services. PPIs measure price change from the perspective of the seller. This contrasts with other measures that measure price change from the purchaser's perspective, such as the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Sellers' and purchasers' prices may differ due to government subsidies, sales and excise taxes, and distribution costs.

Productivity

A measure of economic efficiency that shows how effectively economic inputs are converted into output. Productivity is measured by comparing the amount of goods and services produced with the inputs that were used in production.

Professional Employer Organization (PEO)

A business that supplies management and administrative services with regard to human resource responsibilities for employers; it serves as the co-employer of the client’s employees for payroll, benefits, and related purposes. PEOs are referred to as "employee leasing companies" in the Standard Industrial Classification Manual.

Professional exemption

A person employed in a professional capacity means any employee who meets all of the following requirements:

1. Who is licensed or certified by the State of California and is primarily engaged in the practice of one of the following recognized professions: law, medicine, dentistry, optometry, architecture, engineering, teaching, or accounting, or

2. Who is primarily engaged in an occupation commonly recognized as a learned or artistic profession. "Learned or artistic profession" means an employee who is primarily engaged in the performance of:

3.

1. Work requiring knowledge of an advance type in a field or science or learning customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction and study, as distinguished from a general academic education and from an apprenticeship, and from training in the performance of routine mental, manual, or physical processes, or work that is an essential part of or necessarily incident to any of the above work; or

2. Work that is original and creative in character in a recognized field of artistic endeavor (as opposed to work which can be produced by a person endowed with general manual or intellectual ability and training), and the result of which depends primarily on the invention, imagination, or talent of the employee or work that is an essential part of or necessarily incident to any of the above work; and

3. Whose work is predominantly intellectual and varied in character (as opposed to routine mental, manual, mechanical, or physical work) and is of such character that the output produced or the result accomplished cannot be standardized in relation to a given period of time.

4. Who customarily and regularly exercised discretion an independent judgment in the performance of duties set forth above. 5. Who earns a monthly salary equivalent to no less than two times the state minimum wage for full-time employment. Full-time employment means 40 hours per week as defined in Labor Code Section 515(c).

Regarding the requirement for the exemption to apply that the employee "customarily and regularly exercises discretion and independent judgment," this phrase means the comparison and evaluation of possible courses of conduct and acting or making a decision after the various possibilities have been considered. The employee must have the authority or power to make an independent choice, free from immediate direction or supervision and with respect to matters of significance. For the learned professions, an advanced academic degree (above the bachelor level) is a standard prerequisite. For the artistic professions, work in a "recognized field of artistic endeavor" includes such fields as music, writing, the theater, and the plastic and graphic arts.

Profit Sharing

Profit sharing is an example of a variable pay plan. Profit sharing is taking a percentage of a company’s annual profits and then dividing the pool of money generated across all employees using a formula for distribution. Profit sharing payments are only made if the company has been profitable for the time period specified. Find out more about profit sharing.

Progressive Discipline

Progressive discipline is a process for dealing with job-related behavior that does not meet expected and communicated performance standards.

PROHIBITED PRACTICES

Generally used in public employment to describe unfair labor practices on the part of employer and employee organizations.

Project Management

According to the American Society for Quality (ASQ), project management is, "The application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to a broad range of activities to meet the requirements of the particular project.

Promotion

The advancement of an employee from one position to another position that has a higher salary range maximum is called a promotion.

Protected activity

The engaging in or exercising of a right that is protected by law. Some examples of "protected activity" under the Labor Code include: 1. Filing or threatening to file a claim or complaint with the Labor Commissioner. 2. Taking time off from work to serve on a jury or appear as a witness in court. 3. Disclosing or discussing your wages. 4. Using or attempting to use sick leave to attend to the illness of a child, parent, spouse, domestic partner, or child of the domestic partner of the employee. 5. Engaging in political activity of your choice. 6. For complaining about safety or health conditions or practices.

Protest

A request for review of any decision made regarding a claimants eligibility for benefits or regarding an employer's liability status, or any action affecting an employer's account.

Pure premium

A measure of expected losses, equal to the sum, of all insurance classes, of payroll times the applicable pure premium rate(s) -- the rate(s) for the insurance class(es) concerned -- adjusted for individual employers' prior loss experience. It is different from (and somewhat lower than) the actual premium charged to employers, because actual premium includes other insurance company costs plus taxes and assessments.

Pure premium rates

Rates of expected indemnity and medical losses per year per $100 of covered payroll, also referred to as "loss costs." Pure premium rates are determined annually by the Minnesota Workers' Compensation Insurers Association (MWCIA) for approximately 560 insurance classes in the voluntary market. They are based on insurer "experience" and statutory benefit changes. "Experience" refers to actual losses relative to pure premium for the most recent report periods. The pure premium rates are published with documentation in the annual Minnesota Ratemaking Report subject to approval by the Department of Commerce.

PWBA

Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration.

PY

Program Year.

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QCM: Quality Case Management.
Qualified Beneficiary: enerally, qualified beneficiaries include covered employees, their spouses and their dependent children who are covered under the group health plan on the day before the qualifying event. In certain cases, retired employees, their spouses and dependent children may be qualified beneficiaries. In addition, any child born to, or placed for adoption with, a covered employee during a period of COBRA continuation coverage is a qualified beneficiary.
Qualified rehabilitation consultant (QRC): A professionally trained individual registered with the Department of Labor and Industry to provide statutory vocational rehabilitation services to injured workers. The QRC determines whether the injured worker is eligible for vocational rehabilitation services by means of a rehabilitation consultation, develops a rehabilitation plan with assistance from the injured worker and employer, and facilitates implementation of the plan.
Qualifying Event: Certain events that would ordinarily cause an individual to lose health coverage. The type of qualifying event will determine who the qualified beneficiaries for the qualifying event are and the length of time COBRA continuation coverage is available. For more information, see Questions and Answers: Recent Changes in Health Care Law.
Quality: Definition for the Human Resources Glossary: Quality is a measure of excellence; quality defines desirable characteristics of a product, a process, or a service.
Quit (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey): A separation of an employee from an establishment that is initiated by the employee; a voluntary separation; a resignation from a job or position.
Quits rate (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey): The number of quits during the month divided by the number of employees who worked during or received pay for the pay period that includes the 12th of the month.

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Race (Current Population Survey)

The CPS provides data by race, with the race given by the household respondent. Since 2003, respondents are allowed to choose more than one race; previously, multiracial persons were required to select a single primary race. Persons who select more than one race are classified separately in the category “two or more races.” Persons who select one race only are classified in one of the following five categories: 1) white, 2) black or African American, 3) Asian, 4) Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander, and 5) American Indian or Alaska Native. Only data for whites, blacks, and Asians are currently published because the number of survey respondents for the other racial categories is not large enough to produce statistically reliable estimates.

Raise: What Is a Raise?

A raise is an increase in the amount of hourly pay or salary that an employee receives for work performed in an organization. Find out more about receiving a raise and what is entailed in an employee raise in pay.

RCW

The Revised Code of Washington.

READING FORMULA

The procedure with which union recognition was achieved in factories during the 1930s. Rather than being compelled to strike for union recognition, the new Wagner Act provided a method of union representation elections which were conducted by the National Labor Relations Board.

REAL WAGES

Wages expressed in terms of what today's dollar will buy. A common method of determining buying power is through the Consumer Price Index.

Reason For Separation

The reason you are no longer working.

Select Lack of Work if you were let go due to a reduction in force, downsizing, company shutdown, job elimination, company restructuring/reorganization, or a lack of company funds/orders.

Select Quit if you voluntarily left your job.

Select Discharged/Other if you were unable to meet employer performance/production standards, or were unable to meet employer's qualifications for the job.

Select Discharged/Fired if you were let go for a violation of company policy, absenteeism, theft, insubordination, drug or alcohol use or a criminal act.

Select Strike/Lockout if you are no longer working due to a strike or lockout.

Recognition

Recognition is providing attention or favorable notice to another person. Recognition can be written, verbal, or monetary. In the workplace, the second purpose for employee recognition is to communicate and reinforce the behaviors and actions you'd like to see the employee do more often.

Recommended Education

Recommended level of Education for the training program as determined by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data on the distribution of educational attainment by occupation. It indicates the type of education or training preferred by employers, and the typical length of training.

Recordable injuries and illnesses (Safety and Health statistics)

Recordable cases include work-related injuries and illnesses that result in one or more of the following: death, loss of consciousness, days away from work, restricted work activity or job transfer, medical treatment (beyond first aid), significant work-related injuries or illnesses that are diagnosed by a physician or other licensed heath care professional (these include any work-related case involving cancer, chronic irreversible disease, a fracture or cracked bone, or a punctured eardrum); additional criteria include any needle-stick injury or cut from a sharp object that is contaminated with another person's blood or other potentially infectious material, any case requiring an employee to be medically removed under the requirements of an OSHA health standard, tuberculosis infection as evidenced by a positive skin test or diagnosis by a physician or other licensed health care professional after exposure to a known case of active tuberculosis.

Recruiter

Recruiters are employed by a company for the purpose of finding and qualifying new employees for the organization. Third party recruiters are subcontracted to by a company for the same purpose. Several different types of third party recruiters exist, but the main difference between them lies in how they are compensated, up front or by a company-paid percentage of the hired person's first year pay.

Recruiting / Recruitment

To find and take on or hire a new employee.

Recruitment

Recruitment is the process of finding candidates,reviewing applicant credentials, screening potential employees, and selecting employees for an organization. Effective recruitment results in an organization hiring employees who are skilled, experienced, and good fits with your corporate culture. Recruitment methods should ensure engaged employees who are loyal to your organization.

REDEMPTIONER

A white emigrant from Europe who paid for his or her voyage to the New World by serving as a servant for a specific period of time. Also known as a freewiller.

Reentrants (Current Population Survey)

Unemployed persons who previously worked but were out of the labor force prior to beginning their job search.

Reference or Recommendation Letter

A reference letter is provided for an employee by people who are familiar with his or her work or character and who have positive remarks to make. The reference letter can be employment-related, personal, or it can attest to the character of the individual. Find out more about reference letters.

Reference person (Consumer Expenditure Survey)

The first member mentioned by the respondent when asked to "Start with the name of the person or one of the persons who owns or rents the home." It is with respect to this person that the relationship of the other consumer unit members is determined.

Reference: Employment Verification

The reason you are no longer working.

References: Job - Check Job References

References are people who are familiar with some aspect of your life and are willing to share what they know with another person to derive a benefit for you. A reference also refers to the content of the information that another person is willing to share about you. References are checked by potential employers, financial institutions,...

Referral Program

Region — Midwest

Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

Region — Northeast

Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

Region — South

Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Region — West

Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

Regions

Data are presented for four major regions: Northeast, Midwest, South, and West.

Registration

Maintaining the records of apprenticeship and training agreements and of training standards.

Regular quarterly meeting

A public meeting held quarterly by the WSATC as described in WAC 296-05-200.

Regular rate of pay

The "regular rate of pay" is the compensation an employee normally earns for the work they perform. The regular rate of pay includes a number of different kinds of remuneration, such as hourly earnings, salary, piecework earnings, and commissions. In no case may the regular rate of pay be less than the applicable minimum wage.

Rehabilitation Request form

A form by which a party to a vocational rehabilitation dispute requests assistance from the Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) to resolve the dispute. The request may lead to mediation or other efforts toward informal resolution by DLI Benefit Management and Resolution or to an administrative conference.

Related/supplemental instruction

nstruction approved by the program sponsor and taught by an instructor approved by the program sponsor. Instructors must be competent in their trade or occupation. A sponsor must review related/supplemental instruction annually to insure that it is relevant and current.

Relative importance (Consumer Price Index)

BLS publishes what is called a "relative importance" for each commodity and commodity grouping. The relative importance of an item represents its basic value weight, including any imputations, multiplied by the relative of price change from the weight date to the date of the relative importance calculation, expressed as a percentage of the total value weight for the "all commodities" category.

Release of Claims

A release of claims is a written legal contract between an employer and a former employee. The release of claims lays out an agreement between the departing employee and the employer, that in return for severance, the former employee agrees not to sue the employer. Find out more about a release of claims.

Relevant instruction

Related/supplemental instructional content that is directly required in and applicable to the performance of the apprentice's work. Relevant does not mean academic course content taught by a solely academically qualified instructor except for courses approved by the committee or specified by state law.

Religious Discrimination

Religious discrimination is prohibited by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of l964. According to this Act, religious discrimination by the employer is forbidden in hiring, firing, and other terms and conditions of employment. The Act also requires employers to reasonably accommodate the religious practices of an employee or prospective employee.

Remuneration

Payment for services.

Represented by unions (Current Population Survey)

Data refer to union members, as well as workers who reported no union affiliation but whose jobs are covered by a union or an employee association contract.

Reprimand for Disciplinary Action

A reprimand is an official notice to an employee, either verbal or written, that his or her performance is failing in some expected component. The reprimand is provided following the failure of informal supervisory coaching to help the employee improve. A reprimand is serious business.

Request for administrative conference form

A form by which the injured worker requests an administrative conference to contest a proposed discontinuance of wage-loss benefits (temporary total disability (TTD), temporary partial disability (TPD) or permanent total disability (PTD).

Reserve Ratio

The total excess wages on a date divided by the average taxable wages, shown as a percentage. The difference between premiums paid and benefits charged divided by the average annual taxable payroll for the three most recent calendar years ending on the computation date.

Resignation

When you resign from your job, you terminate or end your employment. You can resign from your job in a way that reinforces your professional image and keeps current employer relationships positive. You can resign from your job and keep doors open for future opportunities by building, not destroying, relationships with colleagues and customers. Use these tips to effectively resign from your job.

Resignation Letter

Definitions for a letter of resignation or a resignation letter for the human resources glossary of human resources related terms.

Resignation Notice

When an employee resigns from a job, two weeks’ notice is a traditional standard amount of time that the employee agrees to continue working for his or current employer. At the end of the two week work period, the employee is no longer an employee of the firm. Two weeks’ notice has some current variations and is often not required or.....

Respect

Everybody needs a little respect. You know when you have respect. You know when you don’t. But what is respect really? And, how is respect demonstrated at work? You can demonstrate respect with simple, yet powerful actions.

Respiratory condition due to toxic agents (Safety and Health statistics)

Examples: Pneumonitis, pharyngitis, rhinitis or acute congestion due to chemicals, dusts, gases, or fumes; farmer's lung.

Restricted-work-activity-only (RWAO) cases

Used in the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses results prior to 2002, RWAO cases are a subset of lost-workday (LWD) cases. RWAO cases are cases that have days away from work, but no days away from work.

Resume

A resume is a document that provides a potential employer with a detailed statement of your prior work experience, education, and accomplishments. The resume often supplies an employment objective; a summary of skills, knowledge, and potential contributions; a summary of civic, professional, and philanthropic volunteer work; a list of certifications; and mention of any additional, relevant cours….

Resume Cover Letter

The cover letter is the customized, business letter that accompanies the resume when a candidate applies for a position with your company. Job search experts tell applicants to target the cover letter contents to the position you have advertised. Applicants are also advised to match their skills and experience clearly to the stated requirements of the position you seek to fill. Learn more about t….

Retirement

Retirement is the point in time when an employee chooses to leave his or her employment permanently. Retirement generally coincides with the employee's eligibility to collect retirement resources such as Social Security, a company pension, or distributions from a 401(k) or another retirement plan. Retirement from employment marks the next....

Retirement plans (National Compensation Survey)

Includes defined benefit pension plans and defined contribution retirement plans.

RIGHT TO WORK LAWS

The term used by opponents of unions to institute open-shop laws in the state. The expression has nothing to do with guaranteeing anyone the right to a job.

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SABOTAGE: From the French word "sabot" or wooden shoe which workers threw into the machines to keep them from working. Workers have been perpetually fearful that new machines would take their jobs away from them and sabotage was one of their early answers to the Industrial Revolution. It was also a part of strike violence where strikers incapacitated machines or buildings in order to shut down production.
Salary: Salary is a fixed amount of money or compensation paid to an employee by an employer in return for work performed. Salary is paid, most frequently, in a bi-weekly paycheck to an exe,pt or professional employee. In most years, an employee’s salary is paid in 26 even paychecks over the course of the year..
Salary Grade: How Does a Salary Grade Work?: Salary grade is a step within a compensation system that defines the amount of pay an employee will receive. Salary grade is generally defined by the level of the responsibilities performed within the job description of the position and the length of time the employee has performed the job. Occasionally, the horizontal axis is related to the.....
Salary Negotiation: Salary negotiation is the process whereby the employer and the potential employee reach agreement on the terms and conditions of employment. A salary negotiation generally starts with an offer from the employer. The potential employee can accept the offer or choose to negotiate details of the offer, usually by a deadline stated by the employer......
Salary Range - How Does a Salary Range Work?: Salary range is the range of pay that has been established to be paid to employees performing a particular job or function. Salary range generally has a minimum pay rate, a maximum pay rate, and a series of mid-range opportunities for pay increases. The salary range is determined by market pay rates, established through market pay studies, for people doing similar work in similar industries in t…..
Same Party(ies) of Interest: A successor controlled directly or indirectly by an individual, type of organization, or employing unit, having a commonality of beneficial interests of those of the predecessor.
Sample: A subset of a universe; usually selected randomly and considered representative of the universe.
Sample frame: A listing of all units in the universe from which a sample can be drawn.
SBA: Small Business Administration.
SCAB: A worker who refuses to join the union or who works while others are striking. Also known as a "strikebreaker.
Screening Interview: Screening interviews are used to qualify a candidate before he or she meets with a hiring authority for possible selection. Screening interviews are usually quick, efficient and low cost strategies that result in a short list of qualified candidates. These interviews save time and money by eliminating unqualified candidates via phone or email.
SDA: Service Delivery Area.
Seasonal Employment: Work performed in an industry designated as seasonal during the time period determined by the unemployment insurance Commission.
Seasonally adjusted: Seasonal adjustment removes the effects of events that follow a more or less regular pattern each year. These adjustments make it easier to observe the cyclical and other nonseasonal movements in a data series.
SEC: Securities and Exchange Commission.
SECONDARY BOYCOTT: An effort to disrupt the business of an employer through boycott techniques, even though his own workers are not directly involved in the labor dispute.
Secondary or simultaneous activity (American Time Use Survey): A secondary or simultaneous activity is an activity done at the same time as a primary activity. With the exception of the care of children under age 13, information on secondary activities is not systematically collected in the American Time Use Survey.
Second-injury claim: A claim for which the insurer (or self-insured employer) is entitled to reimbursement from the Special Compensation Fund because the injury was a subsequent (or "second") injury for the worker concerned. The 1992 law eliminated reimbursement (to insurers) of "second-injury" claims for subsequent injuries occurring on or after July 1, 1992.
Secretary: The individual appointed by the director of the Department of Labor & Industries according to RCW 49.04.030.
Self Evaluation: Want to encourage more participation in performance evaluation and career planning from employees? Does your company use a traditional performance appraisal system? Or, does your company pursue a forward thinking performance management process? Whatever method your company uses for employee performance development, consider making an employee self evaluation an integral component in the process.
Self-Discipline: You can create a work environment and supervisory interactions which encourage the people you employ to develop and practice self-discipline. When people practice self-discipline, they control their own behavior.
Self-employed persons (Current Population Survey and American Time Use Survey): Those persons who work for profit or fees in their own business, profession, trade, or farm. Only the unincorporated self-employed are included in the self-employed category.
Self-insurance: A mode of workers' compensation insurance in which an employer or employer group insures itself or its members. To do so, the employer or employer group must meet financial requirements and be approved by the Minnesota Department of Commerce.
Semi Retired or Phased Retirement: Semi retired or phased retirement occurs when an employee elects to reduce his or her hours of employment. The semi retired employee may work part time. The employee who opts for phased retirement gradually reduces the hours that he or she works over time. Learn more about semi retired or phased retirement options for employees.
SENIORITY: A worker's length of service with an employer. In union contracts, seniority often determines layoffs from work and recalls back to wor.
Separating Employer: The worker's most recent employer prior to his filing a claim for benefits. The separating employer may or may not be a base period employer.
Separation (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey): See Turnover.
Separation Notice: The Rules and Regulations of the Tennessee Employment Security Law require every employer to furnish a Separation Notice to each employe whose employment has terminated or who is separated from his employment for an expected duration of seven days or more.
SEPARATION PAY: Payment to a worker who is permanently laid off his job through no fault of his own.
Separations rate (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey): See Turnover rate.
Series report: A form-based application that uses BLS time series identifiers as input in extracting data from each survey-specific database according to a specified set of date ranges and output options.
Service Award Rewards Employee Longevity and Loyalty: Service awards allow an organization to recognize employees for their longevity or time served with the organization. Service awards come in many variations. The approaches organizations use to recognize employees with a service award also varies. Find out more about service awards.
SERVICE FEE: Money, usually the equivalent of union dues, which members of an agency shop bargaining unit pay the union for negotiating and administering the Collective bargaining agreement.
Service-producing industries (Standard Industrial Classification): Includes transportation; communications; electric, gas, and sanitary services; wholesale trade; retail trade; finance, insurance, and real estate; and services.
Service-providing industries (North American Industry Classification System): Includes trade, transportation, and utilities; information; financial activities; professional and business services; education and health services; leisure and hospitality; other services.
SESA: State Employment Security Agency.
Settlement conference: A proceeding at the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) to resolve issues presented about a claim petition when it appears possible to settle the issues without a formal hearing. If a settlement is reached, it typically includes an agreement by the claimant to release the employer and insurer from future liability for the claim other than for medical treatment.
Severance Pay: Severance pay is money that an employer might want to provide for an employee who is leaving their employ. Normal circumstances that might warrant severance pay include layoffs, job elimination, and mutual agreement to part ways for whatever reason. Severance pay usually amounts to a week or two of pay for each year of service to the company. In some instances, a severance package might include extended benefits and outplacement assistance.
Sexual Harassment: Sexual harassment occurs when one employee makes continued, unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature, to another employee, against his or her wishes.
Sexual Harassment Investigation: When an employee complains of sexual or other harassment in your workplace, take the charge seriously and investigate. Here are the steps in a sexual harassment investigation. See my Definition of Sexual Harassment.
sheepherder: Any individual who tends flocks of sheep grazing on range or pasture; who moves sheep to and about an area assigned for grazing; who prevents sheep from wandering or becoming lost, or uses trained dogs to round up strays and protect sheep against predators and the eating of poisonous plants; who assists in the lambing, docking and shearing of sheep; who provides water or feeds sheep supplementary rations; and who performs such duties pursuant to an approved order filed under the federal "H2A" program or any successor program.
Shift: The designated hours of work for an employee, with a designated beginning time and quitting time.
Shift Work: Shift work occurs in a work schedule that utilizes 24 hours in the day and occasionally, 7 days a week to keep an organization operating. Shift work occurs whenever 24 hours a day coverage is necessary or when a 24 hour day optimizes work output and productivity.
SHOP UNION: Established by the Knights of Labor in the 1880s. Shop unions in the factory carried out the rule enforcements of the local assemblies.
Short List - Applicants on Your Short List Are Scheduled for Interviews: Short List - Applicants on Your Short List Are Scheduled for Interviews.
Short Term Disability Insurance: Short term disability insurance is an insurance policy that protects an employee from loss of income in the case that he or she is temporarily unable to work due to illness, injury, or accident. Find out more about short term disability insurance.
Short-term disability insurance: Provides short-term (typically 26 weeks) income protection to employees who are unable to work due to a non-work-related accident or illness.
SHRM: The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), founded in 1948, is the largest Human Resources industry professional association. SHRM represents more than 250,000 members in over 140 countries. At this writing, SHRM has more than 575 affiliated chapters in the United States and subsidiary offices in China and India.
SIC: Standard Industrial Classification.
Sick Days Policy: Paid sick days are time off from work that an organization voluntarily provides employees as a benefit. The number of paid sick days is often accrued by employees based on years of service to the organization and the level of their position. Other companies, however, keep paid sick days simple - every employee receives the same number of paid....
Sick Leave: Sick leave is paid time off from work that an organization voluntarily provides employees as a benefit. Sick leave is used when an employee is temporarily ill; some organizations also allow the use of sick leave to take care of ill family members. The amount of sick leave is often accrued by employees based on years of service to the organization and the level of their position. Other companies, however, keep sick leave simple - every employee receives the same amount of sick leave.
Significant Break in Coverage: Generally, a significant break in coverage is a period of 63 consecutive days during which you have no creditable coverage. In some states, the period is longer if your plan coverage is provided through an insurance policy or HMO. Days in a waiting period during which you had no other health coverage cannot be counted toward determining a significant break in coverage. For more information, see Questions and Answers: Recent Changes in Health Care Law.
Signing Bonus: A signing bonus is a lump sum of money that an employer provides a prospective employee. The purpose of the signing bonus is to entice the applicant to sign-on with the employer’s organization. The signing bonus is most often used with executive level positions or to recruit employees with special, hard-to-find skills. The signing bonus is also used, on occasion, to recruit high potential students out of college.
Similarly Situated Non-COBRA Beneficiaries: The group of covered employees, their spouses or dependent children who are covered under a group health plan maintained by the employer or employee organization. This group is receiving their benefits under the group plan and not through COBRA continuation coverage. They are most similarly situated to the circumstances of the qualified beneficiary immediately before the qualifying event.
SIMPOC: Statistical Information and Monitoring Program.
SIT-DOWN STRIKE: In June, 1934, Rex Murray, president of the General Tire local in Akron, Ohio, discussed a pending strike with fellow unionists. If they hit the bricks, the police would beat them up. But if they sat down inside the plant and hugged the machines, the police wouldn't use violence. They might hurt the machines! So began the era of the sitdown strikes effectively used by unions like the Rubber Workers and Auto Workers to build the CIO. The sit-down period lasted only through 1937, but it provided labor history with one of its most colorful chapters.
Shortage (as in shortage of workers): Shortages occur in a market economy when the demand for workers for a particular occupation is greater than the supply of workers who are qualified, available, and willing to do that job.
Slowdown: An effort, typically organized by a union, in which employees decrease productivity in order to bring pressure upon management. Generally a slowdown is used as an alternative to a strike and is seen as less disruptive.
SOCIAL UNIONISM: Unions which look beyond immediate objectives to try to reform social conditions and which also consider unionism as a means of appealing to needs of members which are not strictly economic. In addition to fighting for economic gains, social unions have education, health, welfare, artistic, recreation, and citizenship programs to attempt to satisfy needs of members' whole personalities. Labor, social unionists believe, has an obligation to better the general society.
SOL: Office of the Solicitor.
SOLL: Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses.
Source of injury or illness (Safety and Health statistics): The object, substance, exposure, or bodily motion that directly produced or inflicted the disabling condition cited. Examples include lifting a heavy box; exposure to a toxic substance, fire or flame; and bodily motion of an injured or ill worker.
SPD (Summary Plan Description): An important document that the plan administrator must provide to participants and beneficiaries that explains what coverage the plan offers, how the plan operates and the rights and responsibilities of participants and beneficiaries. Each SPD is different. If you need a copy of the SPD, contact your plan administrator.
Special Compensation Fund (SCF): A fund within the Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) that, among other things, pays uninsured claims and reimburses insurers (including self-insured employers) for supplementary and second-injury benefit payments. (The supplementary benefit and second-injury provisions only apply to older claims, because they were eliminated by the law changes of 1995 and 1992, respectively.) Revenues come primarily from an assessment on paid Indemnity benefits. The SCF also funds the operations of DLI, the workers' compensation portion of the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH), the Workers' Compensation Court of Appeals and workers' compensation functions in the Minnesota Department of Commerce.
Special Enrollment: The opportunity to enroll in a group health plan when certain work or life events occur, regardless of the plan’s regular enrollment dates. Generally, if certain conditions are met, special enrollment is available when you, your spouse or your dependents lose other coverage (including exhaustion of COBRA continuation coverage), when you marry or when you have a new child by birth, adoption or placement for adoption. The plan must give you at least 30 days--from the loss of coverage or from the date of the marriage, birth, adoption or placement for adoption--to request special enrollment. The maximum pre-existing condition exclusion that may be applied to a person upon special enrollment is 12 months (reduced by the person's prior creditable coverage). However, if enrolled within 30 days of birth, adoption or placement for adoption, children may be exempt from any pre-existing condition exclusion. A description of a plan's special enrollment rules must be given to the employee on or before the time the employee is offered the opportunity to enroll in the plan. For more information, see Questions and Answers: Recent Changes in Health Care Law.
SPEED UP: A word used by workers to describe employer attempts to increase their output without increasing their wages.
SPIR: Standard Program Information Report.
Sponsor: Any person, firm, association, committee, or organization operating an apprenticeship and training program and in whose name the program is registered or is to be registered.
SQSP: State Quality Service Plan.
SSA: Social Security Administration.
Stage-of-processing indexes (Producer Price Index): Stage-of-processing (SOP) price indexes regroup commodities at the subproduct class (6-digit) level according to the class of buyer and the amount of physical processing or assembling the products have undergone. The PPI publishes aggregate price indexes organized by commodity-based processing stage. The three stages of processing include Finished Goods; Intermediate Materials, Supplies, and Components; and Crude Materials for Further Processing.
Standard Base Period: The first four of the last five completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the establishment of a claimant's Benefit Year.
Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system: The SIC system has been used throughout the Federal Government to group establishments into industries. The SIC system is being gradually replaced by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). More information on the SIC system can be found in the Standard Industrial Classification Manual, 1987 (Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget), available in many libraries.
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system: This system is being adopted by Federal statistical agencies to classify workers into occupational categories for the purpose of collecting, calculating, or disseminating data. All workers are classified into 1 of more than 800 occupations according to their occupational definition. To facilitate classification, occupations are combined to form 23 major groups, 96 minor groups, and 449 broad occupations. Each broad occupation includes detailed occupations) requiring similar job duties, skills, education, or experience. More information
Standard tables (Consumer Expenditure Survey): Standard tables contain annual expenditure data organized by various demographic characteristics. The following standard tables are available: age of reference person, composition of consumer unit, education of reference person, higher income before taxes, Hispanic or Latino origin of reference person, housing tenure and type of area, income before taxes, number of earners in consumer unit, occupation of reference person, population size of area of residence, quintiles of income before taxes, race of reference person, region of residence, size of consumer unit, and selected age of reference person.
Standards: A written agreement containing specific provisions for operation and administration of the apprenticeship program and all terms and conditions for the qualifications, recruitment, selection, employment, and training of apprentices, as further defined in WAC 296-05-316.
STATE SOVEREIGNTY: The idea that the state is king and public employees had no right to make demands on it. In 1949 a New York court said: "To tolerate or recognize any combination of civil service employees of the government as a labor organization or union is not only incompatible with the spirit of democracy but inconsistent with every principle upon which our government is founded.
Statewide average weekly wage (SAWW): The average wage used by the Department of Labor and Industry to adjust certain workers' compensation benefits (see cost-of-living adjustment) and provider fee limits. The SAWW is also used in reports to adjust average benefit amounts for different years, so they are all expressed in constant (1998) wage-dollars. The SAWW, from the Department of Employment and Economic Development, is the average weekly wage of nonfederal workers covered under unemployment insurance .
STAWRS: Simplified Tax and Wage Reporting System.
Stipulated benefits: Indemnity and/or medical benefits specified in a "stipulation for agreement," which states the terms of settlement of a claim among the affected parties. A stipulation usually occurs in a dispute, but not always. The stipulation may be incorporated into a mediation agreement, or may be reached in a settlement conference or associated preparatory activities, in which case it must be approved by a workers' compensation judge. Stipulated benefits are usually paid in a lump sum.
STOOLPIGEON: A person hired by an employer to infiltrate the union and report on its activities.
Strategic Planning: Want help and samples to assist you to craft a mission statement that resonates and inspires? Both people and organizations need to establish a mission statement within a strategic framework to experience significant success. Identifying and sharing your mission statement, vision, values, strategies, goals and plans will engage your employees.....
Strategy: Strategies are the broadly defined four or five key approaches the organization will use to accomplish its mission and drive toward the vision.
STRETCHOUT: A workload increase that does not grant a commensurate pay increase.
Strike: A temporary stoppage of work by a group of workers (not necessarily union members) to express a grievance or enforce a demand. A strike is initiated by the workers of an establishment.
Student employee: Student employee" means an employee who is enrolled in high school, or in an accredited two-year community college or accredited four-year college or university, or who was so enrolled in the school semester or quarter or trimester most recently completed, provided the student attended school at least nine hours per week in such most recent school period and is pursuing a course of study aimed at receiving a diploma or degree.
STW: School-to-Work.
SUBCONTRACTING: The practice of employers getting work done by an outside contractor and not by workers in the bargaining unit. Also called "contracting out.
Subject Employer: An employer who is liable to pay Unemployment compensation Tax.
Succession Planning: Succession planning is a process whereby an organization ensures that employees are recruited and developed to fill each key role within the company. Succession planning ensures you can fill key roles from within your organization.
Successor: An employer that has acquired the organization, trade, business or substantially all the assets of an employer.
Successor Employer (Acquisition in Toto): An individual or employing unit who acquires a majority of the assets from the organization, trade or business. Successors immediately become liable for coverage, and inherit the experience rate and benefit charges of their predecessors. Successor employers may be held responsible for unpaid tax liabilities.
Successor Employers: Successor employers are those that have acquired in whole or in part a previous liable employer’s business, including-certain uncollectible obligations. A post-World War I employer movement which stressed freedom of industry to manage its business without union interference.
Supervision: The necessary education, assistance, and control provided by a journey-level employee that is on the same job site at least 75 percent of each working day, unless otherwise approved by the WSATC.
Supervisor: The individual appointed by the director of the department according to RCW 49.04.030 who acts as the secretary of the WSATC. Where these rules indicate a duty of the supervisor or secretary of the WSATC, the supervisor may designate a Department of Labor & Industries' employee to assist in the performance of those duties subject to the supervisor's oversight and direction.
Supplemental pay (National Compensation Survey): Supplemental pay includes overtime and premium pay for work in addition to the regular work schedule (such as weekends and holidays), shift differentials, and nonproduction bonuses (such as referral bonuses and lump-sum payments provided in lieu of wage increases).
SUPPLEMENTAL UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS: A provision in the union contract which provides laid-off workers with benefits in addition to Unemployment compensation.
Supplementary benefits: Additional benefits paid to certain workers receiving temporary total disability (TTD) benefits or permanent total disability (PTD) benefits for injuries prior to October 1992, or receiving PTD benefits for injuries from October 1992 through September 1995. For injuries from Oct. 1, 1983 forward, eligibility begins after 208 weeks of TTD or PTD benefits have been paid, or four years from the first date of total disability for TTD beneficiaries injured during October 1983 through September 1992, or PTD beneficiaries injured during October 1992 through September 1995. These benefits are equal to the difference between 65 percent of the statewide average weekly wage (SAWW) and the TTD or PTD benefit. The Special Compensation Fund reimburses insurers (and self-insured employers) for supplementary-benefit payments. For injuries on or after Oct. 1, 1995, supplementary benefits were repealed (see Appendix B).
Supply of workers: Often refers to the labor force. The concept focuses on worker characteristics, especially their education and training, but also characteristics such as experience (often considered to be correlated with age), physical strength (often considered to be inversely correlated with age), ability to work in teams, etc. Some demographic characteristics that are not to be considered in hiring and promotion decisions, but that are studied, include gender, race, ethnicity, parental and marital statuses. More information (PDF)
Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses: The survey, conducted jointly by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and state agencies, is the primary source of workplace injury and illness data nationwide. Approximately 5,000 Minnesota employers participate annually in the survey. The survey includes all cases on the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 200 log, their OSHA 300 logs (the form used to record injuries and illnesses in 2002). Injuries and illnesses logged by employers conform with definitions and recordkeeping guidelines set by OSHA. Data comes both from the log and from an additional set of questions regarding relatively serious cases -- those with at least one day off the job. The survey provides a large volume of information for the United States and individual states. This information includes the number and incidence of injuries and illnesses by industry and establishment size and, for cases resulting in time off the job, characteristics of injuries and illnesses, how they occur, severity (number of days away from work), length of time on the job when injured, occupation and worker characteristics. The national data, because of larger sample sizes, includes more detailed categories than the state data and contains smaller sampling errors. The survey defines different types of cases according to whether they have days off the job and/or work restrictions. For survey results prior to 2002, these include "lost-workday" (LWD) cases and "cases without lost workdays." LWD cases are divided into "days-away-from-work (DAFW) cases and "restricted-work-activity-only" (RWAO) cases. For survey results in 2002 and later, the case types include "cases with days away from work, job transfer or restriction" (DART) cases and "other recordable cases." DART cases are divided into DAFW cases and "cases with job transfer or restriction." An important issue with the BLS survey data is sampling error -- the random error in survey statistics that occurs because they are estimated from a sample. This sampling error is greater for smaller categories, such as particular industries, because of smaller sample size.
Survey reference week (Current Population Survey): The CPS, a survey of households, asks respondents about their labor market activities during a specific week each month. That week, called the survey reference week, is defined as the 7-day period, Sunday through Saturday, which includes the 12th of the month.
Survivor benefits: A series of payments to the dependents of deceased employees. Survivor benefits come in two types: First, the "transition" type pays the named beneficiary a monthly amount for a short period (usually 24 months). Transition benefits may then be followed by "bridge benefits," which are a series of payments that last until a specific date, usually the surviving spouse's 62nd birthday.
SUTA: State Unemployment Tax (SUTA), is a required tax paid by employers regardless of federal liability, which finances benefits disbursed from the unemployment insurance Fund.
Swine Flu H1N1 Should Matter to Employers: Employers have a legal obligation to provide a safe, disease-free workplace for employees. Consequently, you need to take proactive steps to prevent the potential spread of any contagious disease, including Swine Flu H1N1, in your workplace. Employers also need to address business continuity in the event that a Swine Flu H1N1 outbreak affects the ability of your employees to come to work.
SYMPATHY STRIKE: A strike by persons not directly involved in a labor dispute in order to show solidarity with the original strikers and increase pressure on the employer.

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TAA: Trade Adjustment Assistance.
TAFT-HARTLEY: In 1947, Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act which outlawed the closed shop, jurisdictional strikes, and secondary boycotts. It set up machinery for decertifying unions and allowed the states to pass more stringent legislation against unions such as right-to-work laws. Employers and unions were forbidden to contribute funds out of their treasuries to candidates for federal office, supervision was denied union protection, and the unions seeking the services of the National Labor Relations Board had to file their constitutions, by-laws, and financial statements with the U.S. Department of Labor. Their officers also had to sign a non-communist affidavit.
TANF: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
TAP: Transition Assistance Program.
TAPR: Trade Adjustment Participant Report.
Taxable Payroll: All Taxable wages paid by an employer to all employees during a calendar year.
TAYLORISM: Associated with the principles of "scientific management" advocated by Frederick W. Taylor at the beginning of the twentieth century. Tayor proposed time and motion studies of jobs to enable managers to set standards for more efficient production. Unions argued that Taylorism was the old speed up in modern dress.
Telecommuting: Telecommuting or working from home is a flexible work arrangement that enables an employee, a consultant, or a contractor, to work distantly from the employer all or part of the time. Learn more about telecommuting.
Temporary Employees: Temporary employees are hired to assist employers to meet business demands yet allow the employer to avoid the cost of hiring a regular employee. Sometimes, it is the expectation of the employer that if the temporary employee is successful, the temporary employee will be hired.
Temporary help agency: Establishment primarily engaged in supplying workers to client businesses for limited periods of time to supplement the work force of the client; the individuals provided are employees of the temporary help service establishment, but these establishments do not provide direct supervision of their employees.
Temporary partial disability (TPD): A wage-replacement benefit paid if the worker is employed with earnings that are reduced because of a work-related injury or illness, provided three calendar-days have passed, starting with the first day of disability. (A day of disability is a day with any loss of work time or wages due to the injury or illness.) The benefit is equal to two-thirds of the difference between the worker's gross pre-injury wage and his or her gross current wage, subject to a maximum weekly amount, and is paid at the same intervals as wages were paid before the injury. For injuries on or after Oct. 1, 1992, TPD benefits are limited to a total of 225 weeks and to the first 450 weeks after the injury (with an exception for approved retraining).
Temporary total disability (TTD): A wage-replacement benefit paid if the worker is unable to work because of a work-related injury or illness, provided three calendar-days have passed, starting with the first day of disability. (A day of disability is a day with any loss of work time or wages due to the injury or illness.) The benefit is equal to two-thirds of the worker's gross pre-injury wage, subject to minimum and maximum weekly amounts, and is paid at the same intervals as wages were paid before the injury. Currently, TTD stops if: (1) the employee returns to work; (2) the employee withdraws from the labor market; (3) the employee fails to diligently search for work within his or her physical restrictions; (4) the employee is released to work without physical restrictions from the injury; (5) the employee refuses an appropriate offer of employment; (6) 90 days have passed after the employee has reached maximum medical improvement or completed an approved retraining plan; (7) the employee fails to cooperate with an approved vocational rehabilitation plan or with certain procedures in the development of such a plan; or (8) 104 weeks of TTD have been paid (with an exception for approved retraining).
TENANT FARMER: When southern plantations were broken up after the Civil War, blacks and poor whites were controlled by landowners through sharecropping. The tenant farmer paid roughly a third of his crop to the landlord, a third for provisions, tools, and other necessities, and. he kept whatever was left. Unsuccessful efforts were made in the 1930s to organize tenant farmers by the Southern Tenant Farmers Union. More sustained attempts at farm worker organization are being made today.
Terms of trade: Allocation of inputs into two or more economies that take advantage of differences in comparative advantages and, through specialization, improve the production of the economies. Note that a change in the terms of trade should cause all domestic production to change (that is, reallocates all inputs), rather than just imports.
The Americans With Disabilities Act - An Employer’s Responsibilities: The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) makes it unlawful for an employer with 15 or more employees to discriminate against a qualified individual with a disability. The Michigan Persons with Disabilities Civil Rights Act, which is similar to the ADA in many respects, covers employers with one or more employees; other states may similarly define different laws for workplace treatment of people with disabilities. This article addresses disability law issues relevant to employers.
The Family and Medical Leave Act: As most employers are now aware, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requires covered employers to provide twelve weeks of unpaid leave to eligible employees within a 12-month period. The FMLA applies to private employers with 50 or more employees, and to all public employers. Learn the answers to several common questions you may have about the Family and Medical Leave Act.
Time off benefit: Provides paid or unpaid leave for specific uses, such as lunch periods, holidays and vacations, and maternity and paternity leave.
Time/Index series: A way of expressing, in percentage terms, the change in some variable from a given point in time to another point in time. For example, suppose output increased by 10 percent from an initial year (1987) to a subsequent year (1988). The index for the base year of 1987 in this example would be 100.0, while the index for 1988 would be 110.0. Conversely, if output had declined in 1988 by 10 percent, the 1988 index value would be 90.0.
Touchtone Data Entry (TDE): An automated method of collecting data in which respondents call a toll-free number and enter their data using a touchtone telephone.
TRA: Trade Readjustment Act which provides benefits to persons affected by foreign imports (see Special Provisions FAQs-TRA).
Trade: Any apprenticeable occupation defined by the apprenticeship, training, employer and labor services section of the United States Department of Labor and these rules.
Trainee: An individual registered with the supervisor according to WAC 296-05-311.
Training agent: mployer of registered apprentices approved by the program sponsor to furnish on-the-job training to satisfy the approved apprenticeship program standards who agrees to employ registered apprentices in that work process. The training agent shall use only registered apprentices to perform the work processes of the approved program standards.
Training agreement: written agreement between a training agent and a program sponsor that contains the provisions of the apprenticeship program applicable to the training agent and the duties of the training agent in providing on-the-job training.
Training Program: Standard Training Program Title associated with the CIP Code.
Training Transfer Enables Employees to Apply Skills Learned: Training transfer is performing certain activities before, during, and after a training session that enable employees to more effectively and quickly apply the skills learned in training on the job. Training transfer is the goal when employees are involved in any internal or external training activity, session, seminar, or on-the-job training. Find out more about training transfer.
Transaction price: The market sale price of a good or input shows what has to be given in exchange to obtain a good or service. It is usually denoted in money terms, although payment need not be in a monetary form. The relative price is expressed in terms of the quantity of some other good which has to be given in exchange for the original good. Thus, if all prices increase at the same rate, absolute prices will rise but relative prices will remain unchanged.
Transfer Is a Career Pathing Opportunity: A transfer is another approach to helping employees develop a career path. A transfer provides experience in other areas or departments within the business. Find out more about transfers in business.
Trust: In a culture of trust, transparent communication forms a foundation for building relationships. Trust "is the state of readiness for unguarded interaction with someone or something," according to Duane Tway. He developed a model of trust that includes three components. He calls trust a construct because it is "constructed" of these three components: "the capacity for trusting, the perception of c… A post-World War I employer movement which stressed freedom of industry to manage its business without union interference.
Trust - Interpersonal and Organizational: Dr, Duane C. Tway defines trust as, 'the state of readiness for unguarded interaction with someone or something.'
Trust Fund: The unemployment insurance Trust Fund established by the Tennessee Employment Security Law to which all state unemployment premiums are paid and from which all unemployment benefits are paid.
Tuition Assistance: Tuition assistance is an employer-provided employee benefit that is a win-win for your workplace. In a tuition assistance program, an employer pays all or part of an employee's cost to attend college or university classes. Tuition assistance helps employers build employee loyalty. Find out more about how tuition assistance works for the employer....
Turnover: You can reduce turnover, valued employees leaving your company and organization by their choice. Competitive salary and benefits, flexible schedule options, and tuition assistance are three basics in employee retention. Especially for millennial employees, these are ways in which employers can reduce turnover. Find out more about preventing turnover especially for your key employees.
Turnover (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey): Separation of an employee from an establishment (voluntary, involuntary, or other).
Turnover rate (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey): The number of total separations during the month divided by the number of employees who worked during or received pay for the pay period that includes the 12th of the month (monthly turnover); the number of total separations for the year divided by average monthly employment for the year (annual turnover).
Two Weeks' Notice: When an employee resigns from a job, two weeks’ notice is a traditional standard amount of time that the employee agrees to continue working for his or current employer. At the end of the two week work period, the employee is no longer an employee of the firm. Two weeks’ notice has some current variations and is often not required or....

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U.S. Department of Labor: The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is the federal agency charged with promoting the best interests of wage earners, job searchers, and retirees. The DOL does this by: 'improving their working conditions, advancing their opportunities for profitable employment, protecting their retirement and health care benefits, helping employers find...
UCFE: Unemployment compensation for Federal Employees, which is the benefit program for former federal employees.
UCX: Unemployment compensation for Ex-Service Personnel, which is the benefit program for ex-military personnel. (see Applying for Uemployment Insurance FAQs - Military Service).
UI: unemployment insurance .
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD: A system of clandestine routes toward Canada whereby abolitionists helped fugitive slaves escape to freedom.
Unemployed: A worker is considered "unemployed" in any calendar week during which he earns no wages or in any calendar week of less than full-time work during which he earns wages that are less than his weekly benefit amount.
Unemployed persons (Current Population Survey): Persons aged 16 years and older who had no employment during the reference week, were available for work, except for temporary illness, and had made specific efforts to find employment sometime during the 4-week period ending with the reference week. Persons who were waiting to be recalled to a job from which they had been laid off need not have been looking for work to be classified as unemployed.
Unemployment Compensation: Unemployment compensation was created by the Social Security Act of 1935 to protect workers who became unemployed through no fault of their own. The federal government provides incentives and guidelines to the states about unemployment compensation, but each state is responsible for its own guidelines and program for unemployment compensation.
Unemployment Insurance: The joint federal-state program that provides for payment of benefits to the unemployed and collects premiums and wage information from employers to pay for the benefits and to determine an individual's eligibility for unemployment benefits.
unemployment insurance Commission: This body, comprised of three members representing employers, labor, and the general public hears employer appeals. A decision is rendered, and the employer may appeal within 10 days. The Commission members are appointed by the Governor and approved by the State Senate for a term of six years.
Unemployment rate: The unemployment rate represents the number unemployed as a percent of the labor force.
UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES: Defined by the National Labor Relations Act and by the Taft-Hartley Act as practices of discrimination, coercion, and intimidation prohibited to labor and management. Management cannot form company unions or use coercive tactics to discourage union organization. Unions cannot force workers to join organizations not of their own choosing.
UNION LABEL: A stamp or a tag on products to show that the work was done by union labor.
Union membership data: Refers to wage and salary workers who report that they are members of a labor union or an employee association similar to a union.
UNION SECURITY: A clause in the contract providing for the union shop, maintenance of membership or the agency shop.
UNION SHOP: A shop where every member; of the bargaining unit must become a member of the union after a specified amount of time.
Unit labor costs (Productivity and Costs): Unit labor costs show the growth in compensation relative to that of real output. These costs are calculated by dividing total labor compensation by real output. Changes in unit labor costs can be approximated by subtracting the change in productivity from the change in hourly compensation.
Unit value indexes: Unit value indexes are calculated by dividing the total value of goods in a commodity area by the total quantity of goods in that commodity area.
Universe: The total number of units (for example, individuals, households, or businesses) in the population of interest.
Unpaid family workers (Current Population Survey and American Time Use Survey): Persons who work without pay for 15 or more hours per week on a farm or in a business operated by a member of the household to whom they are related by birth or marriage.
USAID: U.S. Agency for International Development.
USDA: U.S. Department of Agriculture.
USPS: U.S. Postal Service.
Usual hours (Current Population Survey): Respondents are asked the number of hours per week they usually work. This provides a measure of the usual full-time or part-time status of employed persons. All employed persons, both those who were at work and those who were absent from work, are asked about the number of hours they usually work.
Usual weekly earnings (Current Population Survey): Wage and salary earnings before taxes and other deductions; includes any overtime pay, commissions, or tips usually received (at the main job, in the case of multiple jobholders). Earnings reported on a basis other than weekly (for example, annual, monthly, hourly) are converted to weekly. The term "usual" is as perceived by the respondent. If the respondent asks for a definition of usual, interviewers are instructed to define the term as more than half the weeks worked during the past 4 or 5 months. Data refer to wage and salary workers only, excluding all self-employed persons (regardless of whether their businesses were incorporated) and all unpaid family workers.
UTF: Unemployment Trust Fund.

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VA

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Vacancy (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey)

See Job opening.

Vacancy rate (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey)

See Job openings rate.

Vacation Days Policy

Paid vacation days are time off work an organization provides employees as a benefit. The number of paid vacation days is generally accrued by employees based on years of service to the organization.

Value Add

Your value add is the real contribution you make to your organization’s success. While doing the activities listed in your job description or your job specification is important and makes a contribution, your value add moves beyond activities or actions performed and illuminates, instead, the actual contributions you made to your organization’s success.

Value Statements

Value statements are grounded in values and define how people want to behave with each other in the organization. They are statements about how the organization will value customers, suppliers, and the internal community. Value statements describe actions which are the living enactment of the fundamental values held by most individuals within the organization.

Values Are What You Believe

Values are traits or qualities that you consider not just worthwhile, they represent an individual's or organization's highest priorities, deeply held beliefs, and core, fundamental driving forces. Values or guiding principles define what your organization believes and how you want your organization resonating with and appealing to employees and.....

Variable Pay

Variable pay is used generally to recognize and reward employee contribution toward company productivity, profitability, team work, safety, quality, or some other metric deemed important. Variable pay changes depending upon the circumstances. Learn more about variable pay.

Verbal Warning - Employees Receive a Verbal Warning for Poor Performance

Supervisors issue a verbal warning to an employee when poor performance warrants a disciplinary action more severe than supervisory coaching or counseling.

VETS

Veterans’ Employment and Training Service.

Vice President

The vice president is an officer of an organization in the private sector ( business) or the public sector who reports to (is below) the president, and usually functions as the second in command in rank within the organization. According to Wikipedia, the name, vice president, comes from the Latin vice meaning “in place of.” Find out more about....

Victim of domestic violence

A "victim of domestic violence" is any of the following persons against whom the abuse is perpetrated:

1. A spouse or former spouse.

2. A cohabitant or former cohabitant.

3. A person who is having or has had a dating or engagement relationship with the perpetrator of the violence.

4. A person who has had a child by the perpetrator of the violence.

5. A child of a party.

6. Any other person related by consanguinity or affinity within the second degree. Family Code Section 6211..

Vision Insurance

Vision insurance is a lower cost addition to a comprehensive Benefits Package for employees that is provided by employers. Vision insurance is often an optional addition to a comprehensive health policy. Vision insurance pays for employees to have regular vision examinations and pays for a percentage of the cost of corrective equipment to treat.....

Vision Is Your Desired Future

A vision is a picture of your organization's desired future expressed in a way that resonates with all members of the organization. The vision is shared with employees, customers, shareholders, vendors, and candidates for employment and creates shared meaning about what your organization wants to become. Learn more about what a vision is at it....

Vocational rehabilitation consultation

The first in-person meeting between the injured worker and a qualified rehabilitation consultant (QRC), to determine whether the injured worker is a "qualified employee" -- eligible for rehabilitation services. The QRC reports to the Department of Labor and Industry about the consultation by filing a Rehabilitation Consultation Report form.

Vocational rehabilitation plan

A plan for vocational rehabilitation services developed by the qualified rehabilitation consultant (QRC) in consultation with the employee and the employer and/or insurer. The plan is developed after the QRC determines the injured worker is eligible for rehabilitation services, and is filed with DLI and provided to the affected parties. The plan indicates the vocational goal, the services necessary to achieve the goal and their expected duration and cost.

Vocational rehabilitation waiver

A delay in an injured worker's vocational rehabilitation eligibility consultation, requested by the insurer on the Disability Status Report (DSR) form and granted by the Department of Labor and Industry (DLI). DLI grants the waiver if the insurer and employer document that the employee will return to "suitable gainful employment" with the employer within 180 days of injury. If the employee is not working after 180 days, a rehabilitation consultation must be conducted.

Voluntary Contribution

Voluntary contributions may be made in addition to regular contributions within 30 days of a contribution rate notice. After voluntary contributions are made, the employer’s rate is recalculated to show the additional payment. Voluntary contributions can help an employer improve its contribution rate. A new employer with the average employer rate may not elect to make voluntary contributions.

Voluntary Election

With permission from the Commissioner of Labor, an exempt employer may choose voluntarily to be covered by unemploymentinsurance. If an exempt employer is allowed to be covered voluntarily, it must make contributions for a minimum of two years.

Voluntary market

The workers' compensation insurance market associated with policies issued voluntarily by insurers. Insurers may choose whether to insure a particular employer. See Assigned Risk Plan.

VPP

Voluntary Protection Program.

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W-4 Form – Tax Withholding: Employees fill out Form W-4 to determine the appropriate amount of federal income tax that an employer should withhold from each paycheck so that your tax liability is covered. Employees should consider filling out a new Form W-4 annually so that the amount of federal income tax withheld is correct.
WAC: The Washington Administrative Code.
Wage and salary workers: Workers who receive wages, salaries, commissions, tips, payment in kind, or piece rates. The group includes employees in both the private and public sectors.
Wage Garnishment: Wage garnishment is a legal procedure in which a person’s earnings are required by court order to be withheld by an employer for the payment of a debt such as child support.
Wage orders: See Industrial Welfare Commission Orders.
Wage Protest: An investigation initiated by a claimant who believes his wages were not reported correctly.
Wages: This term refers to all remuneration for personal services, specifically, it includes commissions, bonuses, severance or terminal pay, gratuities, and the cash value of other forms of payment, such as room and board. Vacation and holiday pay, as well as compensation paid to corporate officers outside of stock ownership are also included. All amounts for labor performed by employees of every description, whether the amount is fixed or ascertained by the standard of time, task, piece, commission basis, or other method of calculation. Labor Code Section 200(a) A "wage" is defined as money or other value that is received by an employee as compensation for labor or services performed. "Other value" could include room, board, clothes, and other benefits to which the employee is entitled as a part of his or her compensation. All remuneration paid for personal services from whatever source (salaries, commissions, bonuses, drawing accounts, fees, vacation pay, and wages in lieu of notice) are considered "wages" for unemployment insurance purposes. Payments made to employees in a medium other than cash are also considered "wages", except for meals, lodging, and clothing when furnished for the employer's convenience and on his premises.
Wages and salaries: Hourly straight-time wage rate or, for workers not paid on an hourly basis, straight-time earnings divided by the corresponding hours. Straight-time wage and salary rates are total earnings before payroll deductions, excluding premium pay for overtime and for work on weekends and holidays, shift differentials, and nonproduction bonuses such as lump-sum payments provided in lieu of wage increases. (See Earnings.)
Waiting Period: The period that must pass before an employee or dependent is eligible to enroll (becomes covered) under the terms of the group health plan. If the employee or dependent enrolls as a late enrollee or on a special enrollment date, any period before the late or special enrollment is not a waiting period. If a plan has a waiting period and a pre-existing condition exclusion, the pre-existing condition exclusion period begins when the waiting period begins. Days in a waiting period are not counted toward creditable coverage unless there is other creditable coverage during that time. You should try to maintain creditable coverage during a waiting period to reduce any pre-existing condition exclusion that may apply. Days in a waiting period are also not counted when determining a significant break in coverage. Before any benefits can be paid, an unpaid waiting period equivalent to one full week of unemployment benefits must be served. You are subject to the same eligibility requirements for this period as you are when you claim a benefit payment. If you work at all during the first week of your claim, or for other reasons do not serve a full waiting week, this unpaid time extends into the next week(s). The calendar week, after filing a valid claim that establishes a Benefit Year, during which the claimant received no wages or has received wages less than his weekly benefit amount. No benefits are paid for this period. The claimant will get credit for the waiting week that ends on Saturday at midnight regardless of the day of filing the claim during the previous week.
WALKING DELEGATE: A unionist who policed jobs to see that workers were getting fair treatment.
WARN: Workers Adjustment Retraining Notification Act.
WARN Act Requirements: The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act) offers: "protection to workers, their families and communities by requiring employers to provide notice 60 days in advance of covered plant closings and covered mass layoffs. This notice must be provided to either affected workers or their representatives (e.g., a labor union); to the State dislocated worker unit; and to the appropriate unit of local government." The WARN Act requires 60 days notice to stakeholders.
WB: Women’s Bureau.
WDPM: Workforce Development Performance Measures.
Week Ending Date: The week ending date is the Sunday date which is the last day of the week for which you are claiming benefits.
Week of Unemployment: A calendar week during which a worker performed less than full-time work and earned less than his weekly benefit amount.
Weekly hours: The expected or actual period of employment for the week, usually expressed in number of hours. Some uses of the term may relate to the outside dimensions of a week (for example, 7 consecutive days).
WHISARD: Wage Hour Investigator Support and Reporting Database.
WHITE-COLLAR WORKERS: Workers who have office jobs rather than factory, farm, or construction work.
Wholesale Price Index (WPI): The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) was the original name of the Producer Price Index (PPI) program from its inception in 1902 until 1978, when it was renamed (PPI). At the same time, emphasis was shifted from one index encompassing the whole economy, to three main indexes covering the stages of production in the economy. By changing emphasis, BLS greatly reduced the double-counting phenomenon inherent in aggregate commodity-based indexes.
WIA: Workforce Investment Act.
Willful failure to pay wages: A "willful" failure to pay wages within the meaning of Labor Code Section 203 occurs when an employer intentionally fails to pay wages to an employee when those wages are due. However, a good faith dispute that any wages are due will preclude imposition of waiting time penalties under Labor Code Section 203. Title 8, California Code of Regulations, Section 13520 The term "willful" as used in Labor Code Section 203 and as defined in civil court decisions does not necessarily imply anything blameworthy or evil intent, but rather that the person knows what he or she is doing, is a free agent, and fails to perform a required act.
WOBBLIES: A nickname for members of the Industrial Workers of the World. The origin of the word is unknown.
Women's Health and Cancer Rights Act (WHCRA): WHCRA is a federal law that provides important protections for individuals who have undergone a mastectomy. For more information, see Your Rights After a Mastectomy: The Women's Health and Cancer Rights Act.
Work Coaching: Coaching (work coaching) is a method used by managers and supervisors to provide positive or constructive feedback to employees to help them continue excellent performance or identify ways to improve performance.
Work levels (National Compensation Survey): The National Compensation Survey produces earnings data by levels of work within an occupation. The duties and responsibilities of a job are evaluated using four factors (such as knowledge, and complexity of the work) to determine a work level. Levels vary by occupation, ranging from 1 to 15. For example, level 1 may represent an entry level, while level 15 may represent master-level skills.
Work relationship (Safety and Health Statistics): An employee must have had a verifiable work relationship with his or her employer to be included in the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries. A work relationship exists if an event or exposure results in fatal injury or illness to a person under the following conditions: (1) ON the employer’s premises and the person was there to work; or (2) OFF the employer’s premises and the person was there to work, or the event or exposure was related to the person’s work status as an employee. The employer’s premises include buildings, grounds, parking lots, and other facilities and property used in the conduct of business. Work is defined as legal duties, activities, or tasks that produce a product as a result and that are done in exchange for money, goods, services, profit, or benefit.
Work Sharing: Work sharing is an unemployment insurance (UI) program that allows an employer to reduce the number of hours an employee works during a week while Unemployment compensation makes up some of the difference in income. So, if a company is experiencing less demand for its products and consequently fewer sales and down revenue, it can submit a plan requesting work sharing to UI to cushion the reduced hours for its employees.
Work stoppage: A strike or a lockout.
workday: Workday” is defined in the Industrial Welfare Commission Orders and Labor Code § 500 for the purpose of determining when daily overtime is due. A workday is a consecutive 24-hour period beginning at the same time each calendar day, but it may begin at any time of day. The beginning of an employee’s workday need not coincide with the beginning of that employee’s shift, and an employer may establish different workdays for different shifts. However, once a workday is established it may be changed only if the change is intended to be permanent and the change is not designed to evade overtime obligations. Daily overtime is due based on the hours worked in any given workday; and the averaging of hours over two or more workdays is not allowed.
Workers' Compensation: Workers' compensation laws make certain that an employee who is injured as a result of an accident on the job or who contracts a disease as a result of performing his or her job, will receive compensation and medical benefits. Every state requires that employers purchase workers' compensation insurance to ensure that employees, who are affected by illness or injury, and their dependants, are protected against significant hardships in case of injury, illness, or death.
Workers' Compensation Court of Appeals (WCCA): An executive-branch body that hears appeals of workers' compensation decisions from the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH). The next and final level of appeal is the Minnesota Supreme Court.
Workers' Compensation Reinsurance Association (WCRA): A nonprofit entity created by law to provide reinsurance to workers' compensation insurers (including self-insureds) in Minnesota. Every workers' compensation insurer must purchase "excess of loss" reinsurance (reinsurance for losses above a specified limit per event) from the WCRA. Insurers may obtain other forms of reinsurance (such as aggregate coverage for total losses above a specified amount) through other means.
WORKIES: A nickname for members of the workingmen's associations in the 1820s and '30s.
Work-Life Balance: Work-life balance supports the efforts of employees to split their time and energy between work and the other important aspects of life. Work-life balance is a daily effort to make time for family, friends, community participation, spirituality, personal growth, self care, and other activities, in addition to the demands of the workplace. Work-life balance is assisted by employers who institute policies, procedures, actions, and expectations that enable employees to easily pursue balanced lives.
Worklife estimates: Estimates of the number of years individuals would spend in the labor force based on mortality conditions, labor force entry and exit rates, and demographic characteristics. BLS has not produced worklife estimates since February 1986. Last publication: Worklife Estimates: Effects of Race and Education PDF 1.32 MB
Workplace - What Is a Workplace?: A workplace is the location at which an employee provides work for an employer. Find out more about the workplace.
Workweek: Any seven consecutive days, starting with the same calendar day each week beginning at any hour on any day, so long as it is fixed and regularly occurring. "Workweek" is a fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 hours, seven consecutive 24-hour periods. An employer may establish different workweeks for different employees, but once an employee's workweek is established, it remains fixed regardless of his or her working schedule. An employee's workweek may be changed only if the change is intended to be permanent and is not designed to evade the employer's overtime obligation.
WPRS: Worker Profiling and Reemployment Services.
Written premium: The entire "bottom-line" premium for insurance policies initiated in a given year, regardless of when the premium comes due and is paid. Written premium is "bottom line" in that it reflects all premium modifications in the pricing of the policies.
Written Reprimand Sample: This sample written reprimand is issued to a non-performing employee so that he or she understands the gravity of the problem that the failure to perform is creating. In a role that requires consistent attendance, this written reprimend corrects the behavior of a tardy employee. See the sample written reprimand.
Wrongful Termination of Employment Is Illegal: An employee experiences wrongful termination if their employment is ended for reasons that are discriminatory and unlawful. Wrongful termination also occurs when an employer fails to follow their written procedures for employment termination. From an employer's perspective, avoid wrongful termination charges to demonstrate that you treat all.....
WSATC: The Washington State Apprenticeship and Training Council. The Council has statutory and regulatory responsibility for governing apprenticeship and training program in the state of Washington. (RCW 49.04 and WAC 296-05) The Council's primary function is to approve and register apprenticeship and training agreements. Persons or organizations desiring to institute an apprenticeship training program must first propose their committee and standards to conform to apprenticeship laws and regulations for consideration of approval by the Council.
WtW: Welfare-to-Work.

Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) Index

Standard Industrial Classifications (SIC) Index

Occupational Information Network (ONET) Index

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