Nominees announced for SNPA Foundation Board of Trustees
The trustees, in turn, will elect their officers – also that same morning.
Read this article to see who has been nominated as new trustees. MORE
Les Simpson nominated as president of SNPA for 2017-18
SNPA members will elect officers for 2017-18 on Monday afternoon, Sept. 11, in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Read this article to see who has been nominated to the SNPA Board of Directors.
Court of Appeals reverses NLRB on handbook policies
In recent years, the National Labor Relations Board has relentlessly attacked common sense policies found in many employee handbooks. I have been hoping that the U.S. Court of Appeals would correct these egregious decisions. I am delighted to report that, on July 25, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit issued an opinion in a case involving T-Mobile that did just that.
MOREDo you have a Sales Rep Evaluation Form that you can share?
An SNPA member is seeking an advertising sales rep evaluation form. Do you have one that you can share?
MORE
Latest updates on N.C. legislative presumption
As previously reported, North Carolina newspapers have been fighting to maintain the tremendous advantage they have enjoyed in Workers' Compensation legislation for the last 20 years, in the form of a legislative presumption of independent contractor status for newspaper carriers.
At the very end of the legislative session on June 28, a modified version of H.B. 205 passed in both Houses. This bill would have removed the legislative presumption. Fortunately, on July 17, Governor Roy Cooper vetoed the new legislation.
MOREMeet the NEX GEN class of 2017-18
Read bios of 2017-18 NEX GEN participants.
MORE
Don't think any praise is good praise
Many managers think that handing out praise indiscriminately is better than not praising at all.
They are wrong. If you hand out praise the wrong way, at the wrong time, or for the wrong reasons, it can do more harm than good. Here are some guidelines to follow when using praise to motivate employees:
MORE
U.S. Department of Labor overtime rule update
The DOL is inviting comments on the 2016 revisions to white collar exemption regulations. Here are specific questions that will be addressed.
MORE
Calculating your purchase price
Regardless of how a buyer and seller come to terms, even if the value seems to be there, there is one more factor a buyer should consider – can this business repay my investment in a timely manner or make loan payments – and still provide me with an income?
MORE
NC governor vetoes bill to remove independent contractor presumption
On Monday, July 17, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper vetoed legislation that would have removed the independent contractor presumption that the state's newspaper industry has enjoyed for the last 20 years. As previously reported, the presumption was removed on June 28 when a modified version of House Bill 205 passed in a midnight session of the Legislature.
MORE
NLRB independent contractor status update
The National Labor Relations Board has held that companies do not violate the National Labor Relations Act solely by misclassifying employees as independent contractors. Bottom line: the decision to classify an individual as an independent contractor rather than an employee will not, by itself, subject an employer to liability under the National Labor Relations Act.
MoreDevelop a plan now to address Department of Labor's proposed overtime rule
The U.S. Department of Labor's rule to increase the salary threshold for the overtime exemption of executive, administrative and professional employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act has not yet been finalized.
The March 7 proposed rule was open for comments for a 60-day period. The Department of Labor received more than 116,000 public comments. The Department of Labor sent its final draft of the rule to the White House and the Office of Management and Budget on Aug. 12. The text of the final rule has not been made public.
When the final rule is published with an effective date, many expect unions and worker advocates to mount legal challenges to the rule. Even though the final rule may be challenged, it would be wise to be developing a plan now to address this huge budgetary issue.
This column focuses on the standard salary threshold, which will have the most dramatic impact on your company, and offers an action plan to address the standard salary threshold increase.
MoreSNPA / Inland Merger: Looking ahead to preserving and promoting First Amendment values
As we celebrate joining together SNPA and Inland, it is worth at least a moment to honor the first principles of the newspaper industry that gave rise to both groups. And those, without a doubt, are freedom of the press and the parallel right to know and to distribute news.
Honoring those principles requires some reflection on the industry's singular role in building America's First Amendment foundation. And it is safe to say that SNPA's and Inland's member newspapers can fairly take credit for shaping the free speech and free press tradition of the republic like no other industry and, for that matter, like no other country on earth.
More