IN THIS ISSUE:
2010 Nevada Entrepreneur Award Winner:
Mary Beth Hartleb
LEGAL BRIEF:
SUPREME COURT RESOLVES CONFLICT ON
AWARDING ATTORNEY FEES IN ERISA CASES
SNHRA Member Spotlight:
Gina Borowitz of Sodexo
PLUS:
Earlier this year, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) publicly pledged to promote the mission and activities of the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR). As a formal recognition of this partnership, Laurence O'Neil, SHRM President, signed a Statement of Support. SHRM challenged all chapter members to follow suit.
In conjunction with Veteran's Day, SNHRA pledged its support at the November 9, 2010 Membership Meeting. Representatives from the ESGR were in attendance and the ceremony took place following the meeting. SNHRA would like to thank Paul Bessette, ESGR Program Support Manager – Nevada, and his colleagues for attending the meeting and talking with HR professionals about how they can also support ESGR and its mission.
If you would like more information on ESGR and its programs or to pledge your support, you can contact Paul at paul.l.bessette.ctr@us.army.mil. If you weren't able to attend the November 9, 2010 SNHRA meeting, you can see a photo and description of the ceremony on the ESGR website here.
Congratulations to Mary Beth Hartleb, director of the SHRM Nevada State Council and CEO of PRISM Human Resource and Insurance Services (and past president of SNHRA)! Hartleb was recently honored as a recipient of the 2010 Nevada Entrepreneur Award.
This annual award recognizes owners of five prestigious companies that have made a positive impact on the Southern Nevada community. Honorees are most notably risk takers, self-starters, and creative and enterprising business people. Dozens of companies were nominated and received consideration for their achievements and contributions to others.
Staff members from the 2010 Nevada Entrepreneur Award conducted intensive research and interviews to narrow the field down to the most exceptional. Sharing her excitement with us, Hartleb says, "I'm thrilled to have received this award during the celebration of PRISM's seven-year anniversary. My SHRM colleagues, clients, family and friends have contributed so much toward my company's success; I couldn't have done it without you."
Hartleb and several of her proud clients and friends attended the awards ceremony held on November 4 at the Blue Martini at Town Square in Las Vegas.
The Northern Nevada Human Resources Association and Nevada State Council of the Society for Human Resource Management invite you to attend the 2011 Nevada Employment Law and Legislative Conference, a bi-annual event offering unique educational sessions from diverse perspectives on the most compelling employment law, compliance and legislative issues facing Nevada employers. Presented in collaboration with the Reno-Sparks Chamber of Commerce, the Nevada Association of Employers, the Nevada Self-Insured Association and Nevada Associated Builders and Contractors, the conference will take place on Wednesday, January 12, 2011, from 7:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. at the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa, 3800 South Virginia Street in Reno.
Conference topics will cover job creation, economic development and diversification, workers' compensation law and policy, health insurance mandates and health care, and federal legislative priorities for employers in 2011.
In addition to guest panelists and speakers including elected state and federal officials and lobbyists representing Northern Nevada, we are pleased to announce featured presenters Tom Fitzgerald of Nevada EmployerHelp.com powered by NevadaWorks and Dick Castner, western regional director for the United States Chamber of Commerce. Andrew Clinger, director of the Nevada State Division of Budget and Planning, will be our special keynote speaker during the luncheon program. The program has been approved for 6 Strategic recertification credit hours toward PHR, SPHR and GPHR recertification through the HR Certification Institute.
Registration is $129. For companies sending three or more attendees, the cost of the conference is $99 per person. A continental breakfast and the luncheon program are included. To register or for more information, please visit the Nevada Legislative Conference website at www.legislativeconference.org.
The language used by many HR managers and practitioners creates a problem for how the function of HR is perceived within organizations. The future credibility of the HR function is dependent upon its capacity to influence the behavior of managers and their impact on staff.
One area of particular concern is that of Performance Management, which is typically seen as a key function within the HR system of an organization. The term Performance Management is intended to refer to a series of activities that measure and rate the effective and efficient attainment of goals.
As such it is a broad descriptor of an internal process which should also cover elements of development and support. Performance management is often narrowly viewed as the process of appraisal and improvement rather than as a broad descriptor of a process that should include and focus on development and support.
Read the rest of this article at:
http://www.humanresourcesiq.com/article.cfm?externalID=3355
By: Wesley Shelton and Patrick H. Hicks . Mr. Shelton is an Associate in Littler Mendelson’s Las Vegas Office. He can be reached at wshelton@littler.com. Patrick H. Hicks is the Founding Shareholder of Littler Mendelson’s Las Vegas and Reno offices. He can be reached at phicks@littler.com.
Resolving a long-standing conflict in the Federal Circuits, the U.S. Supreme Court in Hardt v. Reliance Standard Life, No. 09-448 (May 24, 2010), has held that a party need not "prevail" in its Employee Retiree Income Security Act (ERISA) litigation for a court to award the party attorneys' fees; rather, the Court held that a party in an ERISA case is eligible for a fee award if it achieves "some degree of success on the merits" in the litigation.
Background
A unanimous Supreme Court rejected a Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal's decision and held that a party need not be a "prevailing party" in order to recover attorneys' fees under ERISA section 502(g)(1). The Court reasoned that the plain language of section 502(g)(1) states that in any action by a participant, beneficiary, or fiduciary, not described in ERISA section 502(g)(2), "the court in its discretion may allow a reasonable attorney's fee and costs of action to either party." The Court contrasted this language in section 501(g)(1) with the language of section 501(g)(2), which provides that in an action to recover delinquent employer contributions to a multiemployer plan, fees may be awarded only to a party who obtains "a judgment in favor of the plan."
Because Congress included an express prevailing party restriction in section 501(g)(2), that was "conspicuously absent" from section 502(g)(1), the Court easily concluded that a party need not be a "prevailing party" in order to receive a fee award under section 501(g)(1).
However, the Court cautioned that its holding did not mean that a party may be awarded attorneys' fees in an ERISA case if it achieves no success whatsoever in the litigation. The Court explained that the traditional "American Rule" requires each party to pay its own attorneys' fees and court costs in the absence of a statute "shifting" those obligations to the other party. Thus, where the fee-shifting statute leaves the matter of an award of attorneys' fees to the discretion of the court, "some success" by the applicant on the merits of the case, which is not merely trivial or procedural, is required in order to support the award.
By resolving the long-standing split in the Circuit Courts of Appeal on this issue (and rejecting the positions of the First, Fourth, Seventh and Tenth Circuits), the Hardt decision brings some certainty to the award of fees and costs under section 501(g)(1) in ERISA cases. Nevertheless, with that certainty some clouds of doubt remain as the lower courts now must work to define the parameters of the "some success" standard in the ERISA litigation context. While the Court found Ms. Hardt met that standard by obtaining a remand order and, upon remand, the benefits she claimed in her lawsuit, it is unclear whether a litigant who obtained a remand order but was then denied the benefits on remand would meet the "some success" standard.
Q.How did you hear about SNHRA?
A. I became of member after a colleague recommended I join the SNHRA chapter. She spoke highly of the chapter and the resources it offered.
Q. Why did you join SNHRA?
A. I joined SNHRA for the networking opportunities and educational updates.
Q. Tell us about Sodexo and your role there…
A. Sodexo is a service oriented company of 140,000 plus employees dedicated to making everyday a better day for more than 4 million customers across North America. Globally, Sodexo provides services in 80 countries and employees 332,00 people.
My role with Sodexo is to be a resource to our frontline staff and a business partner to the management team.
Q. What benefits of membership in SNHRA do you enjoy the most?
A. I enjoy the monthly educational meetings that SNHRA offers along with the legal tip of the month.
Q. What challenges are you/is your company facing during the economic downturn?
A.With the current economy in the Las Vegas market we had to reduce staff hours and while still delivering quality service to our customers.
Q. What are your favorite things to do in Las Vegas?
A. There is always something to do in Las Vegas! I enjoy going to concerts at the Hard Rock, House of Blues and/or The Pearl.
Q. What is one of your favorite restaurants in Las Vegas?
A. I enjoy having dinner at Sushi Banzai. The customer service is superior!
Q. What was one of the last shows you’ve seen on the strip that you enjoyed?
A. The last show that I saw at the Strip was LOVE and it was amazing! There is so much going on in the show that you want to sit in the higher seating area to get a full view. In the future I would like to see the ELVIS show.
A New Take on an Age-Old Question Question:
Why did the chicken cross the road?
Consulting Firm:
Deregulation of the chicken's side of the road was threatening its dominant market position. The chicken was faced with significant challenges to create and develop the competencies required for the newly competitive market.
In a partnering relationship with the client, our firm helped the chicken by rethinking its physical distribution strategy and implementation processes. Using the Poultry Integration Model (PIM), we helped the chicken use its skills, methodologies, knowledge, capital and experiences to align the chicken's people, processes and technology in support of its overall strategy within a Program Management framework.
Our firm convened a diverse cross-spectrum of road analysts and advanced chickens along with consultants with skills in the transportation industry to engage in a two-day itinerary of meetings in order to leverage their personal knowledge capital and to enable them to synergize with each other in order to achieve the implicit goals of delivering and successfully architecting and implementing an enterprise-wide value framework across the continuum of poultry cross-median processes.
The meeting was held in a park-like setting, enabling and creating an impactful environment which was strategically based, industry-focused, and built upon a consistent, clear, and unified market message and aligned with the chicken's mission, vision, and core values.
This was conducive towards the creation of a total business integration solution. Our firm helped the chicken change to become more successful.
Derived from www.comedy-zone.net
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Newsletter: 2010 Edition 10