It all depends on the circumstances under which you’re living there.

What happened

A migrant worker broke his angle after falling on a sidewalk where water was flowing from a sink in front of company-provided housing.

The South Carolina Workers’ Comp Commission said that because he wasn’t required to live in the housing, he shouldn’t get comp.

But the man appealed to the State Supreme Court, which overturned the decision.

Why? The court found the man was essentially required to live in company-provided housing because he wasn’t paid enough to be able to rent seasonal housing.

Tell us whether you agree with this decision in the Comments Box below.

Cite: Pierre v. Seaside Farms, Inc.

Why? 64% of Gen-Y workers now say the quality of benefits packages offered to them impacts their loyalty to their employer.

In addition, 62% say it influences their choice of employer.

That’s according to new Fidelity Generation Y study of U.S. employees ages 22-33.

To retain and attract Gen-Y workers, consider tailoring benefits communication to them. Example: Some companies have created their own Twitter feed to keep young workers abreast of changes and updates to company benefits.

Well, the courts do. And that’s good news for employers looking to keep insurance premiums down.

That exact situation caused a court in Illinois to deny a claim for workers’ comp benefits.

What happened

A man claimed he was injured three different times (on three separate occasions) at work. However, he reported the injuries 15 weeks after the first alleged incident, seven weeks after the second and a week after the third.

Two other problems:

• Throughout those 15 weeks the worker saw his primary care doctor and chiropractor several times — and never mentioned anything about a work injury, and
• His manager said he couldn’t link his medical condition to a specific work incident when he finally did report the injury.

Case closed: The man’s request for workers’ comp benefits was denied.

Have you every come across a situation like this? Tell us about it in the Comments Box below.

Cite: Hosteny v. IL Workers’ Compensation Commission

By now, it’s no secret that the recession has killed employee job satisfaction and productivity. The No. 1 reason: Payroll budgets have dropped off a cliff.

But employers are determined to find ways to keep talented employees happy and working hard, without increasing payroll, found a recent CareerBuilder survey.

What did the survey of more than 2,700 employers uncover?

Pay worries

Employers’ top five concerns are:

1. Providing competitive compensation (34%)
2. Maintaining productivity levels (33%)
3. Retaining top talent (31%)
4. Worker burnout (30%), and
5. Providing employees with opportunities to move up in the organization (25%).

Becoming more flexible

Despite their concerns, many employers feel as though they have the power to keep employees happy and productive without breaking the bank.

Here’s how they plan to do it:

• Offer more flexible work arrangements (28%)
• Provide more training (21%)
• Promise future benefits, like raises or promotions, when the economy picks back up (18%)
• Offer more performance-based incentives, like company-paid vacations (16%), and
• Provide a higher title without a salary increase (7%).

Here are four communication strategies that’ll help employees decode benefits info:

1. Simplify words and images. Image you’re talking to someone who barely speaks English, and break words or phrases down to their most basic meaning. Example: Instead of “Your copay is $20,” try, “It’ll cost you $20.”
2. Appeal to their emotions. Few employees get jazzed up about terms like “pre-tax dollars” and “formularies.” But they pay attention if you talk about things like keeping more of their pay from the government, or saving money by using generic drugs.
3. Tell real-life stories. Storytelling is a great way to illustrate the workings of your benefit programs. Create credible stories (or, even better, tell real ones) using everyday language and situations. One idea: Encourage employees to tell their stories about how a benefit plan helped them save money or obtain great service. The advantage to this: Chances are, the employee will use language the average worker will understand. Just be sure they leave out certain details (like what kind of medical conditions they had, how much they spent, etc.).
4. Use interactive learning tools. Simple teaching tools — like quizzes or puzzles — engage employees. Example: To encourage weight loss, create a “Test Your Knowledge” quiz about how big a difference small changes — like drinking one fewer soda each day — can make in the long run.

The act becomes effective April 5, and there have been a lot of misinterpretations about its intent. So, let’s go over –

• What the act doesn’t do. The act does not mandate that your health plan must offer coverage for treatment of mental health or substance abuse. Employers still have the option of including or excluding those types of benefits so long as they offer or don’t offer them on an equal basis to all employees.
• What the act does do. It mandates that if you have a health plan that offers mental health benefits or coverage for substance-abuse treatment, you have to offer those benefits on the same level as is covered by treatment of any other illness.

The reg states, for example, that group health plans cannot impose higher deductibles or caps on hospital-room stays for mental health or substance-abuse treatment. Nor can plans impose tougher preauthorization requirements for such treatments.

In all, the reg — and the mandate for parity — affects six categories of care:

• inpatient in-network
• inpatient out-of-network
• outpatient in-network
• outpatient out-of-network
• emergency care
• prescription drugs

What happened:

While lifting boxes at work, a man suffered a back injury which required surgery. During his recovery, he was unable to work and received workers’ comp benefits.

The employee said that pain in his leg, which was a result of the back injury, forced him to walk with a limp and limited his activities. He claimed he could only “lift a little.”

But he was caught on tape picking up and swinging his grandchildren.

In addition, when the insurance carrier’s doctor saw him, he walked with a severe limp. But when the doctor watched him walk out to the parking lot, the limp had noticeably improved.

Benefits cut off — permanently

The Workers’ Compensation Board in New York State ruled to cut off his benefits. It also ruled to disqualify him from receiving any workers’ comp in the future.

The worker appealed the decision in a state court, but the decision was upheld.

Did the worker get what he deserved, or was the court’s ruling too harsh?

Cite: Church v. Arrow Electric (PDF)

• Yes: 61%
• No: 26%
• No, but we’ve reduced benefits: 13%

So, three out of five increased costs. How much was the increase? A survey by HR consultant Milliman showed the average premium hike at 14.7% in 2009.

Here are some strange and unique things nine benefits pros said their companies offer employees to keep them happy:

• Dogs. Each day, a different employee is allowed to bring his or her dog into the office.
• Heartache leave. Employees are given six days to cry and come back refreshed after suffering some form of heartbreak.
• Laundry service. Employees can drop off their laundry at the office for cleaning and pick it up the next day.
• Car washes. Employees can have their cars taken to be cleaned while they are in the office.
• Movie nights in the office. One night a week, the company provides a movie and refreshments.
• Interest-free computer loans. When employees want to buy a computer, the company loans them the cash (up to a set amount), and employees have interest-free payments deducted from their paychecks.
• Paid community service. During regular work hours, employees can volunteer in the local community — and get their regular pay.
• On-site massages. Once a month, a masseuse is brought into the office to give everyone a free massage.
• Free snacks. Employees can help themselves to soda, coffee, bottled water and vending machines snacks.

What are some unique employee benefits your company provides? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

Employees who find it hard to turn down requests or people who are disorganized or easily distracted may not find telecommuting as satisfying as working in the office, found a study by the University of Connecticut.

The study found these three types of workers are less-than-ideal candidates for telecommuting benefits:

1. Employees who rely on feedback from their managers. According to the study, people who need a lot of direction to do their job can become unsettled and anxious if they don’t have face time with their manager.
2. Workers with several family members at home during work hours. Most people assume that working from home improves an employee’s work-life balance. But that’s not always the case. The study found that while telecommuters’ work interfered less with family demands, family demands interfered more heavily with work. Example: Family members who’d ordinarily be reluctant to interrupt someone at work had no problem interrupting that person working at home. And for telecommuters with larger households, family demands seriously conflicted with their work demands.
3. People who can’t say “no.” When trying to decide if an employee is a good candidate for telecommuting, ask: “If the person was working from home and a friend or family member asked to be driven somewhere, would the person feel comfortable saying ‘no’?” If the person can’t say “no,” then odds are they’ll be pulled away from work duties regularly.