BW INSIGHTS

Employee Retention During the Great Resignation

In late 2020 and early 2021, employees began voluntarily exiting their jobs at unprecedented numbers in what has been coined “The Great Resignation,” “The Big Quit,” and “The Great Reshuffle.” In 2021, a record average of 4 million workers quit their job each month, surpassing the 3.5 million record set in 2019. This phenomenon has left employers... Read More

Recent Changes to Iowa's Unemployment Law Provide Clarity to Employers, Aim to Stabilize Employment

On July 1, 2022, House File 2355 took effect, implementing several improvements to Iowa’s unemployment law. The Iowa legislature described these improvements as furthering an important public policy that supports stabilizing employment and reducing the negative consequences of unemployment. In this post, we discuss a few of the key unemployment... Read More

Employer Guidance Regarding COVID-19 Impact on Unemployment Benefits in Iowa

Do employees need to exhaust all vacation, sick leave, or personal time off (PTO) time prior to claiming unemployment benefits? Yes. If an employer offers vacation, sick leave, or PTO time to employees, the employees must exhaust those benefits prior to claiming unemployment benefits. Are employers required to lay off employees in order for the... Read More

DOL Releases Updated FMLA Forms

Last week, the Wage and Hour Division of the United States Department of Labor finally released its updated Family and Medical Leave Act forms. However, I use the term "updated" here loosely, as there were no meaningful changes to the substance of these forms. Nevertheless, if you use the DOL's model forms (which we typically encourage employers... Read More