But evidence suggests that eating at work stations is only a short-term productivity booster and can do more harm than good if it’s a regular habit.

One report found that people who routinely eat meals at their desks at work are twice as likely to be exposed to germs that can cause serious illnesses. Long-term result: Higher absenteeism costs.

Roughly 70% of Americans with desk jobs say they take working lunches at least three days a week. Most employees – and their supervisors – mistakenly believe that eating at their desks makes people more productive during the work day. In the short term, it may. But it the long run, the behavior often leads to higher absenteeism and lower productivity via preventable illnesses.

Unappetizing facts

A study conducted in 2006 found that the typical office workspace contains 400 times more germs than a toilet seat. The biggest bacteria colonies are usually found on telephones, computer keyboards and desktop surfaces.

In the real-life workplace, it’s a losing battle to try to convince most supervisors and employees not to eat at their desks. But the study says employers have seen lower absenteeism/presenteeism by taking three simple steps:

1. Give employees mini-bottles of instant hand sanitizer to keep at their desks.
2. Provide people sanitizing wipes for their work spaces (damp napkins and cloths just spread the germs around the surface).
3. Educate employees about the need for frequent hand washing with warm water – not hot or cold. Even in healthcare settings, this message often takes awhile to set in anding and requires frequent repetition. But the end results are worth it.

Increased obesity risk

There’s a second hidden danger that can affect your company’s costs: higher risks of overweight and obese employees.

People who frequently eat at their desks are less likely to be careful about the portions they consume, less likely to choose healthy foods and somewhat less likely to exercise during the day.

Wellness programs can help employers cut these risks, but it all starts with workplace culture and employee education.

Wage and hour lawsuits are cropping up by the dozens these days — even in industries you’d least suspect.

Four female workers filed a suit against their company, claiming they were denied overtime pay.

Nothing out of the ordinary here — except that the employees were exotic dancers at clubs that offered “topless” or “totally nude entertainment.”

The nightclub said it didn’t have to pay the strippers overtime or minimum wage because their work fell under the “creative professional” exemption of the Fair Labor Standards Act. In other words, the company claimed the dancers’ primary duty was “the performance of work requiring invention, imagination, originality or talent in a recognized field of artistic or creative endeavor.”

That would be the “artistic endeavor” of dancing with no clothes on.

The dancers, on the other hand, were not so quick to identify their craft as art and sued for back wages.

Where did the court stand on this debate? Unfortunately, we won’t know just yet. Before the case could be heard, the judge dismissed it.

Why? The strippers filed the suit pseudonymously under the name “4 Exotic Dancers” — and the judge wouldn’t let the case proceed until the strippers publicly identified themselves.

The dancers were afraid they’d be retaliated against by the nightclubs they were suing in the form of harassment, termination and blacklisting. They also felt they’d be stigmatized if their identities were revealed publicly.

Courts do occasionally allow plaintiffs to testify under pseudonyms if it’s necessary to protect the person from injury or harassment.

Tough luck for the exotic dancers though — the court said that even though the strippers may “suffer some embarrassment or economic harm,” it’s not enough to warrant pseudonymity here. If they wish to file again, they’ll have to do it under their real names.

Still, what’s the lesson from this titillating case? Double-check who you’re classifying as exempt or non-exempt — problems can crop up where you least expect.

Cite: 4 Exotic Dancers v. Spearmint Rhino, et al., U.S. Dist. Ct. C.D. Cal, No. CV 08-4038 ABC (SSx)

The inspiration for this revolutionary strategy: British Airways suffered its greatest full-year loss since being privatized back in 1987 — a loss of $595 million in U.S. dollars.

Employees are being urged to sign up for unpaid leave or unpaid work to help the company save cash and fight for its survival.

Despite BA CEO Willie Walsh’s magnanimous offer to “lead by example” and forgo his own monthly paycheck in July ($100K), the reception to BA’s proposal hasn’t been all too warm.

The union that represents thousands of BA ground and cabin workers, UNITE, said that even though Mr. Walsh could get by after working an entire month for free, its members didn’t have the same luxury.

We’ll keep you posted on the success of British Airways’ strategy.

In two recent cases, judges sided with returning veterans who filed suit against their employers under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA).

In the first case, a National Guard major ran into difficulties after she returned from her second military deployment, when she was greeted with anonymous complaints about her leadership style.

In the second case, the former police chief of an Oregon city was fired when he refused a demotion after he returned from military service.

In both cases, judges decided the claims should go to trial. The key: Both employees proved there was a possibility their military activities had figured in their adverse employment actions.

That’s the lesson in these cases: Appearances count. No matter how fair an employer’s motivation may be, the slightest hint of impropriety can tilt the case the wrong way.

Cite: Reed v. Honeywell

That’s right. They OK’d a company policy that employees at the British firm could work naked on Fridays. They were convinced to do so by a consultant specializing in business psychology.

Psychologist David Taylor explained to The Sun newspaper that he recommended working in the buff so that employees would lose their inhibitions and talk more openly and honestly with one other.

“Inviting an organization to go naked is the most extreme technique I’ve used,” he conceded. “It may seem weird but it works. It’s the ultimate expression of trust in yourself and each other.”

Goofy idea, right? Well …

Since the inception of Naked Fridays, business at the company has improved. And in fact, they’ve had to hire two new employees to handle the rush.

We, however, do assume that all employees there are a lot more careful about consuming hot beverages and sharing chairs.

And what do you think Naked Fridays would do for morale at your company?

That’s the message in a recent federal appeals court ruling in Illinois.

An instructional aide at a residential treatment facility for children was injured in two altercations with students.

She told the school she was stressed out by concerns of future injuries and needed to take leave. The school requested medical certification.

The woman brought in a physician’s certification form, stating she suffered from headaches and neck and arm pain. She also wrote in “plus previous depression” on the certificate and backdated her signature. The employer, suspecting the woman had altered the paperwork, contacted her physician.

The doctor confirmed the form had been changed, and the woman was fired for excessive absences.

The woman sued, claiming her FMLA rights had been violated. But the court ruled the employer had a right to deny the leave request because she’d added a bogus diagnosis to the certification form.

One caveat: The court pointed out that minor alterations to a certificate, like correcting a typo, might not disqualify an employee for leave.

Cite: Smith v. The Hope School

When it comes to obtaining and using employees’ health info, your firm’s health plan has more HIPAA rights than you may think.

Under HIPAA, your plan is allowed – without employees’ consent – to obtain individual health info (not just aggregate data) for the purpose of improving the quality of care. And there are a host of legal ways to use health data for this purpose.

Questions you can answer

Your plan’s TPA  is entitled to obtain and review a sampling of people’s personal health info to answer all of the following plan cost-related questions:

• What employees are and aren’t getting the right treatment?
• Which network doctors aren’t communicating treatments with
  each other, wasting resources?
• Which folks are and aren’t compliant with their prescription drugs?
•  Are the current health issues of your at-risk employees likely to be ones of concern a few years from now?

In short, you’re allowed to use the info to more accurately predict upcoming claims (and costs) in the short-term future.

What you can’t do with the info is make any employment-related decisions from your findings.  Legal experts debate if the prohibition includes charging smokers or other at-risk populations higher premiums.

But you can always use it when comparing the cost-effectiveness of different health plans or for making your wellness program even stronger.

Wellness program implications

Under HIPAA and ERISA, you’re allowed to use personal data as the starting point for having employees contacted regarding their health issues.
Based on the info you obtain, you can hand-pick people for educational mailings about specific health issues.

You’re even allowed to have a third party tell you if your employees have certain health problems (such as asthma or diabetes) and haven’t sought programs to treat the condition.

If you offer financial incentives as part of your wellness program, be aware that HIPAA’s non-discrimination rules require you to wipe the slate clean each plan year.

Legally, it’s still the safest policy to consult with an attorney before using health info apart from routine FMLA certifications or accommodating ADA.

But it’s good to know HIPAA is usually on your side in the battle to control health costs.

Japan’s Canon, Inc., wants its employees to do their part in helping the nation by leaving work early to go home and procreate.

The country’s 1.34 birthrate is far below the 2.0 needed to hold the population at an even rate, so executives are sending employees home to give them more family time and inflate those numbers.

One stat to note: Japan’s population is shrinking and aging faster than any other country because of employees’ notorious 12-hour workdays.

Even though Canon is sending its workforce home early twice a week, on average, those employees are still putting up numbers well over a 9-to-5 pace.

Here’s her story

The procedure here for informing new employees about HR and benefits had been pretty standard for years: Here’s a thick pamphlet describing everything. Read it.

Yeah, right.

We might as well have handed them a doorstop. No one was reading the pamphlet. Which meant we were continually answering the same questions for employees over and over.

We thought about asking new employees for ideas on improving that part of the orientation process, but we realized they probably wouldn’t have enough background to give us meaningful info. So, instead, we asked our veterans.

‘Give us a list’
Essentially, we said, “Give us a list of the typical questions you’ve had about our benefits.” We combined that with our own list of questions people were always asking, and came up with an FAQ supplement to the orientation pamphlet.

The supplement lists typical questions and their answers, and tells readers, “To learn more about this topic, go to page …”

What a difference.

Now, we get a lot fewer questions about benefits. And a survey of our employees revealed they’re better informed and understand what’s in the pamphlet we hand to them.

(Francine Reyes, HR director, Spokane, WA)

In recent years, several state supreme courts have  ruled that employers can be held liable for up to four years of back pay and/or overtime for violations of  mandatory breaks. Ever since, there’s been a wave of employee lawyers around the country looking to cash in.

 Two key steps for avoiding trouble:

• verify your state laws on mandatory lunch and/or rest breaks, and
• remind supervisors to insist non-exempt employees take their breaks, even if the employee says he or she wants to skip them.