FurstStaffing

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How to Successfully Prepare & Implement a Reduction in Force or Plant Closing In these harsh economic times, employers face difficult challenges. Maintaining appropriate workforce levels is now more essential than ever. However, reductions in force (RIF) or downsizing provide fertile ground for litigation. Plant closings have enormous legal risks as well. RIFs and Plant Closings may affect one employee or hundreds of employees depending on the size of the business. These decisions and the method of implementation requires careful planning to avoid (or to defend) litigation. Click here to read more.
By: Jeffrey A. Risch, Esq. Wessels Sherman jerisch@wesselssherman.com

4 Stimulus Plan Tax Perks for Business
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (better known as the Stimulus Act) includes a laundry list of tax changes, including four provisions that will be very helpful for many small to medium-sized businesses. Here’s the scoop.
Extension of the Generous “Section 179” First-Year Depreciation Deduction
Under the Section 179 deduction privilege, many small and medium-sized businesses can write off most or all of the cost of qualifying new and used assets in the year when they are first put to use. Click here to read more.
By: The Tax Guy, Bill Bischoff

Minimizing Your Social Security Payroll Tax/Self-Employment Tax Like many people, you might get more back in benefits than you pay in Social Security taxes, but not necessarily. For example, you may never need to use all of the benefits you’re entitled to, or you may be entitled to a greater benefit based on someone else’s earnings record. Jacob Fitzgerald, VP with Ameriprise Advisor Services, offers insight into understanding how Social Security payroll taxes and self-employment taxes finance your benefits, who may & may not benefit from minimizing SS payroll taxes, strategies that may be used to minimize payroll taxes, tax considerations and more. Click here to read more.

Healthcare sees job gains despite losses elsewhere Healthcare continued to add jobs in February while the rest of the American job market remained in a free-fall. Click here to read more. By: Joe Carlson

Study: Few U.S. Hospitals Use Digital Records U.S. hospitals have a long way to go to join the digital age. Fewer than 2 percent have abandoned paper medical charts and completely switched to electronic health records, a new national study found. Click here to read more. By Kay Campbell

Should Employers Use Search Engines to Screen Candidates? You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have the Internet. Hiring Managers take great caution when conducting interviews face-to-face to protect themselves and their company by avoiding questions generally related to nationality, religion, age, marital or family status, gender, and health and medical situations. And yet with the click of the mouse, all of that information (digital dirt) is available immediately. Most likely, more information than they care to have accessed. Click here to read more.
By: FurstStaffing

Get the Monozukuri In the 1950s and 60s, the pursuit of quality production in Japan was catalyzed in part by the teachings of W. Edwards Deming and the best practices of American companies. Dr. Deming’s expertise in developing qualitative methods to improve productivity while lowering costs was internalized by many engineers in Japan’s manufacturing sector. Click here to read more. By: Ralph Inforzato is Director, Business Development, Japan External Trade Org

The Power of Cinnamon Smelling cinnamon boosts cognitive function & memory. Cinnamon has an anti clotting effect on blood. It can reduce the proliferation of leukemia and lymphoma cancer cells. A study at Copenhagen University showed patients given a half teaspoon of cinnamon powder combined with a tablespoon of honey every morning before breakfast had significant relief in arthritis pain after one week and could walk without pain after one month. It fights e-coli bacteria in unpasteurized juices.

Exercise & Nutrition Tips Functional Twist - Straddle stand with Medicine ball in hand. Pivot your left foot and bend the knee toward to floor bring the medicine ball down to the outside of your right ankle. Your right foot stays stable on the floor but your knee bends and your hips follow. Now swing the ball up towards your left shoulder pivoting your left foot back straddle stand. Do ten repetition to the right and ten more to the left.

Armando Valerio, CPT, NCSF, & Julia Valerio, MS RD, from Chicago Core Confidence. On-line personal training with Nutritional Counseling and Weight Loss Programs. http://www.chicagocoreconfidence.com/

We hope you enjoyed this edition of FurstWord.If you have any topics that you would like to see in future FurstWord please submit them to heretohelp@furststaff.com.

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