I’m giving a free HR seminar on 3/29/2012, in partnership with Acrobat Outsourcing, Inc. So if you’re in the San Diego area, please come! Or pass this on to someone you know who might be interested! Here is more info:
Join us for a free HR seminar: “Your HR Sanity Check”
Do the employment laws drive you crazy? Are you sure you’re compliant with those laws… or just hope you are? Stop worrying today. Find out which laws and regulations are the hot buttons for the hospitality industry.
Even the smallest company can easily end up with a claim that costs you time and money to defend. Avoid claims by managing your risks with knowledge. Attend this free seminar where a certified human resources professional will discuss a variety of timely topics with you:
Using the mandatory California Non-Exempt New Hire Form
Understanding meal and rest breaks and the possible penalty pay
Waiving meal periods legally
Employee uniforms and the cost of upkeep
Paying for travel time
Plus take this opportunity to ask your own HR questions!
When: Thursday, March 29, 2012, at 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Cost:Complimentary
Where: Acrobat Outsourcing, 2525 Camino del Rio S., #200, San Diego
I know a company looking to hire a Salesforce.com specialist in San Diego (Rancho Bernardo area) who will work closely with their Marketing and Sales Department on the company’s Salesforce.com CRM database. This is a central position for ensuring all the sales-related information in their CRM is up-to-date, accurate, and being used effectively by their employees in order to accelerate revenues.
Check out the full job description at http://www.hrjungle.com/Jobs/SalesforceCRM.html and let me know if you, or someone you know, might be interested in this position. This is a great opportunity with a stable company!
The Wage Theft Protection Act of 2011 just made our lives more difficult. Thanks to this Act, all California employers must complete the Non-Exempt New Hire Form for all non-exempt employees hired after January 1st, 2012. In addition, you’ll have to give them an updated form within 7 days of any change to the information on the form.
The Labor Commissioner has been kind enough to provide a template to use but it doesn’t come without issues. Attorneys are worried about some of the language used, such as “employment agreement.” The California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) has recently revised their FAQs for this form to try to help companies better understand how to use it.
You aren’t obligated to use the DLSE’s template but you do need to include all the information on the template. A few things to remember or consider are:
This is given to, and signed by, every non-exempt (hourly) employee hired after January 1, 2012.
Going forward, this is given to every non-exempt whose information on this form changes.
This should be given to non-exempts in addition to any offer letter you provide.
Add “at-will” by both of the choices under Employee Agreement.
Including this information in an offer letter does not preclude you from needing to still give non-exempts this form.
Make sure any type of pay is included and explained; you may attach another sheet, if needed.
Electronic access and acknowledgements of receipt are permitted.
Temps will receive 2 copies: 1 from the temp agency and 1 from you (the co-employer).
If you fail to give an employee this form as required, you face a $100 penalty the first pay period and $200 each subsequent pay period that passes without the employee receiving this form.
At this time, you don’t have to give it out to all employees… only those hired after 1/1/12 and those who have information changes covered by the form. However, be prepared to provide this to the rest of your non-exempt employees because everyone seems to think that’s coming down the road.
This is a reminder that you must post your OSHA 300 Summary at each facility (or location) from February 1st through April 30th. This applies to companies with more than 10 employees but there are a great many types of businesses that are exempt from this requirement. If you’re wondering if you are exempt, check here.
The summary is derived from your log that classifies work-related injuries and illnesses and also lists the extent and severity of each case. If you need the form (and instructions), I’ve put the OSHA 300 Package on my website for your convenience.
California is very picky about ensuring non-exempt (hourly) employees get their legally mandated rest and meal breaks. The question hasn’t been IF you should be enforcing the rest and meal break rules; the question has been what happens if you don’t. UPS has helped provide the answer.
In case you’ve forgotten, California law mandates at least a 10-minute rest break in the middle of each 4-hour work period for non-exempt (hourly) employees. That usually means a rest break mid-morning and again mid-afternoon. You can’t combine it with the lunch period. You can’t come in late or leave early as count it as a rest period.
The law also mandates at least a 30-minute meal period for non-exempt employees working more than 6 hours that day. If the employee will absolutely be off work within 6 hours, you can forego the meal period. But you better be sure they are gone by hour 6! If they are eligible for the meal period, it must begin within the first 5 hours of their workday.
The tricky part is making sure the employee takes the minimum time mandated for each break. No picking up the phone, no other employee asking them a work question, NO work can be conducted during that rest or meal break or you start the clock all over again until they get their 10 or 30 minute uninterrupted break.
And if they don’t get both 10-minute rest breaks and 30-minute meal break? You owe them one hour of ”penalty pay” for each missed or interrupted break, up to two hours of penalty pay per day. Plus, the missed or interrupted meal period could also make the employee eligible for overtime because you now have to count that as worked time.
Employer attorneys have been saying you were only required to pay one hour of penalty pay each day, regardless of the number of missed breaks. However, again thanks to UPS, a court case has resulted in a decision that the maximum is two hours each day if two or more breaks are missed.
We’re still waiting for the CA Supreme Court to let us know if we have to “enforce” the breaks or merely “inform” employees that breaks are available. The decision is expected (finally) in April so we’ll cross our fingers until then.
Guest Blogger Kit Goldman is a nationally acclaimed trainer and workplace expert. She has helped clients ranging from “Mom and Pop” businesses to industry giants like State Farm, Johnson & Johnson, Turner Broadcast and MGM, to prevent costly lawsuits through powerful, “edutainment”-style training.
Here are the top 5 reasons we’ve heard from small business owners who initially resist Harassment Prevention training for their employees:
Training just stirs things up
It’s a can of worms
Why open Pandora’s Box?
It’s not in my budget
Let sleeping dogs lie
To which we point out that every employer has a mandatory, no exceptions legal duty to protect employees from unlawful harassment! Educated employees know what the boundaries are and can avoid and prevent harassment.
Supervisors and managers have a mandatory, no exceptions legal duty to take immediate and appropriate action if they knew or should have known harassment may be occurring! Educated supervisors and managers know what to look for and what to do if it happens and showing you took steps to prevent harassment can greatly reduce legal exposure should it occur.
With that in mind, let’s peek in on Roger, a supervisor at a fictional company:
He’s a likable, respected old school guy with a sense of humor. He’s meeting with Margo, an employee, about a promotion. When she arrives, he’s on the phone joking about a gay employee who came in on casual Friday looking like “I Dream of Jeannie.” Margo’s embarrassed by the conversation — and the picture on Roger’s desk of his wife at the beach. She’s easily offended which is a concern Roger has regarding the promotion. He tells Margo she’s qualified, but she’s uptight and makes people paranoid. She needs to loosen up, be part of the team. He teases her about her “Catholic School upbringing” in his warm, good natured, style. He doesn’t mean anything by it. It’s just how he is. Margo tries to tolerate it.
Think Roger’s behavior is over the top? Think people don’t act that way anymore in our “PC” workplaces? Please! Hand over the rose colored glasses and get me a latte with an extra shot! These high-risk scenarios occur. It’s often unintentional, unrecognized, and unreported — until a lawyer or the EEOC comes calling.
Here are three key legal concepts in that scene which your supervisors and managers need to understand:
Harassment is Unwelcome Conduct: But welcome to whom? Roger was in a private conversation when Margo walked in. It was welcome to the people having it, but we also must be concerned with what’s welcome to others in the work environment
Intent vs. Impact: Harassment is about impact not intent. It’s defined 100% by the impact on the other person. Roger may be good hearted and doesn’t mean anything by it, but unless he’s enlightened, he’s a runaway train rumbling toward a cliff with the company’s good name and resources aboard.
Consenting vs. Welcome: If someone consents to something, it’s probably welcome, right? Say you’re in the parking lot, someone puts a gun to your head and demands your wallet. Will you consent and give it up? Yes. Did you welcome being robbed? No. The law recognizes that in the workplace people consent to things they don’t welcome for a variety of reasons. Consent does not necessarily equal welcomeness.
Oh… and speaking of your wallet, when compared with the costs of investigations, lawsuits, settlements and audits, Harassment Prevention Training is incredibly cost effective! When it comes to protecting your business, the old saying “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” couldn’t be more true.
Most companies find the holidays difficult to navigate simply because of the religious diversity among us. In the workplace, Christmas day has long been a holiday that has come to be more a representative day for holiday observance than its religious meaning. While some companies with founders that have strong religious beliefs may close and observe other religious holidays, it is a legal minefield.
Now we have a school district in Fort Worth TX that appears to be attempting to teach religious political correctness (PC) to students. In their effort to separate church and school, they are prohibiting the exchange of religion-based cards and greetings and monitoring decorations to ensure there are no religious overtones. However, the students may exchange gifts and religion-based cards during lunch periods and before/after school. Sound like your office environment?
Needless to say, parents are rolling their eyes and complaining. However, do they really have anything to complain about? In case you haven’t noticed, this is the type of environment many companies are striving to achieve to prevent lawsuits regarding religious freedom.
While a company is free to declare which, if any, days it plans to close operations within the year, you need to be prepared to respond to employees who don’t observe Christmas and would like to trade it for the religious holiday of their choice. As you might have guessed, it’s not an even swap because you can’t have, or don’t want, them working when your business is closed. The uneven swap is because the most you can usually offer is an unpaid day off. If you offer them a different paid day off, are you discriminating against those that didn’t ask by allowing an additional paid day?
I’m curious to hear from you… is this an issue in your company? If so, how are you handling it?
Even if your Employee Handbook states which holidays you normally observe and close on, you should send out a memo each year at this time stating specifically which days and dates for the following year.
As we know, holidays that fall on the weekend are typically observed on Friday (for Saturday holidays) or Monday (for Sunday holidays). If you’re one of the many companies that tries to give employees a specific number of holidays each year, it’s even more important for you to publish the upcoming year’s list so your employees can plan accordingly.
There’s really nothing worse than people being told too late about a long weekend. They have no time to plan and, therefore, your great benefit falls flat.
I’ve listed below the dates the more popular holidays will fall on for 2012. Use this moment to create your holiday memo for employees!
News Year’s Day (Jan 1, a Sunday that may or may not be observed on Monday)
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (Jan 16, a Monday that is typically observed on that day, if at all)
Presidents’ Day (Feb 20, a Monday that is observed on that day and is popular simply because it breaks up the first half of the year)
Memorial Day (May 28, a Monday when most businesses will close)
Independence Day (July 4, a Wednesday that will make it hard to turn this into a long weekend)
Labor Day (Sep 3, a Monday when most businesses will close)
Thanksgiving Day (Nov 22, a Thursday when most busineses will close)
Thanksgiving Day After (Nov 23, a Friday when a lot of business close to make it a highly appreciated long weekend)
Christmas Day (Dec 25, a Tuesday when most business will close)
New Year’s Eve (Dec 31, a Monday when a few businesses allow employees to leave early without it counting as time off)
As a rule, the priority of holidays given go in this order: the top 5 (Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day), then Thanksgiving Day After (if your business can handle it), and Presidents’ Day. Additional holidays or days around holidays are added at this point based on the business itself.
Not that it’s an observed holiday but keep in mind that next year is a Leap Year and Feb 29th falls on a Wednesday.
