Download any one of these free White Papers, instantly!
If you have a nondiscretionary bonus plan that is awarded to nonexempt employees at intervals greater than each week (for example, on a quarterly, semiannual, or annual basis), you are required to retroactively calculate the bonus into the employee's "regular rate" of pay.
You’re also required to pay additional overtime and double-time wages to include the bonus amount for each overtime and double-time hour worked.
But how to go about this? Our free White Paper Paying Overtime on Bonuses: A Calculation Guide explains, step by step, how to do the math for both incentive-based and non-incentive-based bonuses.
Download your free report now
Remember, it’s Free Report Friday—get your copy of Paying Overtime on Bonuses: A Calculation Guide absolutely free.
Download your copy now.
Yesterday’s CED detailed a highly significant report by the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) on the importance of supervisors to business.
In a word, they’re critical.
As frontline managers, where the work is actually done, they can either drive productivity or drag it down, the report said. Supervisors have the same power when it comes to retention, no small matter these days. And when grievances or complaints are filed, you can often trace them to supervisory behavior.
What’s the answer? Training and development, says NAPA, even to the same level as you’d train executives. Because, to the folks on the bottom rungs of your organization, supervisors are executives.
But there are some things even the most experienced supervisors should refuse to touch with a 10-foot pole before talking with you in the HR department. Harassment complaints. Disability accommodation requests. Lawsuit threats.
The key question boils down to this: Do your supervisors know what to handle, and what to hand off to HR?
You won’t want to miss our informative, California-specific webinar next week. And bring your supervisors along, too.
Handle or Hand Off? Train Your Supervisors to Head Off Imminent Threats and Loop in HR When Necessary
Monday, May 20, 2013 10:30 a.m. to Noon Pacific
The supervisors on your staff should have a decent working knowledge of human resources best practices—what they can do, what they can’t do, what they should and shouldn’t say. But there’s a fine line between knowing enough, and knowing just enough to be dangerous.
When supervisors “play HR,” they can leave companies vulnerable to embarrassing and costly legal action. This is particularly true when garden-variety issues escalate into more complex territory—especially in California, where the rules are particularly complicated and employee-friendly.
No matter how knowledgeable your supervisors may be, there's always a point at which HR should be brought in. The key is knowing when.
Don't miss our informative webinar on May 20, this coming Monday—and bring your supervisors along, too!—when our expert explains what your supervisors should handle and what they should hand off to HR.
You'll learn:
Don’t miss it—sign up today and claim your spot!
Download your free copy of Training Your New Supervisors: 11 Practical Lessons today!
Supervisors are the most important factor in a work unit's performance, says HR trainer Steve Oppermann. They are the driving force that brings excellence—or the dragging force that guarantees mediocrity.
Are your supervisors driving your organization or putting a drag on it?
Even a small supervisory deficiency can result in billions in losses, says Oppermann, an experienced manager, consultant, and trainer. Blogging on the website FedSmith.com, he discussed a report from the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) about the "Price of Poor Supervision."
The NAPA report suggests that three key problems develop when supervision is poor:
1. Job performance suffers. As the managers in charge on the frontlines, where the work actually gets done, supervisors are critical to mission accomplishment. The NAPA report concludes that supervisors may be the most important factor in their individual work units’ productivity.
Forget "may," Oppermann says, supervisors ARE the most important factor. When supervision is poor, performance lags and productivity drops off dramatically.
2. Poor supervision drives good employees away. Ever heard the saying, "Employees don't leave companies, they leave managers and supervisors"? If you've got poor supervisors, you've got a built-in “antiretention” tool in your workplace, says Oppermann. All your morale-boosting efforts combined can't blunt the effect of poor supervision.
Watch closely how your supervisors use power, suggests Oppermann. That's a good sign of how well they are doing. (If you discount or downplay supervisor assessments, he notes, you're leaving the door wide open for the "Boss from Hell.")
Do your supervisors know what to handle themselves and what to hand off to HR? They will if they attend our in-depth webinar next Monday. Learn more.
Even if bad supervisors don't actually drive people to leave, there are still problems. Studies have linked employee mental health to the relationship with the boss. One study suggests that rapport with the boss largely predicts incidence of depression and other psychiatric problems. There goes productivity again.
3. Problems that require or attract third-party intervention increase. Supervisory behavior impacts the number of grievances and complaints filed by employees, internal and external. As HR managers know too well, the cost of resolving these issues can be very significant.
What to Do
Executives should consider their supervisory cadre as a driving force for organizational outcomes. "While there are costs involved in starting and maintaining programs to strengthen the performance of supervisors, they pale in comparison to the price paid for inaction," says the NAPA report.
Some recommendations for employers from NAPA:
Tomorrow—an invitation to a webinar next week you and your supervisors won’t want to miss.
When administering a PTO policy in California, it’s important to understand how the law treats the accrued days in the PTO bank. This matters for California employers since accrued vacation days are treated as accrued wages and must be paid out upon termination. As such, the same rules apply to any PTO time that is the legal equivalent of vacation time.
"If the employee can take the time off without condition, it is vacation, no matter what it is called." Dan Chammas advised in a recent CER webinar. This means that laws that govern vacation days will apply, regardless of what the employees actually use the time for.
This becomes an issue for employers when they create one big PTO bank that employees are expected to use for every type of leave including vacation days, sick days, jury duty, pregnancy disability leave, holidays, doctor’s appointments, etc. Since this PTO bank is meant to cover every possible type of leave, it is usually a very large bank of days.
"But California is very clear on this. The rule is, in California, is if the employee can use all of it for vacation, then it is all considered vacation. Then the state treats it as vacation wages—even if the employee never uses any of it for vacation." Chammas confirmed.
The key question to make a distinction within the law is this: what limitations does the employer put on the leave bank? If there are no limitations, then it is all vacation for legal purposes. A lot of employers get in trouble this way. However, if the employer places restrictions on the use of the PTO bank (perhaps by designating which portions can be used for which types of leave), then it would be treated differently under the law.
This is an administrative pitfall to avoid when setting up a PTO policy—be sure to understand that designating everything as PTO without restriction will have consequences.
The biggest reason that this distinction (whether or not PTO time is viewed as vacation time under the law) matters is because California law says that vacation time is vested wages. In other words, once a leave bank has been identified as vacation, California looks at the time as hours of pay that the employer owes the employee. In other words, accrued vacation is looked at as wages earned by an employee to be paid while he is not working.
California law also states that employers cannot take away vacation wages. In other words, employers cannot reduce the vacation banks of employees once they are accrued. In fact, no "use it or lose it" vacation policies are allowed. Once an employee earns vacation wages, the employer must eventually pay it out—the payout may occur while the employee is on vacation, or at any other time.
If vacation is still accrued and unpaid at the time of termination, then the employer must pay out those vacation wages at that time. (California has a rule that all wages are due on an employee’s final day of employment). This also means that accrued vacation will be paid at the current rate of pay, as opposed to the rate of pay at the time it was earned—so, years of vacation earned at a lower wage rate become much more valuable when paid out at an elevated rate.
The above information is excerpted from the webinar "Paid Time Off in California: Strategies for Effectively and Legally Managing Your Program." To register for a future webinar, visit CER webinars.
Daniel B. Chammas, Esq., is a partner in the labor and employment practice group in Venable’s Los Angeles office. He has extensive experience defending employers in wage and hour class actions and other employment disputes, from actions for unpaid wages and sexual harassment claims to wrongful termination litigation and racial discrimination complaints.
Yesterday, we took a brief look at what OSHA is focusing on this year. Today, some more areas you as an HR professional should know about—plus an introduction to a detailed California-specific safety desk reference.
OSHA Standards Based on National Consensus Standards–Signage—OSHA's consensus standard update project is part of a multiyear project to update OSHA standards that are based on consensus standards. OSHA has published a notice of proposed rulemaking concerning a consensus standard addressing signage.
Reinforced Concrete in Construction—OSHA has published a Request for Information (RFI) seeking information about the hazards associated with the reinforcing operation in construction. OSHA believes current rules regarding reinforcing steel and post-tensioning activities may not adequately address worker hazards in work related to post-tensioning and reinforcing steel.
Silica Exposure—OSHA has initiated proposed rulemaking to make the permissible exposure limit for crystalline silica stricter and to require medical surveillance and training for employees.
Slips and Falls, Personal Fall Protective Systems—OSHA has a final rule awaiting action by the OMB that will incorporate personal fall protection systems into the existing general industry rule for Walking and Working Surfaces (29 CFR 1910.23) to reflect new technologies.
Fed/OSHA and Cal/OSHA are very different in key ways. Get the complete, comprehensive rundown in our exclusive report. Learn more here.
Standard Improvement Project, Phase IV (SIP IV)—OSHA's Standards Improvement Projects (SIPs) are intended to remove or revise duplicative, unnecessary, and inconsistent safety and health standards. The agency initiated a fourth rulemaking effort to identify unnecessary or duplicative provisions or paperwork requirements that is focused primarily on revisions to its construction standards in 29 CFR 1926.
Review–Lookback of OSHA Chemical Permissible Exposure Limits—OSHA is developing an RFI seeking input from the public to help the agency identify effective ways to address occupational exposure to chemicals. OSHA believes many of the existing permissible exposure limits (PELs) are outdated and need revising.
Whistleblower Protection Regulations—OSHA proposes to issue procedural rules that will establish consistent and transparent procedures for the filing of whistleblower complaints.
Note on Combustible Dust—This issue was not included in the agenda. There has been no proposed rule drafted, so no new regulation is expected soon.
Cal/OSHA vs. Fed/OSHA: A Comprehensive Guide To the Crucial Differences
Whether you’re a California employer looking to expand into another part of the country or an employer from outside California planning to expand your business into the state, California’s occupational safety and health program and rules are likely to be an issue for you.
California: Not Like Everywhere Else
California is one of 26 states that runs its own OSHA program. In many of these so-called “state-plan states,” the state’s rules mirror the federal rules almost exactly; the state merely holds the responsibility for enforcing them.
California, though, is one of a handful of state-plan states that have created a program that differs in many important ways from federal OSHA’s program, both in administrative and regulatory structure and in regulatory coverage.
Ignorance of these differences can put you at risk for costly government citations—even if you have the best intentions in the world.
Extensive Analysis of the Key Differences Between California and Federal Safety Rules
Our exclusive Safety Management & Compliance Report Cal/OSHA vs. Fed/OSHA: A Comprehensive Guide To the Crucial Differences extensively reviews the differences between Cal/OSHA and federal OSHA that are most likely to affect employers operating in both jurisdictions.
This guide identifies and discusses—in easy-to-read plain English—the differences between Cal/OSHA’s and federal OSHA’s regulations, as well as differences between the two agencies’ approaches to:
The Only Guide of Its Kind—Anywhere!
Cal/OSHA vs. Fed/OSHA: A Comprehensive Guide To the Crucial Differences was written by an experienced safety consultant, and we believe it is the only comprehensive resource of its kind out there.
You simply won’t find more complete, thorough coverage of the differences between Cal/OSHA and Fed/OSHA anywhere else.
It’s like having your own personal California safety expert on call 24/7, at a fraction of the cost.
Stay Up-To-Date, Hassle-Free
Best of all, we’ll send you a brand-new edition each year so you always have the most up-to-date information available.
Don’t delay. Order today and get up to speed on the safety rules—both California and federal—that truly matter to your business.
Download your free copy of How To Survive an Employee Lawsuit: 10 Tips for Success today!
The employment laws in California are some of the strictest in the nation.
It's no secret that we live in the most litigious society in history. And that companies like yours are a favorite target for the media, attorneys, courts, disgruntled employees, and even job candidates.
California workers are particularly prone to complain about the company that employs them.
California Employer Advisor, our award-winning HR advisory newsletter, will introduce you to all aspects of the continually changing state and federal laws governing your relationship with your employees.
Not only do we report on the important laws, management practices, and cases that impact your business, we also outline pragmatic, actionable ideas to help ensure full compliance, avoid lawsuits, and protect your company from financial losses