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  • Discrimination, Harassment & Discipline

    4 Months of Pregnancy Disability Leave Just Isn't Enough

    Posted 9 hours ago
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    • 0 Comments
    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. Pregnant Employee Terminated Ana G. Fuentes Sanchez was employed as a cleaning agent by Swissport, Inc., from August 2007 until July 14, 2009. On February 27, 2009, she was diagnosed with a high-risk pregnancy and...
  • HR Policies & Administration

    Keeping Drugs and Alcohol Out of Your Workplace: CER Announces an Important Webinar

    Posted 05-23-2013
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    • 0 Comments
    Most drug and alcohol abusers seek work—and some may be filling out applications in your lobby right now. What are the legal, workable, and effective ways to keep them out? As we reported in yesterday's CED , most abusers of drugs and alcohol are in the workplace, but they aren't doing you any favors by being there. Studies show greater absenteeism, poorer health, and probably poor effort and output. Well, it gets worse. According to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration...
  • HR Policies & Administration

    Are You the 'Employer of Choice' for Drug and Alcohol Abusers?

    Posted 05-22-2013
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    • 1 Comments
    A recent study shows that most illicit drug users and heavy alcohol users are employed. That means they’re possibly working for you. If you are not testing, you're likely an "employer of choice" for all the wrong reasons. Ah, the joys of drug testing. Nothing quite like trying to ferret out users of the Whizzinator (the popular drug-test-defeating device that delivers heated synthetic urine). It's no surprise that many HR managers would rather not deal with drug and alcohol...
  • Compensation, Benefits & Leave

    How does a vacation policy differ from a PTO policy?

    Posted 05-21-2013
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    • 1 Comments
    Does your company use a PTO policy or a vacation policy? In California, it matters more than it might seem because of the way the law treats vacation days as accrued wages. So be careful if you’re switching to a PTO policy—be sure you understand how the law will treat the accrued days. The difference between vacation time and PTO How is vacation different from PTO in California? Understanding this difference can be the key to staying out of legal trouble when administering your PTO plan...
  • HR Policies & Administration

    Social Media Badmouthing, Ownership, Privacy

    Posted 05-21-2013
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    • 1 Comments
    Yesterday’s CED covered the first four tentacles of the Social Media Octopus. Today, four more tentacles—plus an invitation to the only California HR conference you need to attend this year. The eight tentacles come from a recent BLR/HRHero-sponsored webinar featuring Patricia Trainor, J.D., and Stephen Bruce, Ph.D. Attorney Trainor is BLR’s senior managing editor, HR; Bruce is editor of the HR Daily Advisor . (BLR is CER’s parent company.) [Go here for tentacles 1 to 4.]...
  • HR Policies & Administration

    Social Media Octopus—8 Tentacles Every HR Manager Must Master

    Posted 05-20-2013
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    • 0 Comments
    Social media—it’s everywhere HR turns. In a recent BLR/HRHero-sponsored webinar, Patricia Trainor and Stephen Bruce, Ph.D., identified eight tentacles that you need to watch out for. Attorney Trainor is BLR’s senior managing editor, HR; Bruce is editor of the HR Daily Advisor . (BLR is CER’s parent company.) Tentacle #1—Sourcing and Recruiting with Social Media It’s clear that social media is rising as a method of recruiting, and some employers are enjoying great...
  • Compensation, Benefits & Leave

    Free Report Friday—Paying Overtime on Bonuses: A Calculation Guide, May 17

    Posted 05-17-2013
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    • 0 Comments
    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...
  • HR Policies & Administration

    Handle—or Hand Off to HR? Do Your Supervisors Know the Difference?

    Posted 05-16-2013
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    • 1 Comments
    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...
  • HR Policies & Administration

    When Bad Supervisors Happen to Good People: The High Cost of Poor Supervision

    Posted 05-15-2013
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    • 1 Comments
    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...
  • Compensation, Benefits & Leave

    Administering a PTO policy in California

    Posted 05-14-2013
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    • 1 Comments
    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. PTO policy pitfall: Is PTO time vacation time? "If the employee can take the time off without condition, it is vacation, no matter what...
  • HR Policies & Administration

    Silica, Slip-and-Fall, and More

    Posted 05-14-2013
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    • 0 Comments
    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...
  • HR Policies & Administration

    OSHA Regulatory Agenda for 2013 and Beyond

    Posted 05-13-2013
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    • 1 Comments
    Even though your focus is HR rather than safety, you need to have a solid working knowledge of what OSHA and Cal/OSHA are up to. Here’s a general overview of what OSHA is focusing on this year. Annual Survey of Illnesses and Injuries, Electronic Submission— OSHA's proposed rule will require the roughly 80,000 organizations that respond to the agency’s annual survey of injuries and illnesses to submit their OSHA 300 Log and Summary data for the survey in electronic format. Backover...
  • Discrimination, Harassment & Discipline

    Firing 101: Stop, Listen, and Look

    Posted 05-10-2013
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    • 0 Comments
    From a legal standpoint, terminations are the most dangerous actions managers take. Here’s a simple way to help reduce some of the risks. If you’re like most managers, terminating an employee is the most difficult, or at least the most unpleasant, responsibility you face. You probably want to get it over with as quickly as possible. Don’t think that way. STOP, LISTEN, and LOOK. First, STOP. From a legal standpoint, terminations are the most dangerous actions managers take. Most...
  • Compensation, Benefits & Leave

    Q&A on the intersection of PDL, FMLA, and CFRA leaves

    Posted 05-09-2013
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    • 0 Comments
    California employers administering a leave of absence – be it for PDL, FMLA, or CFRA leave – have to be sure they understand which laws apply in any given circimstance. For example, which of the laws cover baby bonding time? Can that time be taken intermittently? What happens when an employee out on PDL has the baby but hasn’t been released from PDL yet—which leave is in effect at that point? In a recent CER webinar, Allen Kato answered all these questions and more. Here’s...
  • Compensation, Benefits & Leave

    Can Denying a Raise Be Retaliation Under the ADA?

    Posted 05-09-2013
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    • 0 Comments
    When we think of retaliation, it’s usually in the context of an employee who has been disciplined or terminated after exercising some protected right. But what about an employee who is denied a pay raise after doing so?. An example of a potential ADA violation would be an employee who is being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) resulting from incest who requests reasonable accommodation. Her supervisor then tells the employee’s coworkers about her medical condition. The...
  • Compensation, Benefits & Leave

    Can You Forbid Discussions of Salary and Pay?

    Posted 05-08-2013
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    • 1 Comments
    Much as most employers would like to impose a ban on discussion of pay—not to suggest that there are embarrassing inequities in your pay structure—it’s not legal because the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) says it interferes with Section 7 rights. It’s all part of NLRB’s new expansive view of its role. For insights about the overly aggressive NLRB and the recent court decision concerning the legitimacy of President Obama’s recess appointments, we spoke with...
  • Discrimination, Harassment & Discipline

    Can You Ask Applicants About (Religious) Schedule Conflicts?

    Posted 05-07-2013
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    • 1 Comments
    Yesterday , , we found out that veganism might be a religion. Today, religious schedule conflicts and accommodation. The EEOC guidelines state that an employer's use of inquiries that tend to reveal an employee's or applicant's religious beliefs violates Title VII, unless the employer can show there was no discriminatory effect or that the inquiries were justified by business necessity. Therefore, employers should not ask applicants or employees whether they are available for work on...
  • Discrimination, Harassment & Discipline

    Is Veganism a Religion?

    Posted 05-06-2013
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    • 1 Comments
    If you thought the Church of Body Modification was stretching the bounds of religious accommodation, now we’ve got veganism to contend with, at least in one courtroom. A recent case in Ohio shows how far religious accommodation may be heading, says BLR legal editor Joan Farrell (BLR is CER’s parent company). In the case, a customer service rep in a hospital was fired for refusing to take a flu shot. The employee said that because the vaccine was grown in chicken eggs, accepting the vaccine...
  • HR Policies & Administration

    Free Report Friday: HR Technology Tools - What You May Be Missing

    Posted 05-03-2013
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    • 0 Comments
    The more informed you are about human resources technology options, the better decisions you’ll make when choosing what’s best for your company. This white paper gives you a roundup on how a human resource management system (HRMS) can free you from paperwork, reduce time spent on routine tasks, lower costs, and improve productivity. Download Now
  • Compensation, Benefits & Leave

    FAQs on completing medical certifications for FMLA/CFRA

    Posted 05-02-2013
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    • 0 Comments
    Medical certification rules are designed to help employers verify whether a requested leave of absence is covered under the FMLA/CFRA. But simply asking the employee to return the medical certification does not always answer that question. For example, what medical certification should employers require for serious health conditions that are incurable—and how often can recertifications be requested? What about when an employee submits insufficient medical certification? In a recent CER webinar...
  • Compensation, Benefits & Leave

    ACA: Time to Figure Out What 'Affordable' and 'Minimum Coverage' Mean

    Posted 05-02-2013
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    • 0 Comments
    In yesterday’s CED , , attorney Martin Simon offered suggestions for managing 2013’s requirements under the Affordable Care Act (ACA); today, definitions of “affordable” and “minimum value.” Under What Circumstances Will You Owe an Employer Shared Responsibility Penalty? In 2014, says Simon, senior legal editor at Business & Legal Resources (BLR), CER’s parent company, if an employer meets the 50 full-time employee threshold, the employer generally will...
  • Compensation, Benefits & Leave

    FLSA compliance Q&A: On-call time, withholding, rest breaks and more

    Posted 05-01-2013
    by
    • 0 Comments
    Compliance with the FLSA can be tricky. For example, how do you pay a non-exempt employee who is on-call? When can you withhold pay for non-exempt employees? In a recent CER webinar, Ted Boehm answered these questions and many more. Here are some of the questions and answers from that program. Paying non-exempt employees for time worked outside the place of employment Q. How should you pay employees who volunteer their time during town-wide community events in which the company has a booth or table...
  • Compensation, Benefits & Leave

    ACA: Expect Flex, Delay, and Some Hassle in 2013

    Posted 05-01-2013
    by
    • 1 Comments
    Implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) involves a lot of moving parts, says attorney Martin Simon. As the various pieces of the ACA come into play, we can expect some flexibility, some postponing of deadlines, and a delay of penalties, he adds. In fact, the delays have already started, says Simon, senior legal editor at Business & Legal Resources (BLR), CER’s parent company. The health insurance exchange notice distribution requirement has been delayed. Specifically, the U.S. Department...
  • HR Policies & Administration

    Why Documentation is Crucial When Discipline Is Involved

    Posted 04-30-2013
    by
    • 1 Comments
    Yesterday , we looked at attorney David Schmit’s “Workers’ Comp 101” tips for staying in legal compliance when discipline is necessary—including the importance of good cause and consistent treatment. Today, his thoughts on the key role of documentation. Schmit made his comments at a recent webinar hosted by Business & Legal Resources, CER’s parent company. Schmit is the founder of Schmit Law in Oakland. The Importance of Documentation When Choosing to Discipline...
  • HR Policies & Administration

    Workers' Comp 101: When Can You Discipline an Injured Worker?

    Posted 04-29-2013
    by
    • 1 Comments
    How can you stay in compliance with workers’ compensation laws when disciplining a worker who was previously injured? Administering discipline in this scenario can be tricky, but it can be accomplished by following some guidelines: have good cause, treat employees consistently, and have good documentation. Disciplining an Injured Worker with Good Cause "Even if we’re talking about an injured worker who is in a protected classification, the employer can generally discipline that person...
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