As we celebrate Christmas and look forward, with hope, to the New Year, we
want to thank you for your support, trust and friendship. It’s been a great
year! May you be overjoyed with the love of family and friends this holiday
season and may 2011 be a year of prosperity and growth, (despite what the
experts say!).
With gratitude and appreciation,
Terri Olson and Maggie Hattan
In this issue:
- Join us for our HR Legal Update – January 14, 2011 – Free poster!
- What is your obligation to provide reasonable accommodations to a
disabled employee?
- Payday Payroll explains new requirements effective January 1, 2011
- Getting those credits with health care reform? Maybe not!
Hosted by the Fullerton Chamber, Terri Olson is the guest speaker for
the January breakfast meeting in January. Terri will highlight employment
law changes, areas of liability and touch on some interesting court cases –
all with the intent to increase your ability to protect your business from
exposure to employment complaints and lawsuits. Make your reservations
today!
- Fullerton Marriott
- 7:30 – 9:00 a.m.
- 2701 E. Nutwood Avenue
- Chamber Members $35 / Non-Members $45
- Attendees who reserve a seat before December 31st will receive a
complimentary 2011 Employment Poster
Reservations required by January 5th
Call the Fullerton Chamber (714) 871-3100
Reasonable accommodation is any change or adjustment to a job or work environment that permits a qualified applicant or employee with a disability to participate in the job application process, to perform the essential functions of a job, or to enjoy benefits and privileges of employment equal to those enjoyed by employees without disabilities. For example, reasonable accommodation may include:
- acquiring or modifying equipment or devices,
- job restructuring,
- part-time or modified work schedules,
- reassignment to a vacant position,
- adjusting or modifying examinations, training materials or policies,
- providing readers and interpreters, and
- making the workplace readily accessible to and usable by people with
disabilities.
Reasonable accommodation also must be made to enable an individual with a disability to participate in the application process and to enjoy benefits and privileges of employment equal to those available to other employees.
It is a violation of the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) to fail to provide reasonable accommodation to the known physical or mental limitations of a qualified individual with a disability, unless to do so would impose an undue hardship on the operation of your business. Undue hardship means that the accommodation would require significant difficulty or expense.
- EEOC
Are you in need of greater understanding on ADA requirements? Give us a call.
HR Prescriptions is fortunate to have an alliance with Payday Payroll Service, a local and successful group of payroll professionals. Brett Adolph, Senior District Manager, provided the following important information:
As of January 1, 2011, many businesses will be required to make federal tax deposits electronically. If you are processing your payroll in-house, you need to know about these changes.
Your options for making your federal tax deposits include:
- 1. Using the Web site or the voice response system.
- You must be enrolled in EFTPS (Electronic Fund Transfer Payment System) to pay via either system. If you recently were pre-enrolled in EFTPS and cannot find your PIN, call (888)434-7338. Payments must be scheduled by 8 p.m. ET the day before the due date to be received timely.
- 2. Asking your financial institution to initiate an ACH Credit payment on your behalf.
- This option requires an EFTPS enrollment, but your banking information is not part of that enrollment. Financial institutions are not required to initiate payments for you, and may charge you a fee if they offer this service. Check in advance for cutoff times, which may be earlier than if you make a payment yourself using EFTPS.
- 3. Asking another trusted third party such as Payday Payroll Service (see contact information below) to make the payment for you.
- 4. In extraordinary circumstances, asking your financial institution to make a same-day tax wire payment for you.
- Financial institutions are not required to do this, and may charge you a fee. Check with your financial institution in advance for cutoff times.
Do you need more information or the link to the website mentioned above?
Please contact Brett at (714) 467-3434 (office), (562) 889-0730 (mobile) or via e-mail at
Word from Matt Apodaca, tax expert with NCH Wealth Advisors, is that the credit for medical premium payments your company makes is not going to be easy to get through the new Health Care Reform Act.
Here is what Matt has to say:
The credit is 35% of medical premium payments paid by the company. Here are some limits that make it a challenge:
- Premiums paid to 2% or greater shareholders/partners do not count toward the credit. Their wages also do not count toward calculating “average wages.”
- Premiums paid for family members of a 2% or greater shareholder partner do not count toward the credit. Their wages also do not count toward calculating “average wages.”
- The credit is phased out between $25,000-$50,000 in average wages. Which means if your average wages are just under $50,000, most of the credit will be phased out (of the 35% credit of premiums paid, 95% would be phased out).
The end result is that any premiums paid for you in the company WILL NOT be eligible for the credit. This is truly one of the hardest credits to qualify for. We have seen it help manufacturing firms that are already paying for health care for line workers with wages under $25k. The owners, officers, and any family members will not benefit from this.
If you were thinking of (or already are) paying the health insurance for your employees, this would help reduce the cost a bit.
Questions on this topic can be discussed with Matt by calling him at (714) 870-4542 or via e-mail at .
Workers’ compensation regulations changed on October 8, 2010 and you should have received information and updated documents from your insurance carrier by now. Your employment poster needs to be updated as well.
Our poster vendor, Compliance Poster Company, offers “peel and stick” postings to cover your existing section of the all-in-one State/Federal employment poster. If you want one of these postings to update your poster, simply email us at .
Most times, a manager is anxious to terminate an underperformer and get someone in the department who is better suited for the job. To prevent high turnover, low employee morale and potential lawsuits, consider these questions before taking immediate action:
- 1. Did you counsel the employee so that s/he knows what the performance issues are and s/he has been given an opportunity to correct the issue(s)?Is there another position for which the employee would be qualified and appropriate (i.e., a transfer or demotion) to salvage the employee?
- 2. As the business owner, manager or HR representative, did you check into the allegations before allowing the termination to take place? (Hearsay doesn’t count!)
- 3. Did you review the personnel file for appropriate documentation that backs the decision to terminate?
- 4. In discussing the final decision with the manager, did you find the termination appropriate action for the situation? Is there an alternative action that is more suited to the offense?
- 5. Have other employees been treated the same in similar situations?
All of these questions should be considered before taking action. Doing so, and documenting your “investigation” will help defend any accusations against the company for retaliation, discrimination or wrongful discharge. It even helps when responding to the EDD on unemployment claims and increases your chances of a favorable ruling.
Do you have an underperformer that needs attention? Our specialty is helping them enhance their performance or consider whether their current position is appropriate for their goals and needs. Give us a call.
We often hear “within 24 hours” from clients. Right? Wrong! When you are terminating an employee, you must give them their final paycheck at that time. Final pay includes pay through the last working day and all accrued and unused vacation (or PTO) benefits. Need more information? Give us a call
In Pietrylo v. Hillstone Restaurant Group, a federal court in New Jersey recently allowed an invasion of privacy case to go to trial over claims arising from managers’ viewing of an employee’s private MySpace page. Employees of the Houston’s restaurant chain had set up a private, invitation-only site called “Spec-Tator” to gripe about their jobs at Houston’s. The site was maintained on an employee’s personal computer and accessed on employees’ own time. What can you learn from this case?
- 1. Employers must recognize that employees may have privacy rights in and out of the workplace and that failing to recognize and respect these rights can create or exacerbate legal problems.
- 2. Employers should issue written policies that place employees on notice that their right to privacy in the workplace is limited.
- 3. Employers should tread carefully when issues arise that have privacy concerns. Just because an employer has the capability to videotape or otherwise monitor employees without their knowledge doesn’t mean it’s the best way to solve a particular problem. Sometimes it even creates more problems.
If you are concerned with privacy issues or need a policy, let us know.
A question we are often asked is when a salaried employee’s pay can be
docked for full day absences. That’s a loaded question as it all starts
with whether the employee is accurately designated as “exempt” within the
State and Federal guidelines. Since this is an area which has generated
numerous class-action lawsuits, it’s important that you are correct in your
classification of these employees. Assuming you have them designated
properly, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) permits you to reduce a
salaried, exempt employee’s pay for a workweek only in the following
situations:
- The employee missed one or more full days for personal reasons other
than illness or accident.
- The employee was absent for one or more full days because of illness
or accident, and you reduce the salary according to a bona fide
sickness/accident plan, policy or practice.
- The employee received compensation for serving in the military or on
jury duty, and you reduce the employee’s regular salary by that amount.
- The employee broke a major safety rule and you reduced the
employee’s salary as a good-faith penalty.
- The employee received an unpaid disciplinary suspension of one or
more full days imposed in good faith for infractions of workplace conduct
rules.
- The employee was absent for an entire workweek (exempt employees do
not have to be paid for any workweek in which they perform no work).
- The employee did not work some days during the first or last week of
employment.
- The employee took intermittent leave under the Family and Medical
Leave Act.
If you want to make sure you have your salaried employees designated
appropriately, contact us and we can do an audit of the position(s) in
question.
Do you conduct background checks on candidates for hire? Depending on when you process the background check, you could be putting your company at risk. Conducting checks AFTER the candidate has been offered the job - and the job offer is contingent on the results of that background check - is the best principle under which to operate. Without a contingent job offer, there is a concern about privacy issues and also discrimination theories flowing from the employer doing a background check first (and digging up dirt about a person’s past that might have nothing to do with his/her ability to do the job), and then deciding which candidate gets the job offer.
If you aren’t currently conducting background checks, we highly recommend that you do so. Our payroll provided - Payday Payroll Service - have these services available at very reasonable fees and with quick turnaround on the results. Let us know if we can put you in contact with them so you can hire worry-free!
An employee may use family and medical leave (FMLA) to care for a parent outside of the country, assuming that the employee is eligible for FMLA leave (has worked 12 months and 1,250 hours) and the employee is “needed to care” for a parent who has a “serious health condition,” as these terms are defined by FMLA.
Under FMLA, employers are permitted to request medical certification of the need to take leave for the serious health condition of a covered family member. In the 2009 final FMLA regulations, the DOL created a new form to serve the medical certification process - the Certification of Health Care Provider for Family Member’s Serious Health Condition. Let us know if you need that form and we’ll provide a copy.
If an employer is going to require medical certifications, it is required to provide the employee with written notice of such a requirement, and the consequences of failing to provide requested medical certification. This notice may be given in the form of the DOL’s Notice of Eligibility and Rights & Responsibilities or a similar document provided by the employer.
The employee must provide the requested medical certification or recertification to the employer within 15 calendar days after the employer’s request, unless it is not practicable under the particular circumstances to do so despite the employee’s diligent, good faith efforts, or unless the employer allows more than 15 calendar days to return the requested certification.
The 2009 final FMLA regulations address a perplexing problem experienced by employers-medical certifications executed by doctors in countries outside the United States. According to the final regulations, in circumstances in which the employee or a family member is visiting in another country or a family member resides in another country, and a serious health condition develops, the employer must accept a medical certification as well as second and third opinions from a healthcare provider who practices in that country. Where a certification by a foreign healthcare provider is in a language other than English, the employee must provide the employer with a written translation of the certification upon request.
We hope you take a few minutes to breeze through this issue…we have some important information for managing your HR function and, most importantly, to enhance your bottom line.
May this month be fun and prosperous!
--Terri Olson & Maggie Hattan
Exceptional customer service builds relationships and brings in repeat business. Customers want to be treated special – not avoided or ignored – which can occur when employees are afraid of being asked a question they can’t understand or answer. This often happens if your employees’ native tongue is not English. Smiling or greeting customers is just not enough. Your company’s customer service suffers from this kind of “distant” employee contact and you may find your customers spending their money elsewhere.
In addition, employees who don’t speak English but are loyal, trustworthy and hardworking aspire for the same opportunities other employees want – promotions, raises and other benefits. Not having a command of the English language is one of the biggest barriers to these opportunities since they cannot speak English well enough to delegate, supervise or direct other employees. If they could just learn enough English that relates specifically to their jobs, your company could give them exciting opportunities that would also change the face of your organization.
Do these issues describe challenges at your business? HR Prescriptions has the answer!
Our customer service training program has transformed our clients’ customer service by enabling their employees to:
- Speak basic English (specific to your industry, business and their job description)
- Demonstrate improved verbal and non-verbal communication skills
- Respond to requests in English by supervisors, managers and peers
- Understand their role and participation in customer service
- Use effective communication skills with customers and guests, building relationships
- Demonstrate conflict resolution techniques
- Develop action plans for personal improvement
- Work as a cohesive team
- Know and understand your company’s safety procedures
- Immediately implement their newly developed skills on-the-job
- Recognize the benefits of working for your company
Can you see the value in offering this training to your employees? Do you think your customers and guests would feel more loyal and appreciated if they saw a dramatic increase in “connecting” with the staff that serves them? Then, it’s worth 5 minutes of your time to find out what HR Prescriptions can do for your business! Call us today!
What do you do with all those Internet applicants? Are you required to track their information on your Applicant Flow Log? HR Prescriptions offers help in knowing what to do:
Under the OFCCP’s rules for job applications submitted electronically, when individuals respond to a job posting through electronic technology, employers need to collect information regarding an applicant’s race, gender, and ethnicity only from those individuals who meet the definition of Internet applicant. An individual is considered an “Internet applicant” if all four of the following criteria are met:
- The individual submits an expression of interest in employment through the Internet or related electronic data technologies.
- The contractor considers the individual for employment in a particular position [i.e., if you didn’t solicit the resume, you don’t need to record it or keep it – Terri].
- The individual’s expression of interest indicates the individual possesses the basic qualifications for the position.
- The individual does not remove him/herself from further consideration or otherwise indicates that s/he is no longer interested in the position during the contractor’s selection process before receiving an offer of employment from the contractor.
Source: National Human Resources Association
Do you have an Applicant Flow Log? Give us a call.
