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| BestHR Solutions for Management |
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Fall 2008 Volume 73 Published By: JorgensenHR Editor: Deborah Hildebrand | |
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A MESSAGE FROM LINDA HARRIS, PRESIDENT OF JORGENSENHR
I want to introduce you to our new electronic journal! Our journal provides up-to-date information about human resources.
JorgsensenHR provides BestHR Solutions for management. JorgensenHR specializes in human resource audit/assessments, employee relations, compensation, recruitment, on-site human resource management, sexual harassment avoidance and other training programs, policies and handbooks, and affirmative action plan. We are a licensed private investigative firm (CA #23947), and can help with investigations relating to sexual harassment, hostile work environment and discrimination.
We invite you to scroll the articles and forward this along to those you think may benefit from the information. If you have any questions or would like more information on our services, please contact us at (661) 600-2070 or email us at info@jorgensenhr.com, and we will respond to you promptly.
Sincerely,
Linda Harris
President
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WELCOME TO RETURNING JHR CONSULTANT: CONNIE CAMERON
JorgensenHR would like to take this opportunity to WELCOME BACK, CONNIE CAMERON, as one of our senior consultants.
With over twenty-four years of generalist human resources experience, Connie has worked in management in the escrow/title settlement, banking, and manufacturing industries handling affirmative action, employee relations, training and development, workers' compensation, benefits, and regulatory compliance. She also creates and develops employee handbooks, and policies and procedures both in English and Spanish. Connie is "in-demand" and is often found onsite at client locations supporting the management team. |
JORGENSENHR ALIGNS WITH CALIFORNIA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
As a vote of confidence to the quality of the human resources services offered by JorgensenHR, the California Chamber of Commerce has welcomed the firm as a member of the CalChamber's recently launched HRConsultant Network.
The purpose of the network venture is to create a trusted partnership with local human resources consultants from around the state that can provide a variety of high quality, hands on, strategic services in their region.
According to CalChamber, "HRConsultant Network is made up of HR consultant companies who have passed an application process that included background verification, professional reference checks and an interview with CalChamber employment law counsel."
Inclusion into this elite group of quality companies says a lot about the confidence and support that the California Chamber of Commerce has for JorgensenHR specifically and for human resources consultants in general. We are proud to be a part of this select network.
Our clients can benefit from a 10% discount on particular products offered by CalBizCentral. Visit our website for more information.
Source: California Chamber of Commerce, 2008
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MEAL AND REST PERIOD OBLIGATIONS
The July 2008 ruling by the California Court of Appeal (Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Superior Court) held that employers are not obligated to ensure that employees actually take meal and rest breaks, and therefore companies cannot be held liable for alleged meal and rest break violations unless employees are "forced to forgo" these breaks.
The Court ruled that as long as employers provide the time and do not "impede, discourage or dissuade" employees from taking meal and rest breaks, they do not have to police employees to ensure that the breaks are actually taken. Employees have filed a petition for review with the California Supreme Court, which means the Court of Appeals case is on hold until the Supreme Court decides whether it will take the case. The Court has until the end of October to decide, and can extend the date until the end of November.
In essence, at this time nothing has changed with respect to an employer's obligation for meal and rest period compliance.
What should employers do:
- Ensure all non-exempt employees take their unpaid , uninterrupted 30-minute meal period for every consecutive five hours of work.
- Employee waivers (unless the shift is less than 6 hours) are unenforceable, even if the request is made by the employee. Allowing employees to miss their meal break, exposes the company for an additional one hour of employee wages for everyday the meal break is missed or interrupted.
If your company has compliance concerns regarding meal/rest breaks, please contact JorgensenHR or contact legal counsel.
Sources: Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP, July 2008. California Chamber, September 2008. |
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NEW "LIST A" DOCUMENT FOR I-9'S
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced a new acceptable document under List A on the I-9, employment eligibility verification form. Click on the link below to read the announcement. For more information please contact JorgensenHR at (661) 600-2070.
Employee Eligibility Verification |
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NON-COMPETE AGREEMENTS
In a recent California Supreme Court ruling, the Court upheld California's long-standing assertion that a non-competition agreement is void any time it restricts an employee's "ability to practice his profession" in any way and rejected the federal courts "narrow restraint" exception.
Unless a non-competition agreement clearly falls under one of the following exceptions, it will be unenforceable in California
- Trade secrets protections, which can legally restrict an employees' ability to use confidential information or company-defined trade secrets.
- Sale of a business, which can legally restrict a seller's ability to compete with the buyer in the geographic location where the seller had carried on his or her business.
- Dissolution of a partnership, which can legally define a geographic area within which one of the partners cannot conduct a similar business.
The Courts reiterated the law in California that non-competition agreements are against public policy because it restricts an individual's ability to earn a living. The Court also found that requiring a former employee to get a release of an invalid agreement constitutes unlawful interference with an employee's rights. A waiver of "any and all" claims is not an illegal waiver of an employee indeminification rights unless the waiver specifies that indeminification is being waived. Edwards v. Arthur Andersen LLP (August 7, 2008) 2008 Cal. LEXIS 9618
What should employers do:
- Do not restrict an employee's ability to work after they leave your employment through non-competition clauses.
- If you have offices outside of CA, be sure to consult legal counsel regarding how to handle non-competition policies for CA employees as the law in this area differs by state.
- Waivers should be narrowly tailored and specify what claims are being waived.
For more information please contact JorgensenHR at (661) 600-2070.
Source: Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP, August 2008, California Chamber of Commerce, August 2008. |
PRIVACY EXPECTATIONS WITH TEXT MESSAGING
A recent case before the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that an employee's right to privacy was violated when his employer, the City of Ontario, California audited his personal text messages on his City-issued alphanumeric pager.
In Quon v. Arch Wireless, the City's written policy prohibited personal use of City-owned computers, e-mail, Internet and other systems, and allowed the City to search these items. However, at a meeting employees were told that they were required to pay for charges in excess of 25,000 characters. The City's practice historically was not to audit pagers when employees paid for the overages.
Ultimately, the City obtained transcripts of an employee's text messages, without first notifying the employee. The employee sued his employer in federal court for invasion of privacy and related federal law claims. Although the trial court threw out all of the claims, the Ninth Circuit Court reinstated the lawsuit. Both courts found that users of text messaging services have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the content of their text messages, but not the phone numbers to which the texts are sent.
The Ninth Circuit suggested that the City might have avoided liability all together if it had simply adhered to the stated policy allowing searches of text messages, or had warned the employee that he was forbidden from personal use of his pager and that his text messages would be reviewed for content.
What should employers do:
- As much as possible, maintain your own servers for all company-related equipment.
- Communicate to all employees that they should not have a reasonable expectation of privacy related to communications on company-owned equipment that is stored on company servers.
- Remind and train all employees in your discrimination and harassment policies. Informing them that use of electronic communication for inappropriate conversations is unacceptable under company policy.
Contact JorgensenHR offices at (661) 600-2070 to create a policy for your employee handbook on text messaging.
Source: Compliance Matters ™, August 2008, California Chamber of Commerce, September 2008. |
ELECTION MATTERS
With the November Elections right around the corner, there are a few things companies should keep in mind:
- Time off to Vote: Notice must be posted at least ten days before the election. Employees may take up to two hours off to vote, without loss of pay.
- Communications to all employees:
- Business owners are within their rights to inform employees and stockholders about the potential impacts of proposed ballot measure and may use e-mail, regular mail, bulletin boards, phone banks or employee meetings to convey the message.
- Employers cannot put any political messages in or on employees' payroll envelopes and so should avoid paycheck stuffers. In addition, employers cannot control or direct the political activities of employees by threatening discharge or loss of employment. Employers cannot coerce employees to take a position nor reward or punish them for their political activities or beliefs (or threaten to do so).
For more information please contact JorgensenHR at (661) 600-2070.
Source: California Chamber of Commerce September 2008. | |
L/B/W Insurance & Financial Services, Inc.
Poole & Shaffery, LLP
JorgensenHR
Protecting Trade Secrets And Effective Hiring & Firing Practices
Wednesday, October 15th (8:00am to noon) Hyatt, Valencia Valencia, CA
*There is NO FEE for first time attendees & clients.
For returning guests who are not clients a $199 (per person) fee applies.
To attend or for more information please click on the Register Now
or call us at 661-600-2070 and ask for Linda Thibodeaux for additional details. |
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