Employers Given Option on Reporting Requirement

Last October, the IRS said it will postpone the new requirement for employers to report the cost of coverage under an employer-sponsored group health plan. The new reporting requirement, part of the federal health care reform law, will now be optional for employers in 2011. This postponement is necessary to provide employers the time they need to make changes to their payroll systems or procedures in preparation for compliance with the new reporting requirement.

Workplace Gambling is Illegal

With all the recent excitement over March Madness many employees and employers were swept up in the fun of office pools. Whether it's the World Series, Super Bowl or any other sport or competition, keep in mind that gambling in the workplace is illegal and employers can be fined.

Source: California Chamber of Commerce, March 2011

REMINDER:

Mandatory Sexual Harassment Training

Don't forget that California employers with 50 or more employees, including temporary employees, contract employees and employees outside the state, are required to provide supervisors within the state of California with two hours of sexual harassment training every two years. If your company began this program in 2005 when it was first introduced, you will need to retrain your staff in 2011 to stay in compliance.

Call JorgensenHR to schedule your sexual harassment training, for guidance on the new laws, or for assistance on updating your policies due to changes in California law.

Summer Heat and New Heat Regulations

Summer is on the way and as we mentioned in our last newsletter, as of November 4, 2010, there are new standards regarding heat illness.

Basically, all outdoor places of employment, especially where the temperature exceeds 85 degrees Fahrenheit, must provide employees with shade sufficient to accommodate 25 percent of the workforce at one time, cool down periods of no less than five minutes in the shade upon request, as well as one quart of potable drinking water per hour worked.

In addition, there are "high heat" procedures (temperature of at least 95 degrees Fahrenheit) which apply to agriculture, construction, landscaping, oil and gas extraction, and transportation or delivery of agricultural products, construction materials or other heavy materials except for employment that consists of operating an air-conditioned vehicle and does not include loading or unloading.

Source: California Chamber of Commerce, April 2011

JorgensenHR Journal Winter 2011 

New ADA Rules Issued by EEOC Widens Meaning of Disability

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently issued new regulations under the ADA Amendment Act (ADAAA) which become effective May 24, 2011. While the new regulations appear straightforward and in line with the ADAAA, the EEOC surprisingly listed conditions that it feels will "virtually always" be covered impairments. And while the EEOC indicated that these are not "per se disabilities" by listing them as "virtually always" covered, the agency has cast a wide net over millions of Americans who may now be classified as disabled. In addition, the EEOC was clear in stating that "any impairment - no matter how brief in duration - can be a covered disability."

For a Fact Sheet and Questions/Answers on the Final
Regulations, please click on the below link.   

The Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008 

Source: SHRM, March 2011

Do You Know Federal & State Criteria for Unpaid Internships?

Summer is near and you've decided to hire an unpaid intern. Someone from the local college who is working on a degree related to a special project your company has undertaken. Your decision is not to pay them because you believe the work experience is worth more than the salary. However, be sure you know the federal and state requirements for offering an unpaid internship.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has six criteria that differentiate an unpaid intern from an employee. The State of California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) uses the same tests. The criteria your internship must meet to be unpaid are:

• Even though the training includes actual hands-on operations at your facility, it must be similar to that which the intern would receive in a vocational school.
• The training must be for the benefit of the intern, not the employer.
•  Interns cannot displace regular employees, but work under close observation.
• You cannot derive immediate advantage from the activity of the intern, and on occasion your operations actually may be impeded by the intern's work.
• Interns are not necessarily entitled to a job at the end of the internship.
•  Both the employer and intern understand the intern is not entitled to wages during the internship.

Now, do you still think that the intern should be unpaid? If not, you will need to hire the intern as an employee and pay him or her at least the statutory minimum wage.

If you have any questions on unpaid internships, please contact JorgensenHR at (661) 600-2070. 

Source: Labor Law Corner, California Chamber of Commerce, March 2011

Is it Voluntary Termination after Three Days of No Call/No Show?

If your organization has clearly established guidelines regarding calling in to report an absence from work and the guidelines outline the consequences of not notifying you, then if an employee doesn't comply, you are within your rights to consider the absence as a voluntary quit.

However, while many organizations have these three-day no call/no show termination policies, there may be exigent circumstances that prevented the employee from calling. If an employee can demonstrate a "good faith effort" to notify you or a reasonable explanation why they did not (i.e. disability or serious health condition covered under the ADA or FMLA), you should be prepared to waive the requirement.

Some experts advise that you attempt to contact the employee first before making the final termination decision. This step allows you to assess whether the employee's absence was protected by the ADA or FMLA or whether the employee simply neglected to call in properly.

If you need assistance with your attendance policy for your employee handbook please contact JorgensenHR at (661) 600-2070.

OSHA's Distracted Driving Initiative

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) the leading cause of worker fatalities is motor vehicle crashes. What you should know about distracted driving:

• Distracted driving crashes killed more than 5,400 people and injured nearly 500,000 in 2009.
• Researchers report that texting while driving claimed more than 16,000 lives from 2001 to 2007.
• Reaction time is delayed for a driver talking on a cell phone as much as it is for a driver who is legally drunk.
• Drivers who are texting take their eyes off the road 400% more than when they are not texting.
• More texting leads to more crashes. With each additional 1 million text messages, fatalities from distracted driving rose more than 75%.

Naturally, distracted driving greatly increases the risk of crashes. So in an effort to combat distracted driving, OSHA suggests that employers:

• Prohibit texting while driving. OSHA encourages employers to declare their vehicles "text-free zones" and to emphasize that commitment to their workers, customers, and communities.
• Establish work procedures and rules that do not make it necessary for workers to text while driving in order to carry out their duties.
• Set up clear procedures, times, and places for drivers' safe use of texting and other technologies for communicating with managers, customers, and others.
• Incorporate safe communications practices into worker orientation and training.
• Eliminate financial and other incentive systems that encourage workers to text while driving.

If you need assistance with a cellular phone/texting policy for your employee handbook please contact JorgensenHR at (661) 600-2070.  

Source: New OSHA "Distracted Driving" Pamphlet

Worker Rights Strengthened Under WARN

News on the WARN front: employees who quit their jobs when they are led to believe the business is about to fail can still qualify for protection under the WARN Act.

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act is a federal program requiring most employers with 100 or more employees to provide sixty-calendar-day advance notification of plant closings and mass layoffs of employees. Failure to give notice could force the employer to pay workers 60 days of back pay and benefits.

It is important to note that California has it own WARN Act. It is considered more worker-friendly and applies to organizations with 75 or more employees.

The case which initiated the decision occurred in Seattle. A group of workers brought suit against former employer Gee West Seattle, which operated several automotive franchises. The company was in financial trouble in 2007, and the owners were trying to sell the business. When management told its employees that it would close unless a buyer was found, nearly 80 percent of the firm's 150 employees, anticipating they were going to lose their jobs, quit voluntarily. The dealership actually did close, but mainly because there were no longer enough people on the payroll to operate it.

Source: California Employer Advisor, April 2011