Catching Up

“I know there are things I need to be doing so I’m in compliance but I haven’t had time yet. What are the priorities?”

Your HR Survival Tip

If you haven’t yet become compliant with California’s deadlines and new laws, you aren’t alone but need to make time or potentially face fines and penalties. The immediate list is short so this isn’t too painful but it is critical.

Sexual Harassment Prevention Training
If you have more than 5 employees anywhere, you were required to provide sexual harassment prevention training to all employees before the end of 2020. It is paid time so be sure to plan the training to avoid overtime. Supervisory employees have a mandated 2-hour training and non-supervisory employees have a mandated 1-hour training. Your employees must then be trained again every 2 years from their previous training date. New employees must be trained within 6 months of hire. We offer online, on-demand training at CAhumanresources.com but the state also offers training compliant with this law. Failure to provide this training will be most noticeable (and most financially painful) when or if you have a harassment complaint before completing the training.

Protected Family Leave
California changed the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) to be effective for companies of 5 or more employees, reduced from the previous 50 or more employees. This was a huge change and we’ve noticed many smaller companies are failing to understand the law and their role. This law went into effect on 1/1/2021 and provides protected time off of up to 12 weeks per 12-month period. It can be used for a variety of reasons, including time off for the employee’s health or baby bonding. Even if you’ve had an employee off for a few weeks this year, the protected 12-week period doesn’t begin until you have given the employee the proper paperwork. Failure to provide this leave can harm you in two ways: (1) a lawsuit or claim because you denied the leave to an employee who was legally entitled to it or (2) failure to provide timely paperwork could result in a much longer leave for that employee than was necessary.

There are other compliance items but they usually don’t affect the majority of your employees like these do. The training is easy because you can immediately schedule and complete it. The protected leaves require more knowledge, paperwork, and tracking so your immediate work is preparing for a leave and knowing how to handle it. If desired, we can provide leave management for your company or train someone in your company.

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