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“I have an employee on pregnancy/maternity leave but I need to call her back to work because I’m short on help right now. What are my options?”
Your HR Survival Tip Leave
Different leaves of absence have different rules in California. Many of the differences are related to company size but pregnancy leave has very specific rules.
Delivery
When your employee wants to stop working, she must provide you with a doctor’s note stating the date she must stop working and the expected amount of time off. This is considered the disability period because pregnancy is managed the same as other disability leaves. However, pregnancy disability is protected time off in California (meaning you must give her the same job back once she returns to work). The normal time off is 8 weeks and you cannot require your employee to work during this period or there could be legal issues.
Baby Bonding
Baby bonding is not always protected time off. In a company with 19 or fewer employees, the company does not have to offer any time off for baby bonding. In fact, if you do offer it, it is actually just a personal leave of absence and is [click to read more …]
“I haven’t been paying furloughed employees the emergency paid sick leave but just heard I might need to do it. Am I in trouble?”
Your HR Survival Tip
We have been subjected to ever-changing opinions and rules about COVID-19 since February…and now we have more. Most of these changes have not been backdated so you shouldn’t get in trouble for following the guidance current at that time. The latest changes include:
FFCRA for Non-Working Employees — Originally, only employees actively working were eligible to receive the FFCRA (Families First/CARES) money for emergency paid sick leave or emergency paid childcare leave. Now, anyone still in your employ may qualify for FFCRA money even if there is no available work for them (e.g., furloughed or sitting employees). Note: We don’t believe this applies to employees on a leave of absence.
FFCRA Documentation — You may not require documentation for a COVID-related leave PRIOR to the employee starting the leave. The employees will still need to provide documentation but they may begin the leave and then provide backup as soon as it’s practicable.
CDC Quarantine — The CDC is now only recommending a quarantine of 10 days after a positive test (rather than the original [click to read more …]
We all know the independent contractor scene has been dramatically altered in the past two years. First, the California Supreme Court instituted the ABC test in March 2018, then AB5 was passed in October 2019. Now the Labor Commissioner’s Office is acting on those changes by filing lawsuits against companies.
Mobile Wash, Inc. — This Bellflower company was recently sued by the Labor Commissioner’s Office (LC Office) for misclassifying workers as independent contractors rather than employees. The claim is at least 100 workers were misclassified because those workers did not pass the ABC test. In addition, the company is charged with paying those workers less than minimum wage because the workers were not reimbursed for expenses incurred.
As the company name implies, workers went to customer locations to provide services. The workers were required to use their own vehicle (plus buy gas and insurance), pay for their Mobile Wash uniforms, and pay for cleaning equipment and supplies. In addition, the company charged the worker a $2 transaction fee for every tip left on a credit card. The LC Office also found unpaid overtime, rest and meal break violations, and failure to provide paid sick leave.
Uber and [click to read more …]
“I’ve always provided the tools my field employees need. Then an employee told me a previous employer made employees use their own tools. How can I implement that?”
Your HR Survival Tip
As you may have noticed, there seem to be laws or lawsuits for nearly everything employment-related in California. There are three things to consider when you have employees who use or need tools in the field:
Employer-provided tools — You provide all the tools, including maintaining and replacing them. You are not able to charge employees for the replacement of lost tools so consider a check-out/check-in system to track your tools.Employee’s tools — In California, you are only able to require employees to use their own tools on the job if you are paying those employees at least twice the state minimum wage (currently $24 or $26 per hour, depending on company size). If you have employees earning less than that, you are responsible for the tools.Paid commute — If you have employees carrying your company tools in their personal vehicle every day, there is the possibility you may be responsible for their commute time and costs. Current lawsuits haven’t yet been settled but it appears a paid [click to read more …]
“What do I need to track for COVID and what do I do with the information?”
Your HR Survival Tip
Running a business has become increasingly difficult as COVID rules and responsibilities keep changing. The one thing we all know is to send an employee home (or tell them not to come to work) when they have symptoms and/or test positive for COVID. But what then?
1) You follow your protocol, which should include finding and notifying those potentially exposed, cleaning the work area of the person who tested positive, etc. When warning about the exposure, you only say “someone you work with has tested positive.” While the employees may figure out who it is, the name can’t come from you due to privacy laws.
2) The next step is to notify your local health department to inform them of a positive case.
3) The last step is determining if this positive test must be reported on your Cal/OSHA Log 300 (that is posted February 1 to April 30 each year). You must list this incident if the employee misses work, is diagnosed by a doctor, has medical treatment beyond first aid, etc. These are the primary things that happen when [click to read more …]
“I don’t know how to handle all the possible exposures I’m hearing about from employees. Nothing seems to work for both the employee and my company.”
Your HR Survival Tip
Not surprisingly, companies are receiving more and more reports of employees who may have been exposed. We don’t know of any single solution that will work for everyone but we can tell you what some companies are doing.
It’s important to remember that without COVID symptoms, there is no financial help for the employee from the government. The employee must have symptoms AND be talking with a doctor or getting tested to qualify for the Families First money (emergency paid sick leave for 2 weeks).
There are three primary exposure solutions we’re hearing about but each has a negative:
Super Safe — You have an employee who was “possibly exposed” go into self-quarantine for 2 weeks. Give some thought about how many of your employees may be potentially exposed at any one time and that those employees won’t be paid during the quarantine period since they don’t have symptoms. The negative is the employee is unpaid for two weeks and you’re low on headcount that could affect your [click to read more …]
Several clients have asked us what a safety protocol should include. We have provided below a very basic plan designed for offices but this is not one of those situations where one plan can work for everyone. You should take these concepts and expand on them based on your work environment for offices or field job sites.
ABC Company Safety Protocol
In order to create a safe working environment for you and for our customers, we have implemented the following protocols:
Before Leaving for Work
You must self-check to confirm you do not have any symptoms.If you do have symptoms, do not go into work but call your supervisor immediately.
Upon Arrival at Work
You must have your temperature taken (and show it is below 100 degrees).You must sign off that you do not have any of the symptoms listed on the sign-off sheet.(Symptoms include cough, headache, the recent loss of taste or smell, fever or chills, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea.)
While at Work
You must wear a face mask/covering over your mouth and nose whenever:You leave your office or work station [click to read more …]
“My business was closed for over 2 months due to the state stay-at-home orders. In the past few weeks, I have been bombarded with various unemployment claims and notices but the deadlines for responding have passed. What do I do with them?”
Your HR Survival Tip
You only had to hear the news of all the layoffs caused by the pandemic to know EDD (California’s Employment Development Department) was swamped with unemployment claims. They are slowly catching up but we’ve seen a lot of forms arriving in June but with March and April dates. So now it’s your turn to be swamped.
The way we like to handle them is to first sort them by employee so you can see if there are multiple documents or a progression in the documents for that employee. The most common are:
Notice of Unemployment Insurance Claim Filed — This is the first form you receive. It shows you an employee has filed a claim. The form includes the employee’s name and social security number, the effective date of the claim, the last day of work, and the reason the employee gave them for not working. If the information is correct, you [click to read more …]
“I want to pay my employees a commission of $20 for every successful upsell of our products to a current client. How do I set that up?”
Your HR Survival Tip
Employees are often excited about an opportunity to earn extra money. Let’s first make sure you are using the correct terms and processes for it so you remain in compliance with California law.
In California, a commission is only available when the “salesperson” is actively involved in making and closing the sale and earning a percentage of the sale. You must have a written commission plan signed by each employee with specific details, in accordance with the law. In your case, commission is the wrong term for what you’ll pay.
Since your employees will earn a flat $20 for each upsell, this is considered a non-discretionary bonus. It’s non-discretionary because it is expected whenever they successfully upsell a client. It’s a bonus because it is a flat dollar amount instead of a percentage of the sale.
The only negative is, in CA, a non-discretionary bonus is subject to overtime for the period it covers. For example, if an employee’s bonuses are earned and paid each pay period, you [click to read more …]
Once upon a time, all the legal changes in California became effective on January 1st. But that was then. The past several years have shown us changes can go into effect at any time so we have to be more diligent if we want to be compliant.
This July 1st, 2020, is the effective date for the following changes:
Paid Family Leave (PFL) — This is currently 100% paid by employee taxes but it is not an actual leave. Employees may receive supplemental pay from the state if you have approved a leave and the employee has an eligible reason. The most common use of PFL is for baby bonding. Since PFL began, the maximum time has been 6 weeks but that has now been expanded to 8 weeks. New Local Minimum Wage — The City of Santa Rosa has set a minimum wage of $14-15 per hour, depending on the size of the company. This will become $15 per hour for all employees in January. Increased Minimum Wages — The following localities have a mid-year increase in their minimum wage: Alameda: $15.00/hour Berkeley: $16.07/hourEmeryville: $16.84/hourFremont: $15.00/hour if 26+ employees; $13.50/hour if 25 or fewer employeesLos Angeles City: $15.00/hour [click to read more …]
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