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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 …]
“I’ve been working with my insurance broker for many years. Lately, when I’ve asked him a question based on something I heard, I find myself worrying about the answers he gives me.”
Your HR Survival Tip
As with any profession, it’s important to stay up-to-date with the changes in your industry and with technology being used in the industry. Too often, when we start working with a new client, we find the insurance broker doesn’t know the answer to our questions…and we believe they should.
While loyalty is a fabulous thing, you may have to decide if your loyalty really belongs to your broker or to your employees. You may not like “breaking up” with your broker but you do need to take responsibility for the choices you make affecting your employees. We all use brokers to provide us with those choices.
We recently heard a client’s broker say he wasn’t really “techie,” so he was unaware that technology started playing a big role in insurance enrollments years ago. Whether you are enrolling directly online with the carrier or using an online broker-provided service like Ease, being able to have employees enroll online (by smartphone or computer) is [click to read more …]
“An employee called me to say he might have been exposed to COVID-19 over the weekend. What should I do?”
Your HR Survival Tip
Many people are confused about time off related to COVID-19. As calls from employees reporting possible exposure are increasing, companies are realizing they aren’t quite sure what they can or should do. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) provides emergency paid sick leave but only if the employee qualifies.
Typically, to qualify for FFCRA paid sick leave, the employee must have symptoms and is seeking a diagnosis. Here are a few scenarios:
Bob has symptoms and decides to quarantine himself for 2 weeks but does NOT seek a medical diagnosis or advice from a doctor.Generally, this will be unpaid time off but Bob could use any accrued sick leave.Bob has symptoms and seeks a medical diagnosis or advice from a doctor.Bob will be eligible for FFCRA emergency paid sick leave for up to 2 weeks.Bob has no symptoms but believes he has been exposed recently and plans to self-quarantine.Until Bob is showing symptoms, this will be unpaid or accrued sick time off.Bob has no symptoms but has a doctor’s note stating he should [click to read more …]
As if you aren’t dealing with enough while trying to get your business back to some version of normal, it feels like the California legislature has been working against us lately. The CA Chamber of Commerce has provided its annual list of “job killer” bills. A bill gets this designation when the Chamber feels it threatens the state’s economic recovery and may hurt your ability to rehire or maintain employment of workers. The bills below have not yet been passed so there’s still hope.
Please make use of your personal protective equipment (i.e., your chair) before reading:
AB196, AB664, and SB893 Presumption of injury — AB196 will increase workers’ compensation costs by presuming it’s a workplace injury if your “essential worker” contracts COVID-19. AB663 adds to that by requiring public employers and public/private hospitals to provide additional compensation for things like temporary housing costs based on the employee being exposed or contracting a communicable disease, including COVID-19. SB893 focuses on public and private hospitals by presuming certain diseases are caused by the workplace. This will also establish a precedent for expanding this presumption into the private sector.
AB1107 Massive unemployment and tax increases — This will raise employers’ payroll [click to read more …]
“I have an employee who has been out for a week and I want to pay her with the Families First money I’ve heard about. How do I do it?”
Your HR Survival Tip
The Families First money is only available when the employee is personally and directly affected by COVID-19. Employees may be eligible for either the emergency Paid Sick Leave (ePSL) and/or the emergency FMLA (eFMLA). We will only cover the ePSL in this article.
As the employer, you must first certify your employee meets one of the allowed qualifications and you have the documentation required by the IRS so you can be reimbursed for paying the employee. Please keep in mind that shelter-in-place orders by the government are not considered to be a personal order of quarantine and do not qualify for this money.
When someone informs you they are being personally affected by COVID:
Obtain the certification required, then review it to make sure they qualify. They either need to provide the required documentation to back up their claim or, if unable to obtain a doctor’s note, write a statement about why they can’t work. The doctor’s note works for the statement as long as [click to read more …]
Everyone is focused on the effects of COVID-19 and we thought it was time to give you something else to think about. Life, and California legislators, keep finding ways to challenge business owners. Proposed bills affecting employers this legislative session include:
AB3216 – Currently companies with 50+ employees are subject to the California Family Rights Act (CFRA), which is very much like the federal FMLA with a few exceptions. It provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid time off with job protection. This bill proposes two things: (1) to change CFRA so companies with 1+ employees are subject to this Act and (2) allow the 12 weeks to be used for diagnosed COVID-19 quarantine for the employee or close family. Bringing CFRA down to such small companies could be devastating unless it’s only for COVID-19 related situations…but it’s not clear.AB2999 – This bill wants employers to provide 10 days of unpaid bereavement leave for employees who have worked at least 60 days prior to the leave. The employee could only use this leave for specific family members and would need to provide written proof of the death. Whether a company provides 1 day or 10, it usually never seems [click to read more …]
Employers with 1 to 500 employees are subject to this new federal law (H.R. 6201). Effective 4/1/2020, it provides temporary benefits for employees who are directly impacted by COVID-19 (coronavirus).
Both part-time and full-time employees are eligible.Employees are NOT eligible for these benefits if they are on a leave of absence or furlough and are not working at the time they become eligible.
We expect to hear that companies with under 50 employees may be excluded if the required benefits would jeopardize the viability of the business. Clearer guidelines are expected soon. It appears the exemption would only be for the childcare leave within the Emergency FMLA (see below). This law is set to expire on 12/31/2020.
Emergency Paid Sick Leave
Employers must pay employees for up to 80 hours (or two weeks) of paid sick leave at the regular rate for qualified full- or part-time employees. The regular rate is calculated from the average compensation over the past six months. There is no minimum length of employment to be eligible and prior absences do not count against this leave.
The company must provide two weeks (up to 80 hours) of additional paid sick leave to qualified employees. This [click to read more …]
While there is an overload of COVID-19 information out there, no one is telling you exactly how to make the employment changes needed, what those changes mean to you and your employees, and how to do it properly. This packet does that.
HR Options for COVID-19
We have received a lot of calls from many of you with questions about what you can do and what effect it will have on employees… and your business. We wanted to provide a packet of information and documents that could help you with all of this, while saving you money!
You’ll have continuous access to this packet, which includes:
A detailed Summary of Employer Options regarding COVID-19;Ready to use memos and other communication tools;The forms you need to implement any employee changes;And we’ll be updating information frequently.
Yes, we are charging for this but only $14.95 plus tax. We are still happy to help you in any way we can!
As events are being cancelled and bars, nightclubs, restaurants, gyms, etc. are being closed, everyone is worried about their employees and their business. We are getting a lot of questions on what employers could or should be doing during this national emergency. We’ve tried to provide a few answers for you here:
Your business interruption insurance won’t cover your losses during a pandemic.Your workers’ compensation insurance won’t cover employees who have been exposed because it’s impossible to prove it was a work-related illness.State disability insurance won’t be available to employees unless they have medical certification, which doesn’t appear to be easily available at this time. However, employees can apply if they are diagnosed and have a doctor’s note.Employees cannot decide on their own to stay home from work as a precaution. They can only make that choice if they are truly in imminent danger. However, you can approve an unpaid leave of absence.You may ask for a doctor’s note stating they should stay home and you can ask for a doctor’s note before letting them return to work if they’ve missed any work due to illness.You may send employees home and use sick (if available) or unpaid time off [click to read more …]
“I have employees who want to work from home. However, we’ve never done this before and I’m not sure how it works.”
Your HR Survival Tip
There has never been a higher demand for the ability to work from home as there is right now. But the demand was high even six months ago because technology continues to improve and many workers prefer to work from their own home. First, however, your business needs to be structured and prepared.
If you look beyond today’s health concerns, the ability to work remotely has and will continue to be considered a benefit only available or offered to certain employees. Many industries aren’t able to function without employees on-site, such as manufacturing, transportation, construction, and those using laboratories.
An employee might think it’s easy for them to work from home, particularly if they are an office worker. However, as a business owner, you need to think of the whole picture:
Timekeeping — Are employees able to record time worked online from any computer? How can you ensure they are still taking meal and rest breaks? Are you set up to use electronic signatures?Productivity — What electronic methods do you have set [click to read more …]
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