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“I’ve managed to keep most of my employees working over this past year and they’ve seemed fairly happy here. However, lately, I’ve seen signs that make me think they aren’t as happy as I thought and are looking for a new job.”
Your HR Survival Tip
Congratulations on retaining your employees when so many companies have had layoffs because of the pandemic. Employees have felt lucky to keep their jobs over the past year and haven’t wanted to do anything that might put their name on the layoff list. However, that doesn’t mean they feel their current position is the best job ever or even the best they can do.
The clock is ticking. Companies had to dramatically downsize and even close in the past year… but that’s ending and companies are looking to kickstart their businesses again. As more and more employees are vaccinated and feeling safer, they will be assessing their job and the job market. In fact, there is a study that shows nearly 50% of employees will be looking at their options.
One of the reasons we’re expecting this is because employees are becoming less fearful of taking a chance on a new company and [click to read more …]
The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) was just signed into law last week. This article will only discuss two items from this new law, the FFCRA updates and the employee retention credit through CARES.
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) initially began last year on 4/1/2020. This law required employers to notify employees of potential paid time off when they had COVID symptoms, when they couldn’t work due to lack of childcare, and a few other reasons. FFCRA expired on 12/31/2020 but was then extended to 3/31/2021. The extension removed the employer mandate requiring notification to employees and payment for COVID-related time off. However, the tax credit was still available to those companies who chose to continue offering the pay to employees.
ARPA has extended FFCRA to 9/30/2021. In addition, while not mandated, companies will continue receiving the tax credit if they pay employees for FFCRA time off. The most interesting aspect of this new law was the reset of hours for the time off. This means if an employee had previously received the allowed 80 hours of FFCRA sick pay, the clock starts over as of 4/1/2021, and the previously paid time doesn’t count against the employee’s [click to read more …]
“I have a few boxes of old employee files in my warehouse. Is it okay to just throw them out?”
Your HR Survival Tip
The documents in employee files have a required shelf life. The length of retention is often related to the laws concerning how much time an employee or entity has to make a claim and or file a lawsuit where those documents may be needed. Even when you are no longer legally required to keep the documents, attorneys suggest you keep them for the life of the company… just to be safe. This is much easier now that we can digitize those docs. However, be sure to store the digital files on a protected drive so only authorized employees can access them.
No matter what the document may be, do not destroy anything while the employee still works for you. If your managers keep separate notes or records, ask for copies if an employee’s manager is changing or leaving. Below is a very basic list of minimum retention requirements:
Recruitment, hiring, and job placement records — 3 years or longer for any claim or litigation about your hiring practices. Payroll records, including timecards, time-off accruals, schedules, [click to read more …]
“I have two contractors that I’ve been using for quite a while. Is it true that a recent ruling might make me susceptible to a retroactive lawsuit if California doesn’t believe they are legitimate contractors?”
Your HR Survival Tip
We have seen many changes to our use of independent contractors over the past three years. California has always assumed a worker is an employee and it’s up to the company to prove otherwise. If you classify someone as a contractor and CA disagrees, it’s considered a “misclassification” with associated fines and penalties.
The standard used for many years was the Borello test that included 20 determination points, with a focus on the amount of control the company had over the contractor and their compensation. Then the CA Supreme Court introduced the ABC test in 2018 during the Dynamex case and the use of contractors was forever altered.
The ABC test focuses on classification standards under California’s wage orders. This test resulted in a very short list of acceptable uses for contractors and who qualified as a contractor. Then AB5 was passed and the door for contractors opened a bit. Proposition 22 opened the door even wider, affecting gig drivers for companies [click to read more …]
“I am creating an offer letter only because the candidate asked for one but I don’t know what I should put in it.”
Your HR Survival Tip
While an offer letter has not always been legally required, it has always been a good idea. Newer laws require a written offer to candidates, depending upon your hiring process. The biggest problem we see is companies trying to put too much into that letter or not using the correct language…both of which can be problematic. We prefer to keep the actual offer letter quite simple because it can be considered a legal document.
DO include the full details of the proposed position, such as “We are pleased to offer you the non-exempt, full-time position of Program Coordinator, reporting to __.” DO include the date you want the person to start in this position. Hopefully, you already discussed the date they will be available but, if not, use something like “on or before December 1st, 2020.” While you may be anxious for them to begin, you also want to appreciate the fact that they want to give their current employer notice rather than leaving abruptly. How they leave that employer is a [click to read more …]
“I’d like to implement a plan that rewards employees for recommending people they know to our company. What do I need to consider?”
Your HR Survival Tip
Employee referral plans can be a huge benefit to your company and for your employees. When a current employee recommends someone to apply, they want the reward. As a side benefit to you, they often feel responsible for the success of that person and won’t recommend people they think might make them look bad.
When planning to offer a referral bonus, there are more things to consider than you might think:
What is the value of receiving a recommendation from an employee? Recruiting time and money can often cost you far more than paying a referral bonus. We see plans paying $300-$1000, depending upon the position. When does the current employee receive the bonus? Consider how long it takes a new hire to start doing well in the job. Or look at your turnover and determine when most of it happens. If you have a lot of turnover in the first three months, then you want to wait until after that to pay out any bonus. What process needs to be in [click to read more …]
We have a few hard deadlines ahead of us that require action. Start scheduling now to ensure everything is ready and/or done by the deadline.
By 12/31/2020 — Sexual Harassment Prevention Training
If your company has 5+ employees anywhere, including owners, all your California employees must complete their sexual harassment prevention training by 12/31 of this year. This is paid time for the employees so schedule it accordingly. We have had two years to get this training completed so it’s highly unlikely the state will accept any excuses for not meeting the deadline. There are several resources for this training available online, including our training.
On 1/1/2021 — New Minimum Wage
On January 1st, the CA minimum wage increases again for non-exempt (hourly) employees. Companies with 25 or fewer employees must pay $13/hour, while companies with 26 or more employees must pay $14/hour. These numbers will continue to increase by $1 for the next two years. Please check the law in your area because most have a higher minimum wage. For example, the city of San Diego’s minimum wage will be $14/hour on 1/1 for companies of any size.
On 1/1/2021 — New Minimum Salary
Whenever the state’s minimum wage [click to read more …]
“I just don’t understand how unemployment works when I’m able to offer a little part-time work for employees.”
Your HR Survival Tip
We have been exposed to just about every combination of work versus unemployment this year. One of the questions we get most often is how unemployment is affected if you only give the employee a few hours each week rather than full-time work.
When a worker is on unemployment but also works part-time, they are required to report those earnings every two weeks to EDD (California’s Employment Development Department). EDD then does a calculation based on those earnings versus the worker’s unemployment benefits, based on one of two ways:
Method 1 — This is used when that paycheck is more than $100. The first 25% doesn’t count but the other 75% is subtracted from what the employee would have received in unemployment benefits that period.Method 2 — This is used when that paycheck is $100 or less. The first $25.00 doesn’t count but the rest of the paycheck is subtracted from what the employee would have received in unemployment benefits that period.
We appear to be at the end of the Federal add-on to unemployment. However, knowing these calculation [click to read more …]
If you have or were using independent contractors, you know California has complicated it over the past couple of years. The California Supreme Court established the ABC test, which made it very hard to have contractors doing anything related to customers. Then AB5 clarified certain positions could be classified as contractors. While this opened the door a bit, it’s still been hard for most companies to hire contractors and be confident with that decision.
Governor Newsom just signed AB2257, which now opens that door a bit wider. Workers that may now qualify as independent contractors include:
Certain occupations in connection with creating, marketing, promoting, or distributing sound recordings or musical compositions.A musician or musical group for the purpose of a single-engagement live performance event, except in certain conditions.An individual performance artist presenting material that is their original work, creative in character, and the result of which depends primarily on the individual’s invention, imagination, or talent.Still photographer, photojournalist, videographer, or photo editor, as defined, who works under a written contract that specifies certain terms.People who provide services to a digital content aggregator, as defined, by a still photographer, photojournalist, videographer, or photo editor.Fine artist, freelance writer, translator, editor, content [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 …]
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