| Reach into any
consultant’s bag of tricks and there is a
strategy called ‘Reorganize’. Over the years an
organization can be seen pulsating between
centralized and decentralized and frequently the
reasons put forth to justify a change are less
than compelling. Witness what’s happening at the
EEOC. They have now announced a
‘decentralization’ project. Currently, calls to
the EEOC are handled by their National Contact
Center. The NCC is operated under a ‘pilot’
outsourcing contract that will expire on
9/20/2007. The Center handles over 70,000 calls
and 3,000 emails per month for the 53 field
offices and 15 districts of the EEOC. They have
provided 30 second response times and
translation in 150 languages. So why the change?
In this case the EEOC isn’t masking the reason
for the reorganization. There is simply a lot of
opposition for the current ‘outsourcing’
approach. The transition to the decentralized
model with federal employees to handle the
contacts will begin now and last three (3)
months. That should keep them busy for
awhile. |
| |
FMLA – THE BASICS ON HOW TO COMPLY –
PART II
Q. What paperwork
needs to be completed when an employee takes a
FMLA leave?
A. An employer should
require an employee to submit a medical
certification form for leaves related to the
employee’s own serious health condition, or to
care for an immediate family with a serious
health condition. The Department of Labor has a
Certificate of Health Care Provider Form, which
if used; the employer can be assured that they
are only asking permissible questions.
The employer must give a written
response to employees requesting FMLA leave
within two business days after notice of the
need for a leave is given. The Department of
Labor has an Employer’s Response to Employee’s
Request For Leave Form, which meets these
requirements.
If the leave was due to
the employee’s serious health condition, an
employer may ask for a certification from the
health care provider that the employee is able
to resume work (do not ask for any details
related to the diagnosis, only the ability to
return to work). Make sure that this is a
uniformly applied practice, and that all
employees are required to provide this
certificate.
Q. Do benefits accrue
during FMLA?
A. FMLA requires
employers to continue group health care benefits
as if the employee had continued working. An
employer may require payment from the employee
for their portion of the medical insurance
premiums.
Many employers choose not to
allow vacation and other benefits to accrue
while the employee is on leave of absence.
Q. How does an employer handle FMLA
when either workers’ compensation or short-term
disability benefits are also involved?
A. Employers should run the unpaid FMLA
time off concurrently with the paid workers’
compensation or short-term disability benefits.
In other words, an employee does not get an
additional 12 weeks FMLA time off after workers’
compensation or short-term disability benefits
have ended. Also, an employee can elect, or an
employer can require employees to take paid
vacation or sick days (if the leave would
qualify for sick days) concurrently during the
unpaid FMLA time.
Q. If an employee
takes 12-week FMLA time for the birth of a
child, and then later, in the same 12 month
period, has a sick parent that they need to care
for, does the employer need to extend another 12
weeks FMLA time because it is for a different
issue?
A. No, only 12 weeks are
allowed per 12-month period. If an employee used
9 weeks for the birth of a child, and 1 month
later needed time off for the serious health
condition of their parent, the employee would be
entitled to 3 weeks off to care for that parent.
Q. If a company has both a husband
and wife working for them, do they each get 12
weeks off for the birth of a child?
A. If the leave is needed for the care
of a child or parent, the maximum leave allowed
would be 12 weeks total combined between both
employees. However, if both spouses had a
serious health condition, each employee would be
entitled to a separate 12 week FMLA time off.
CLICK
HERE for Part I of FMLA from the HelpLine in
the July edition of the Exec
Report. |
| |
| The Department of
Labor has announced that this year’s Drug-Free
Workplace Week will be held October 14 through
20. The purpose of Drug-Free Work Week is to
educate employers, employees and the general
public about the importance of being drug-free
as an essential component of a safe and
healthful workplace. Throughout the week the DOL
and alliance members will conduct various
activities to help employers, supervisors and
workers understand how to implement effective
drug-free workplace programs that focus on
detection and deterrence while also offering
assistance and support for workers who may have
problems with alcohol or drugs. CLICK
HERE to find out how your business can
participate. |
| |
It’s funny what you
remember from your college days. Way back
whenever, I was taught ‘if you write at all,
write it all’. This wisdom has constantly
reasserted itself over the years. The explosion
of regulation in the area of human resource
management makes operating without an Employee
Handbook like walking the high wire without a
net. So businesses large and small now ‘write’
more and more but they are also learning the
lesson to ‘write it all’. A perfect example of
this minefield is a ruling by a federal trial
court in Iowa. Suppose you have a Handbook that
exhausts the reader with its content. Of course,
you also have posters all over the place
defining the benefits and requirements of FMLA.
Are you surprised when a court rules that
employees at one of your locations are entitled
to FMLA even though you only have 40 employees
at the site? Oops, when outlining FMLA benefits
in your Handbook, you forgot to mention the
‘numerosity’ requirement which says that the law
applies only to locations of an employer that
have at least 50 workers within a 75 mile
radius. What happened? The court ruled that it
is unreasonable to expect an employee to be able
to determine if their workplace location
qualifies for FMLA benefits. It is even more
unreasonable if your Handbook recites some but
not all qualifying criteria. Therefore, your
employees may have a reasonable expectation and
legal right to the benefits of FMLA as described
in your Handbook regardless of the size of their
workplace unless you tell them otherwise. To
avoid being bitten by your Handbook, don’t
include anything about FMLA or any other
benefits in the Handbook at facilities that do
not qualify. But if you insist, be sure the
Handbook explicitly tells employees if their
location doesn’t qualify. ‘If you write at
all, write it all’. MORE
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| |
Getting 'dressed for
work' has meant different things over the years
and even today can be a source of confusion for
employees and employers alike. Generally,
workplace attire has become increasingly casual.
Last year 60% of employers allowed a day for
casual dress once a week according to a survey
by SHRM. However, the overall casual trend has
reversed in recent years as the number of firms
permitting daily casual dress has declined from
53% in 2002 to 38% today. And as styles change,
the definition of ‘casual’ is itself a source of
confusion and generational diversity in the
workplace can cause animosity between workers as
‘casual’ gets increasingly casual to the chagrin
of many older workers. In this environment more
and more businesses have struggled to develop
dress codes to clarify what is expected and
acceptable. But as with most policy issues,
there’s nothing simple about dress codes which
can be mine-fields in themselves to be handled
with caution. Employers can face serious sexual
and religious discrimination charges based upon
the content and/or uneven application of dress
codes. Click
here for examples.
|
| |
| Of course, the
importance of ‘dress for work’ policies goes
beyond ‘khaki vs. jeans’. The EEOC is always
there lurking in the background. Actually, they
are increasingly in the foreground on this issue
so you need to keep an eye on where they stand
on workplace attire. According to the EEOC,
nobody should have to choose between their job
and their religious beliefs when it comes to
what to wear to work. This position was
reinforced in June when a six (6) year court
battle was finally resolved with an award of
more than $287,000 for back pay and damages to
the plaintiff. This suit was the first filed in
the post-911 atmosphere by the EEOC in behalf of
a Muslim employee fired for ‘covering her head’
during Ramadan even though the employee had
agreed to replacing the traditional hijab with
an approved scarf with the employer’s logo. The
number of religion-based charges of
discrimination rose from 2,127 in fiscal year
2001 to 2,541 in fiscal year 2006. The EEOC
resolved 2,387 the 2006 cases and recovered $5.7
million in monetary benefits for the people who
filed the charges. While employers are required
to make ‘reasonable accommodation’ to allow
employees to practice their religion, that
protection does not include practices that
impair workplace safety or cause co-workers to
assume the burden of hazardous
work. |
| |
| It’s not uncommon
these days to see an executive named in an
employment lawsuit. This is increasingly a
strategy designed to pressure early and
favorable settlement of a claim against the
employer. Are you personally ‘at risk’ of being
named in an employment lawsuit? The answer, as
always, is ‘it depends.’ Certain kinds of
employment related suits against individuals are
barred as a matter of law. If an employee files
a discrimination suit against the employer, a
supervisor (manager or even the CEO) may not be
named personally as a defendant for allowing the
alleged discrimination. In these cases the
employer bears the responsibility for preventing
discrimination and the individual supervisor is
not deemed to be the ‘employer.’ The same
principle holds in charges of wrongful
termination and violations of wage and hour
laws. However, while an individual may not be
named personally for failing to prevent sexual
harassment, that protection does not extend to
instances where the individual was actually
engaged in the harassment. The courts have also
allowed suits against individuals in cases of
retaliation where the named individual
personally engaged in retaliatory activities
against an employee for such activities as
filing complaints or participating in
investigations of complaints of discrimination
or harassment. So a general guideline might be
that the individual is protected to the extent
that he or she was performing their duties on
behalf of the employer but the courts may hear
charges if the individual was personally and
actively engaged in the alleged harmful
activity. |
| |
| Knowing what you can
and can't do will help you prevent costly
mistakes. Call our staff of HR experts. Let Pam
Holleman help you deal with problems safely and
avoid disputes. You can reach the Helpline
toll-free at 800-322-4722. |
| |
| Your membership in the
Illinois Chamber pays! We offer valuable
programs and services to our members at special
discounts. Click
here for our growing list of outstanding
seminars, workshops and programs that will help
you with your everyday business needs.
|
| |
The Chamber urges all
Illinois employers to recognize their Guard and
Reserve employees by signing and displaying the
ESGR Statement of Support. To get yours, simply
complete an online
form and you will receive a personalized
certificate that demonstrates your support. Click
here for answers to Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQ's) for employers and reservists. Also
visit the SBA Veteran's Business Development web
site for assistance to small business owners
that have employees activated in the Guard or
Reserves. Click MORE
|
| |
The
HR Exec - Copyright © 2007 The Illinois
Chamber
Wood
S. McComb, Editor
Pam
Holleman, Manager, Human Resource
Information
|
