FMLA provides that covered employers shall make, keep, and preserve records pertaining to their obligations under the Act in accordance with the recordkeeping requirements of section 11(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and in accordance with these regulations. FMLA also restricts the authority of the Department of Labor to require any employer or plan, fund or program to submit books or records more than once during any 12-month period unless the Department has reasonable cause to believe a violation of the FMLA exists or the DOL is investigating a complaint. These regulations establish no requirement for the submission of any records unless specifically requested by a Departmental official.
To learn more about recordkeeping requirements see FMLA Recordkeeping. Remember, FMLA requirements only apply to employers with 50 or more employees; however, family leave under specific states can differ, for instance Vermont’s Parental and Family Leave law applies to employers with 15 or more employees see VPFL. While Vermont’s law is silent on recordkeeping requirements it is recommended that employers follow the federal FMLA guidelines. Many states do have additional requirements and accomodations so make sure to research your state specific acts to avoid costly fines and lawsuits. Use the search feature on the HRSentry hompage to see what resources are available on fmla and other HR related issues.
The recent downturn in gas prices nationwide has done little to stop fears of a long-term increase, prompting one city to move forward on a bold new initiative to increase commuting. On tuesday September 10th, San Francisco Governor Gavin Newson, signed a law that requires employers to offer benefits for those employees who commute to work. Part of a plan to reduce CO2 emissions by 20% of 1990 levels by 2012, the law reqires employers to offer atleast one of the following three transportation plans:
One that allows employees to elect to exclude, from taxable wages and compensation, employee commuting costs incurred for mass transit passes or vanpool charges up to the maximum allowed by the Internal Revenue Service (currently, $110 per month).
A program whereby the employer provides a transit pass for public transit in San Francisco ( Muni Fast Pass ) or reimbursement for equivalent vanpool charges.
A program that provides transportation in a bus or other multi-passenger vehicle at no cost to the employee.
The ordinance covers employers with at least 20 employees. Covered employees are those who work at least 10 hours per week in San Francisco. Covered employers have 120 days from the effective date of the ordinance to implement a transportation benefit program. Download a PDF of the ordinance here.
Along with high gas prices has come a mounting financial stress for employees on many levels. This has caused a shift in how we as a society are spending vacations/free time as well as the overall standard of living.
Research from Florida University shows that people among those workplaces surveyed:
52 percent have reconsidered taking vacations or other recreational activities;
45 percent have had to cut back on debt-reduction payments, such as credit card payments;
Nearly 30 percent considered the consequences of going without basics including food, clothing and medicine;
45 percent report that the escalating gas prices have “caused them to fall behind financially”;
39 percent agreed with the statement “Gas prices have decreased my standard of living”; and
About 33 percent — or one in three — said they would quit their job for a comparable one nearer to home.
A Chicago-based intergenerational consulting firm, Age Lessons, recently released a study showing how older workers perceive their treatment by younger, more technologically savvy colleagues. Three themes highlighted by an article on the SHRM website that were identified through the 50 in-depth interviews conducted were relevancy, redundancy, and resentment. “Older workers believe that younger associates drop them from critical informal communications networks … blocking access to important political and business developments…Whether it’s overt, or unintentional, the net effect is the same,” said Kennedy, president of Age Lessons. “Mature workers gradually get foreclosed from water cooler banter on-line and off, and shunted to the sidelines. Without access to emerging news in the workplace, mature workers find it difficult to make good strategic decisions and career moves.” Another key finding of the survey, known as “senior shutout,” is an instance in which companies close off career paths and training opportunities to mature workers, assuming that they are unwilling to accept a new challenge.
Kennedy encourages companies to:
• Adopt age-neutral hiring and educational policies that look at the candidate pool irrespective of age.
• Form intergenerational work teams to ensure cross-pollination across age groups.
• Extend continuing and professional educational opportunities to all workers, regardless of age.
• Provide awareness training about generational differences, as well as office and meeting etiquette.
A study conducted by the Governmental Accountability Office for Congressional testimony revealed the following insights:
Key Obstacles
•Some employers’ perceptions about the cost of hiring and retaining older workers are a key obstacle in older workers’ continued employment.
• Workplace age discrimination, the lack of suitable job opportunities, layoffs due to changes in the economy, as well as the need to keep skills up to date, are all challenges facing older workers.
• Strong financial incentives for workers to retire as soon as possible and some jobs that are physically demanding or have inflexible schedules provide strong disincentives to continued work.
Best Practices and Lessons Learned
• Use nontraditional recruiting techniques such as partnerships with national organizations that focus on older Americans.
• Employ flexible work situations and adapt job designs to meet the preferences and physical constraints of older workers.
• Offer the right mix of benefits and incentives to attract older workers such as tuition assistance, time off for elder care, employee discounts, and pension plans that allow retirees to return to work.
• Provide employees with financial literacy skills to ensure they have a realistic plan to provide for retirement security.
• Treat all employees in a fair and consistent manner and employ a consistent performance management system to prevent age discrimination complaints.
Strategies
• Conduct a national campaign to help change the national mindset about work at older ages.
• Hold a national discussion about what “old” is to help change the culture of retirement.
• Create a clearinghouse of best recruiting, hiring, and retention practices for older workers.
• Strengthen financial literacy education to help workers prepare to retire.
• Make the federal government a model employer for the nation in how it recruits and retains older workers.
• Create a key federal role in partnerships to implement these strategies.
• Consider specific legislation or regulations to increase flexibility for employers and employees to create new employment models.
Get the whole testimony at the GOA website. For more information on issues such as age discrimination and ways to integrate the generational differences, check out the HRSentry resources.
Training is one of the most important aspects in any business as it provides the continued ability to both improve and operate at a high level of success. Done properly it builds a foundation of ideas, values, and goals that embody the organizational culture. Bill Reynolds of CompEraser has provided a fantastic piece on the importance of this role for all managers on an ongoing basis:
All managers face the task of training their employees, in the broadest sense of the term. In addition to knowing how to select training for subordinates, you must know how to perform the role of trainer. Managers are called on to help new hires, for example. Even if the personnel department provides general orientation training, it is the duty of the unit manager to see that the new employee learns to perform the new job correctly.
Too many managers take this task too lightly. Ineffective managers typically hand new employees a manual and tell them to read it. This hardly suffices as on-the-job training. Another on-the-job training error is to tell the new hire to watch a seasoned employee to learn how the job is done. There is no guarantee that the experienced employee is doing the job correctly or can teach someone else how to do the job.
In the meantime, the new hire feels like a pest and is reluctant to ask too many questions. Some managers, like drill sergeants, dictate job procedures and command new hires to perform these correctly without asking too many questions. Rather than adopting these procedures, you must work closely with new employees to see that they develop the right work skills and attitudes.
You should also train in the event of employee performance problems, when an employee’s job is expanded or changed, or when you want to develop a subordinate for a new project or promotion. In essence, whenever you provide feedback, or coach, you are training.
In addition to directly training employees, you must provide support to subordinates who return to the job after attending a training seminar. It is your job to help them transfer what they have learned from the training program to the work situation. This may mean letting them try a new approach or test a new idea. It may mean removing attitudinal or structural barriers so that employees can incorporate training concepts into the daily work routine.
Check out the HRSentry resources for more tips on training as well as a series of desktop training programs ranging from workplace safety to sexual harassment.
With emails now becoming the predominant form of communication in most workplaces, it is crucial to be aware of how courts are interpreting this technology into contract law. A recent ruling in New York, Stevens V. Publicis (N.Y. App. Div. April 1, 2008), found that e-mail exchanges can be viewed as a “signed writing” that would allow for modifications or amendments. In this case there was a disagreement over a senior executives change of duties. The executive claimed that the email was not sufficient enough to change to actual contract, and thus would be negated. The courts agreed with the employer, saying that the e-mail exchange with names at the bottom of each e-mail, would be considered signed writing making it enforceable by law.
This ruling helps to clarify the role e-mail will be taking in the future as it continues to increase in popularity. If managed and understood properly, this can become a valuable asset for organizations as it would allow small contract negotiations to take place without the need for a separate meeting. This also opens up more doors for lawsuits and makes people be held responsible for comments made in e-mails, something that has traditionally been quite relaxed. Bottom line, e-mails must be treated as any other form of communication, don’t agree to anything prematurely, and be specific as possible to avoid misunderstandings.
