New rule: Employees of federal contractors must be free to discuss pay

by Christian Schappel

You’d think this would’ve gone without saying, given all of the one-sided legal hullabaloo in this area recently. But this is the federal government we’re talking about, and what should go without saying must be said (or, rather, carved into stone).

In a new rule issued by the DOL, the feds are officially saying: Let employees talk and ask questions about their pay — and the pay of others.

The issuing of the rule was the result of an executive order by President Obama.

The rule prohibits federal contractors from keeping “pay secrecy” policies.

The nuts and bolts of the new rule:

• It applies to any organization that holds any contracts, subcontracts or federally assisted construction contracts that have a combined total of $10,000 or more in any 12-month period. It also applies to any organization that holds government bills of lading, serves as a depository of federal funds, or is an issuing and paying agency for U.S. savings bonds and notes in any amount.
• It says federal contractors and subcontractors may not fire or discriminate against employees for discussing, disclosing or inquiring about their own pay or that of their co-workers.
• It also protects those same types of pay discussions by job applicants.

Click here for entire article. 

The next costly HR headache: Workers’ comp to double

by Christian Schappel

It never ends. You’re already trying to comply with Obamacare. Then, you’ll have to deal with the DOL’s new overtime exemption rule changes. What’s next? 
A wave of workers’ compensation claims, according to one insider.
Our good friends over at SafetyNewsAlert.com recently attended the annual conference for the Association of Occupational Health Professionals in Healthcare and came back with some concerning info for HR pros.

‘It’ll double’

While presenting at the conference, Phil Walker, the founder of the Phil Walker Work Comp Savings Company and a national trial counsel for employers in California workers’ comp cases, said workers’ compensation claims will double over the next 10 years.
According to Fred Hosier, SafetyNewsAlert’s editor-in-chief, Walker said there are three reasons for this:

1. Technology will eliminate low-paying jobs. We’re already seeing this at places like Amazon, which is using robots to eliminate warehouse jobs, and Wendy’s, which is starting to use order kiosks in place of warm-blooded order-takers, Walker said. And what happens when low-paying jobs are eliminated? People who occupied those positions file workers’ comp claims

Click here for entire article. 

Tip Tuesday! ACA reporting rules: A plain-English breakdown

by Christian Schappel

If you think the Obamacare reporting requirements issued by the IRS are confusing, you’re not alone. But we’ve cut through the clutter to get to the point of what’s required. 

Who has to report

First of all, let’s make it clear who has to abide by these reporting rules. Who knows maybe you’re small enough to recuse yourself from all this mess.

The reporting requirements apply to “applicable large employers” (ALE) — those who employ 50 or more full-time or full-time equivalent employees. They also apply to anyone who provides minimum essential health coverage under the law to an individual — this would apply to a very small self-insured employer, for example.

Who’s a full-time equivalent employee? That’s an issue we tackle here.

The IRS then says: “If an employer has fewer than 50 full-time employees, including full-time equivalent employees, on average during the prior year, the employer is not an ALE for the current calendar year. Therefore, the employer is not subject to the employer shared responsibility provisions or the employer information reporting provisions for the current year.”

Reporting requirements

Now it’s time to get down to brass tacks.

Click here for entire article.

Can an employee be overworked to death? Court tackles benefits impact

by Jared Bi

If you’ve got any employees who are logging serious overtime week after week, you’ll want to take note of how the court handled this case.

Judith Dietz v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal was a case that centered around a Pennsylvania municipal water department employee, Robert  Dietz, who had a deadly heart attack on the job. Dietz was a 48-year-old field maintenance worker who routinely logged more than 40 hours per week and was always on call. He was also a heavy smoker.

Dietz’s heart attack took place during a 14-hour shift.

Long hours or smoking habit?

Click here for entire article.

Don’t delegate that! 3 tasks managers should never pass off

by Jared Bilski

Delegating work effectively is consistently listed as a skill managers say they’d like to improve. While passing off tasks to your team is a critical skill, there are certain things that managers should never, ever delegate.

Because the tasks that managers shouldn’t pass off tends to be less concrete than specific projects (“Can you draft a summary of what was covered at our wellness seminar and send it to everybody?”), managers often thinks it’s OK to let others take over. But as the Laura Stack, the president and CEO of consulting firm The Productivity Pro, Inc., points out that’s a huge mistake.

Here are three duties Stack says great managers should never delegate:

1. The recruiting process

If there’s a skilled, effective hiring team in place, it’s tempting to take a more hands off approach to recruiting and hiring new staffers. But managers are ultimately responsible for creating the most effective teams. So whether managers are in charge of the entire HR department or overseeing a specific group within that department (e.g., the Benefits staff), they should always 

Click here for entire article. 

Tip Tuesday! Overtime crisis nearing: 6 steps to avoid pitfalls

by Christian Schappel

It would be hard for any regulatory change to be as impactful as the passage of the Affordable Care Act. But the DOL’s impending changes to the overtime exemption rules may be exactly that. 
As if that wasn’t stressful enough, you’ll have far less time to prepare for the fallout of the overtime rule changes than Obamacare gave you.
The new rules won’t be phased in over the course of a decade like the ACA’s mandates. All signs point to the overtime rules taking effect before the end of 2016.

They’ll affect 2016 budget, staff plans

That means the time to start prepping is now, since the overtime rules will affect your budget and staffing plans for the 2016 calendar year.
And even without the final rules in hand yet (the comment period for the proposed rules just ended), there are steps employers would be wise to take now to brace for them — no matter what form the rules ultimately take:

1. Audit employees’ work hours

Click here for entire article. 

IRS reminder: Your contractors have to pass this test, too

by Christian Schappel

Earlier this summer, the DOL issued a statement that most thought laid to rest any argument as to which independent contractor classification test employers should follow. But since then, the IRS has essentially said, “Not so fast.” 

On July 15, 2015, the DOL published an Administrator’s Interpretation letter, penned by DOL Administrator David Weil on how employers should distinguish between employees and contractors and classify accordingly.

To cut to the chase, Weil said employers and courts should use the DOL’s six-factor “economic realities” test to determine whether someone is a true independent contractor or not.

In a nutshell, the test is designed to measure a person’s “economic dependence” on a single business. The greater a person’s dependence on that business, the more likely it is that person’s an employee.

The six factors of a person’s working relationship with a business that are to be evaluated under the test:

1. The extent to which the work performed is an integral part of the employer’s business
2. The worker’s opportunity for profit or loss depending on his or her managerial skill
3. The extent of the relative investments of the employer and the worker
4. Whether the work performed requires special skills and initiative
5. The permanency of the relationship, and
6. The degree of control exercised or retained by the employer.

Click here for entire article.