Using social media for recruiting continues to grow: Survey

by Tim Gould

Social media has become a fact of life in many companies’ recruiting — and screening — process. 

Latest evidence: Over one-third of companies have disqualified a job candidate in the past year because of concerns about information found on public social media or an online search, according to a recent Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) survey.

Candidates were disqualified for illegal activity and discrepancies with job applications, among other reasons. However, two out of five organizations (39%) also allowed those candidates to explain any concerning information, an increase of 13 percentage points compared to 2011.

“Social media is another way recruiters verify applicants’ employment history and ensure that they are still viable applicants,” said Evren Esen, director of survey programs at SHRM. “Social media is here to stay, so employers and employees are utilizing it in various ways throughout the job search process.”


Recruiting passive job candidates remains the top reason that organizations use social media for recruitment. Currently, 84% of organizations use social media to recruit and 9% plan to use it.

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Careful — new OT regs could mean increased timesheet fraud

by Tim Gould

You want to believe that all employees will be honest about their “hours worked” when it comes to filling out their timesheets. But what happens when workers are blatantly cheating the system?   

Timesheet fraud is a real problem that can take a huge chunk out of employers’ bottom lines – especially those in industries and jobs where it’s easy for workers to cheat.

Plus, the DOL’s new OT regs will likely see a lot of formerly exempt employees punching a timecard for the first time in their careers. And resentment for having to do this may lead some staff to take some liberties with their timekeeping.

When is it stealing?

One of the best ways to prevent timesheet fraud – also known as wage theft – is to be aware of the various ways that employees can engage in fraudulent timekeeping such as:

• engaging in personal activities outside normal breaks while on the clock
• coming in late but recording it as “on time”
• recording time falsely for another employee, or
• taking an extended meal break but recording less time.

Click here for entire article. 

Tip Tuesday! 7 must-haves for defensible documentation

by Julian Lopez

You know how important clear and thorough documentation is. But your managers may be another story. 

Thankfully, employment law attorney Allison West has some steps managers can use to make documenting performance issues less painful — and more defensible if ever brought up during a lawsuit.

Her firm, Employment Practices Specialists, helps companies prevent and resolve employment claims.

West shared these steps at the SHRM15 Conference & Expo in Las Vegas.

What managers need to do

Of course, it’s smart to record the good with the bad. But when performance problems arise, West said managers need to include seven points in their documentation:

1. The unmet expectations

What goals, policies or standards has the employee not met?
It’s good to refer back to a specific job description or a code of conduct, and be specific about why the conduct is a problem.

2. Behavior that needs to change

Focus on the conduct alone, not the person, and stick to objective observations and details, West says.
Example: If you think a worker is drunk on the job, write what makes you think that. Did the worker slur words together, stumble to the desk, or have alcohol on his or her breath?
It’s also good to record examples of how the conduct impacted others and the work environment.

Click here for entire article. 

IRS drops business mileage rate drops to 5-year low

by Tim Gould

You may have some disgruntled business travelers after you announce this.  

It won’t be the happiest new year for your company’s road warriors. IRS recently released the standard mileage rate for 2016, and they cut it by almost 10%.

You can now reimburse employees tax-free at the rate of 54 cents per mile. That’s down from the 57.5 cents you could offer them in 2015.


Of course this change is a direct result of gas prices being down, but you can bet employees won’t want to hear about that. All they’ll see is that they’re getting less each time they hit the road. So tell A/P to prep for some griping … and to bounce back expense reports that try to claim the old rate.

Click here for entire article. 

Court offers 3 clauses you’d be wise to include in severance agreements

by Christian Schappel

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals just threw out an EEOC lawsuit against CVS that attacked some pretty common language found in severance agreements. But in doing so, it applauded three clauses CVS used. 

We’ll get to those clauses in a second. But first, it’s important to know why the EEOC took issue with CVS’ severance agreements.

The EEOC sued CVS, claiming the pharmacy chain’s severance agreements with employees contained a general release of claims and a covenant not to sue that illegally restricted worker’s rights to file charges or cooperate with the agency.

The lawsuit was fairly troubling to employers because the language the EEOC was attacking is fairly boilerplate — at least as far as severance agreements are concerned.

Here are two clauses of CVS’ agreements the EEOC was challenging (they should sound familiar):

Click here for entire article. 

Another Obamacare delay employers will love

by Christian Schappel

A major requirement of the ACA has just been pushed back, and there’s little doubt employers are going to celebrate the delay. 

What’s been delayed? The reporting requirements that tell the IRS which large employers (those with 50 or more full-time/full-time equivalent employees) offered  employees the level of healthcare coverage required under Obamacare for the 2015 plan year.

They delays are welcome news for employers and plan sponsors. They’ve been scrambling to comply with the requirements and the nearing reporting deadlines after just getting the final rules and forms in late summer (here’s HR Morning’s plain-English breakdown).

But while the delays do give employers some much-needed breathing room, they don’t push the deadlines back that far, so employers need to maintain their sense of urgency.

The new deadlines

Here’s the lowdown on what’s due when:

• The due date for providing the Forms 1095-B and 1095-C to individuals has been pushed back from Feb. 1, 2016 to March 31, 2016.
• The date for submitting Forms 1094-B and 1094-C to the IRS — for those filing paper forms — has been pushed back from Feb. 29, 2016 to May 31, 2016.
• The date for submitting Forms 1094-B and 1094-C to the IRS electronically (e-filing is required for those submitting 250 or more forms) has been pushed back from March 31, 2016 to June 30, 2016.

Click here for entire article.

Tip Tuesday! A quick rundown of the key segments of DOL’s 2016 to-do list

by Tim Gould

The delay of the new final overtime rules wasn’t the only announcement the DOL made recently.  

In the fall edition of the agency’s Semiannual Regulatory Agenda, the DOL announced some of the major compliance and enforcement tasks it hopes to accomplish in the new year.

As we reported previously, the announcement that the release of the overtime rules would be delayed until at least July garnered the most attention from employers. And that announcement may have caused some of these things to fly under the radar:

3 key highlights

1. Electronic devices. The DOL is now shooting for February as the date in which it formally requests info from employers on how employees’ use of electronic devices affects work performed outside of regular office hours. If you remember, the feds initially planned on seeking this employer input by the end of August.

The proposed OT rules are a big part of why the feds are so interested in this info.

With more employees eligible for overtime under the new rules, the agency has heard concerns from employers about giving workers smartphones or allowing them to work remotely because time spent using those devices may count as “work-specific” time.

The Director of Labor Law Policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Marc Freedman explained the concerns employers have about the risks associated with workers using electronic devices by saying:

Click here for entire article.