by Christian Schappel
It’s time to double-check that your FMLA policy and notices aren’t missing this critical, but apparently easy to overlook, piece of info.
What is it? The 12-month period your company uses to calculate an employee’s remaining FMLA eligibility.
In other words, are you clearly articulating the date ranges you’ll use to add up how much of employees’ 60-day allotment they’ve used?
The Illinois Department of Corrections (IDC) didn’t, and the legal pickle it’s in can teach a lot of employers what happens when this piece of vital info is missing from your written FMLA policy and/or other documentation.
The IDC was sued by Michael Caggiano, a former corrections residence counselor at IDC’s Westside Adult Transition Center, after IDC terminated Caggiano for accumulating too many unexcused absences.
Caggiano had taken off to care for his ill mother and had requested that his absences count as FMLA leave.
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by Christian Schappel
It stands to reason that the easier it is to report wage or civil rights violations, the more people there would be doing it, right? Well, that’s exactly the kind of thinking that’s driving the development of a new app employers aren’t going to like.
The app doesn’t have a name yet, but it’s being developed by SeeClickFix, a tech company that has already built an app that allows citizens to report non-emergency issues — like potholes and power outages — to the appropriate government officials. So far the app has helped individuals file nearly 2.5 million complaints.
SeeClickFix is planning to use that same technology to help employees report violations of workplace law to the appropriate government agencies, Buzzfeed is reporting.
Early indications are the app’s primary purpose may be reporting safety violations to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), but it’ll likely also be used for reporting other workplace violations — like wage-and-hour abuse.
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by Christian Schappel
You know the importance of disciplining employees consistently. But do all of your managers? Here’s a powerful reminder for managers of how it can look to a jury when their discipline isn’t consistent.
Maureen McPadden was a pharmacist at a Seabrook, NH, Walmart for 13 years.
She was fired after misplacing a key to the store’s pharmacy.
McPadden then filed a discrimination lawsuit against Walmart claiming her gender played a role in her termination.
Her reasoning: A male employee had lost his key to the pharmacy, and he didn’t receive the same punishment, according to a report by Reuters.
That little detail left the door open for her lawsuit to be heard by a jury.
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by Christian Schappel
It’s about to get easier for employees to cry “retaliation!”
For the first time since 1998, the EEOC has issued enforcement guidance on what it considers workplace retaliation.
In a 76-page document entitled, “Enforcement Guidance on Retaliation and Related Issues,” the agency outlines the standards it plans to use to prove retaliation under civil rights and anti-discrimination laws.
So far, the guidance is just a proposal (the EEOC’s accepting comments on it until Feb. 24). But make no mistake about it, this is a clear indication of how the agency plans to play ball in this area for years to come.
The game plan
The plan in a nutshell: Make it as easy as possible to find retaliatory intent in every complaint the agency receives from employees.
While the guidance doesn’t make wholesale changes to how the EEOC views and seeks out retaliation, employers will want to pay attention to how it’ll make things easier for employees wishing to pursue retaliation charges.
Here are the specifics in the guidance employers must take note of:
What is retaliation?
The EEOC says a valid retaliation claim must consist of three elements:
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by Guest Author
Workplace culture can be similar to the weather — everybody talks about it, but who actually does anything to change it? Guest poster Sandeep Kumar offers seven steps employers can take to improve their day-to-day working environments.
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Most of us spend too much time at work. When you account for the commuting to and from the office; the time spent at night and on weekends preparing reports, presentations, and other work-related projects; and even the time we spend thinking and worrying about work, it’s fair to say that we spend most of our time working.
In today’s competitive business environment, it’s almost a requirement that we give too much of our lives to our work. Yet given this type of commitment, it’s easy to become burned out. And when that happens, spending so much time at work can be discouraging, disappointing and depressing.
Successful organizations look for ways to constantly improve workplace culture, finding new opportunities for motivating people to want to come to work, want to give more, and want to strive for the overall success of the organization.
Here are seven fast, easy and mostly free ways you can make your business a more enjoyable, rewarding, and fun place for your employees to go to work every day.
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by Christian Schappel
The buzz out of Capitol Hill is telling employers they’ve got a lot less time to prep for the DOL’s new overtime exemption final rule.
Just a couple of months ago, the DOL released its fall 2015 regulatory agenda, which stated the agency was targeting a July 2016 release date for the final changes to the rule. But now, that timeline appears to have sped up.
In a new interview with Bloomberg BNA, DOL Secretary Thomas Perez said his agency is “confident we’ll get a final rule out by spring 2016.”
Why the sudden rush?
The Congressional Research Service, a branch of the Library of Congress, may have the answer.
It just released a telling report entitled, “Agency Final Rules Submitted After May 16, 2016, May Be Subject to Disapproval in 2017 Under the Congressional Review Act.”
It details a little-known mechanism by which the next Congress and president may be able to invalidate the DOL’s changes to the FLSA exemption rule, if they don’t arrive soon.
Meet the Congressional Review Act
The Congressional Review Act allows Congress to disapprove “major” final rules promulgated by federal agencies — like the DOL.
A major rule is defined as one that would have an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more. The changes to the FLSA exemption rules would qualify as major.
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by Tim Gould
Are you starting to worry about an increase in employees leaving your organization for greener pastures? A report just released by the DOL might heighten your concern.
The number of American workers voluntarily quitting their jobs hit a nine-year high in December, according to the DOL’s monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS).
What’s more, job openings rose by 261,000 to a seasonally adjusted 5.61 million in December, the DOL said. That’s the second highest reading since the agency started to chart those numbers in 2001.
Certainly, increased job openings is a good sign for the overall economy. But that quit rate rise should raise some eyebrows. Here’s what the JOLT report says:
There were 3.1 million quits in December, up from November. The number of quits is now higher than in December 2007 (2.8 million), the first month of the recession. The quits rate was 2.1 percent in December 2015. The number of quits rose for total private and government over the month.
Quits rose in state and local government (+20,000) but fell in nondurable goods manufacturing (-25,000). Quits increased in the South region over the month.
The number of quits (not seasonally adjusted) increased over the 12 months ending in December for total nonfarm, total private, and government. Quits increased over the year in several industries with the largest changes occurring in professional and business services (+102,000), accommodation and food services (+68,000), and retail trade (+58,000). In the regions, quits rose in the South and Midwest.
The reasons they’re leaving
And why are they quitting? Somewhat surprisingly, it’s not compensation.
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