31. (Sources: Consumer Reports, Harris Interactive, ComputerWorld.com, Society of Corporate Compliance & Ethics, Microsoft; Virginia Tech Driving Institute, McCann WorldGroup; Social Media Today; harmon.ie; Proskauer International Labor & Employment Group)
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43. (Sources: WorkForce Software, Harris Interactive, Workplace Power Outage Survey, Sage Software Survey, Urban Mobility Report, Business Week, Families and Work Institute, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, The New York Times; The Journal of Science)
73. Alphabet Soup Glossary AAA = American Arbitration Association ADA = Americans with Disabilities Act ADEA = Age Discrimination in Employment Act ADR = Alternative Dispute Resolution BFOQ = Bona Fide Occupational Qualification CBA = Collective Bargaining Agreement CDHP = Consumer Driven Health Plan COBRA = Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act DHS = Department of Homeland Security DOL = Department of Labor DOT = Department of Transportation EAP = Employee Assistance Program EBSA = Employee Benefits Security Administration EEOC = Equal Employment Opportunity Commission EPA = Equal Pay Act EPPA = Employee Polygraph Protection Act ERISA = Employee Retirement Income Security Act ESOP = Employee Stock Ownership Plan FACTA = Fair & Accurate Credit Transactions Act FCRA = Fair Credit Reporting Act FLSA = Fair Labor Standards Act FMLA = Family and Medical Leave Act FSA = Flexible Spending Account FTC = Federal Trade Commission HHS = Department of Health & Human Services HIPAA = Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act I-9 = Employment Eligibility & Verification Form ICE = Immigration & Customs Enforcement IRCA = Immigration Reform and Control Act JAN = Job Accommodation Network NLRA = National Labor Relations Act NLRB = National Labor Relations Board OFCCP = Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs OSHA = Occupational Safety & Health Administration OWBPA = Older Workers Benefit Protection Act PDA = Pregnancy Discrimination Act SOX = Sarbanes-Oxley Act SSA = Social Security Administration ULP = Unfair Labor Practice USCIS = U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services USERRA = Uniformed Services Employment & Reemployment Rights Act WARN = Worker Adjustment & Restraining Notification Act
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98. General Purpose ADA: Prohibits discrimination against disabled individuals FMLA: Provides leave to employees Who Is Eligible? ADA: Individuals with a qualifying disability FMLA: Employees who have worked for at least 12 months and at least 1250 hours during the previous 12 months at a location within a 75-mile radius of where at least 50 employees work What Conditions are Covered? ADA: “Disability” that substantially limits one or more major life activities (or a history or perception of having such a disability) FMLA: “Serious health condition” of employee or certain family members of employee. Birth, adoption and foster care placement of employee’s child. Certain types of military-related leave. What Leave is Required? ADA: Leave for employee may be required if it would constitute a reasonable accommodation that doesn’t impose undue hardship on the employer. Leave typically must be for a defined period and is unpaid unless employer pays for other similar leaves. FMLA: Up to 12 weeks/year for serious health condition-related leave. Up to 26 weeks/year for certain military-related leave. Leave may be intermittent and is unpaid but the employer can require or the employee can choose to use accrued paid benefits. What About Benefits? ADA: No specifics under the law, other than the prohibition of discrimination based on disability. FMLA: Benefits typically don’t accrue during leave, but seniority, service and vesting continue. May require use of certain paid leaves depending on type of FMLA leave. What About Reinstatement? ADA: If leave is required as a reasonable accommodation, the employer generally must keep the employee’s position open during the leave. FMLA: Generally, employees must be reinstated to the same or a substantially equivalent position. What About Light Duty? ADA: Employers are not required to remove essential job functions as an accommodation, but if an employer reserves light duty jobs for workers’ compensation purposes, it may have to offer such jobs to disabled individuals. FMLA: An employer can’t require FMLA-qualifying employees to work light duty. Potential Penalties ADA: Back pay, compensatory damages, punitive damages and attorneys’ fees FMLA: Back pay, reinstatement, benefits and attorneys’ fees.
112. When is an Employee Exempt? Employees must be paid the minimum specified by statute and (except for the computer exemption) be salaried
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Notes de l'éditeur
Hello everyone! Welcome to the Employment Law Quiz Show where today our participants will not only learn everything that’s new in the wonderful world of workplace law but will also compete for valuable prizes. Here’s our agenda …
Research shows that up to 85% of you are basically ignoring what I’m saying right now. To help ensure that you don’t doze off, we’re going to use a variety of ways to help keep you awake for the next 58 minutes. We’ll have lots of deep, thought-provoking ?s to hopefully get you thinking. We’ll have some shout-outs where you simply yell out the best answer wherever you are. We’ll also have several questions designed to find out what you’re thinking, feeling and perceiving thru a variety of interactive polls. Text-o-ramas: We’ll have several ?s sprinkled throughout today where the first person to text us the correct answer will win a prize. We’ll also give you our latest Stay out of Jail To Do List where we boil down everything you really need to know to a single page. But the competition doesn’t end there. Following the webinar, we’ll post a quiz on my Blawg – marktoth.com – where the winner will officially be crowned the Smartest Person in our Audience. But that’s not all… If you’d like to go into even greater depth on anything we cover today, we’ll also post on my Blawg the complete PPT from this presentation as well as our FREE Employment Law Tool Box containing approximately $687.4 billion dollars’ worth of tools and tips. The Tool Box will include everything from a sample social media policy to an investigation checklist to an employment law glossary to cheat sheets on every major employment law and lots of other useful stuff.
Bc I’m a lawyer, I have to start w/some legalese. Here’s our official disclaimer … The presentation you are about to witness should not be relied upon or construed as legal advice. For specific information on recent legal developments, particular factual situations or the effect of a particular law, the opinion of qualified legal counsel should be sought. Failure to stay awake for the remainder of this presentation could result in potentially long-lasting side-effects, including litigation headaches, recurring nightmares, intense nausea, emotional distress and/or severe gastrointestinal discomfort. Please consult with your own Legal and/or HR departments before making any major changes. You have been warned. In other words, you can’t sue me, MPG or anyone else based on anything you hear today.
Without further ado, it’s time for THE EMPLOYMENT LAW QUIZ SHOW.
Employment law lessons are truly everywhere. So, here’s our first question. What employment law issue dominated the headlines this week practically more than any other story on the planet? Just shout out the answer wherever you are … The answer, of course, is …
There will be FOOTBALL this year. The big story this week was that the NFL players and owners finally settled their labor disputes and decided to have a football season after all. What lessons can we draw from the whole lockout mess? Here’s all you really need to know . . .
Here are the key lessons … Owners will make lots and lots (and lots) of money. Most players will make lots and lots (and lots) of money. Who won’t? New employees (aka rookies). They had no union vote, so they’ll take a big hit in the wallet. Another lesson: Sometimes lawyers should be left behind. The owners and players locked the lawyers out of key parts of the negotiation when talks began to stall. And – guess what – they actually got something done. Never panic during negotiations. 99.9999% of all disputes settle. (That’s only a slight exaggeration: it’s actually only 99.9998%). Never panic – don’t get greedy, try to put yourself in the other sides’ shoes and keep working toward a win-win solution. And, most importantly as you can see from the last point there: The one and only potential roadblock to the Green Bay Packers repeating as Super Bowl Champions has now been removed. So lots of valuable lessons just this week.
Now it’s time for lawsuits lawsuits lawsuits. Let’s look at who’s suing whom for what and how much. Great reality check to see how afraid you should be and why.
POLL: Let’s see what our audience thinks about this one … updated with the very latest Jury Verdict Research. What are an employer’s odds of winning at trial? Is the correct answer: It is unlawful for employers to win 22% 42% 62% 82% Let’s see what you think. If you’re in a room with more than one person, debate among yourselves and then submit the most popular answer. Reminder: Please close the slide in the upper right after voting by clicking on the little “X.” Employer’s odds of winning at trial. It’s unlawful, 22%, 42%, 62% or 82%? Which is correct?
Survey says: [Audience answer] That’s why the dice are there on your screen. You’re truly taking a big gamble if you ever go to trial, as we’ll see in a few moments.
This next ? Is another shout-out. Just shout out whatever you think is the correct answer… What hit record highs last year? A. EEOC complaints B. EEOC recoveries C. EEOC class actions D. EEOC mediations E. EEOC love notes from employers F. All of the above except “E”
All of the above. More reasons to stay awake today. More and more and more litigation all over the nation. In fact, last year had the most complaints in EEOC’s 45-yr history. Nearly 100,000 as you can see there on your screen.
POLL: Here’s our next question for your input. Want to see what you think. What’s the absolute #1 most common discrimination claim filed with the EEOC today? Age, national origin, race, retaliation or sex? Lock in your votes now. Again, what’s the #1 most common discrimination claim? Age, national origin, race, retaliation or sex? Let’s see what you think . . . [Review results]
RETALIATION is the new #1 discrimination claim for the first time ever. Overtook race, which had been #1 for years. Check out the Employment Law Tool Box after the webinar for resources on how courts define retaliation and what you can do to avoid adding to the 36,258 number you see there. So retaliation is big and getting bigger.
Here’s our next shout-out. Which of the following is most likely to result in a humongous class action against YOUR company? Is it: I-9 violations OSHA violations FMLA violations Wage & hour violations Doing business in California What do you think?
Here’s the correct answer: Both D and E. Plaintiffs’ attorneys LOVE wage & hour cases. We’ll talk in a bit about what you can do to avoid being the next target. As for E, plaintiffs’ love love love wage and hour cases even more in CA. In fact, it’s its own industry out there. if you’re currently doing business in CA my advice is: move out.
Here’s our first Text-o-rama. Winner will get a $25 gift certificate good for any of the fine merchants on giftcertificates.com. The person who texts us at the number there on your screen (414/899-0126 … that’s 414/899-0126) with the number that’s closest to the correct answer without going over will win. Just text your first name and your answer. Your first name and your answer. Here’s the question: According to the very latest data, what’s the average employment discrimination jury verdict? What’s the average employment discrimination jury verdict? Again, closest without going over will win. Texting lines for this question will be open for 3 minutes. In the event of a tie, first person to send in a particular # will win. What’s the average employment discrimination jury verdict?
OK, now we’re moving on to our next category: THE SUPREMES.
What has the U.S. Supreme Court been up to? Which of these is NOT – NOT -- a recent ruling by the Supremes? Shout out the right answer. A. Company-wide class actions are dead without evidence of a company-wide policy/practice that actually damaged class B. Employers are liable for the discriminatory motives of managers who weren’t even involved in an employment decision C. 3 rd parties and verbal internal complaints are protected from retaliation Federal Arbitration Act preempts laws that limit class action waivers by employees None of the above What do you think, shout it out. Which is NOT a ruling by the Supremes?
Correct answer is “E.” ALL of these are recent Supreme Court rulings affecting YOUR workplace. If you want more info on any of ‘em, just visit the Blawg and either click on the Supreme Court category in our Library or search for any term that you’d like to know more about.
OK, now it’s time to reveal the answer to our first Text-o-rama. What’s the average employment discrimination jury verdict? The answer …
317 thousand and 32 dollars. That’s the AVERAGE verdict. Up a whopping 46% from last year’s $216,575. Couple that with the 42% chance of winning you have, you now you have even more reasons to stay awake for the remainder of this presentation. [And the winner of our first TOR and a $25 gift certificate is ________. Congratulations!]
POLL: OK, so now it’s time for the ManpowerGroup Quarterly Litigation Index – like to see what YOU’RE seeing. Here’s the question we ask each quarter: Are YOU seeing an increase in employment law claims? Your choices are Yes, substantial increase, Yes, modest increase, No change, No, modest decrease and No, substantial decrease. OK, so key in your answers. Substantial increase, modest increase, no change, modest decrease or substantial decrease. And if you fall in that last category, you should hang up right now, fly to Milwaukee and come lead the rest of this webinar. And here are our results. __ see an increase, while only __ see decrease. So ___ times more of you are seeing an increase versus a decrease. Yikes. Let’s compare that to last quarter’s results . . . Last Q: Yes, substantial increase: 9% Yes, modest increase: 30% No change: 58% No, modest decrease: 2% No, substantial decrease: 1%
It’s easy to rattle off all that scary stuff but what does it all mean ? We’ll try to make sense of it all right now. Here’s our next category: How to Get Sued & Lose BIG.
We continually review virtually every lawsuit filed on the planet to come up w/this handy 1-page list which we update regularly. If you want to get sued, here’s what you should do today . . . DON’T address wage & hour issues. More on that in a minute. Second, believe that discrimination & sex harassment are dead. Still waaaaaay too many disturbing cases featuring things that should have been stamped out long ago: nooses hanging in the workplace, racial epithets and other horrible horrible things. Plus loads of big sex harassment cases this year. A $1M case, $2M case, $8M, $10.6M, all the way up to $95M harassment case. Key themes? Some employers just don’t take harassment seriously enough, don’t address complaints and don’t act to prevent retaliation. Even judges are getting in on the act. A federal jury awarded 3 female employees of a judge $3.2M for alleged kissing, touching and explicit photos. Please take discrimination and harassment seriously. Another thing to do if you want to pay big dollars? Don’t investigate thoroughly and promptly. Plaintiffs’ attorneys love it when you don’t – especially when the allegations involve an executive or an alleged pattern and practice of discrimination. Everything you could ever want to know about how to conduct a bullet-proof investigation will be included for your reading pleasure in the Employment Law Tool Box. Don’t accommodate disabilities. The EEOC has made it clear that it will come after employers who have inflexible one-size-fits all medical leaves that don’t allow for individual reasonable accommodation analyses. In fact, there was a $20M settlement just a few weeks ago in this area. More on that in a moment. Surprising number of pregnancy discrimination cases. Way too many managers treat Ees differently the moment they find out they’re pregnant with everything from not hiring them to reducing workload, etc. If you want to get sued, keep doing that. As for so-called “reverse” discn., there are more than 10 Million Reasons to Remember Ricci : For those of you who have forgotten, the Ricci case was last year’s Supreme Court “reverse” discrimination case involving white firefighters who were treated differently from minority firefighters. Not surprisingly, it’s been followed by several big dollar suits this year, including one case for $5.8M and another for $2.6M. There’s really no such thing as reverse discrimination. Discrimination is discrimination is discrimination. Treating candidates or employees differently based on the color of their skin for those subject to Title VII is unlawful. Perfectly fine to recruit from a wide variety of diverse sources but in the end must choose best candidate without regard to any protected class characteristics. Also, as one employer learned this year, don’t just throw non-minority employees into a layoff pool just to make your statistics look better. Discrimination is discrimination. We’ve already talked about retaliation. If want to join the ranks of those facing the most popular discrimination claim, go ahead and fire someone who recently complained. Last, even the EEOC is getting sued big. Courts ordered EEOC to pay fees and costs for pursuing “unreasonable” litigation, including one case for $4.5M. So, basically, everyone’s suing everyone for everything. If you’d like to spend lots of time in court, use this list as a handy “how to” guide.
OK let’s see how well you apply all that stuff we just covered. Time to play Deal or Not. The winner will get a fabulous Deal or No Deal board game plus a $30 gift certificate delivered to your doorstep. Here’s the ?: Deal or Not? The 7 th person to text their name plus the correct answer will be our winner. You must wait until I finish the description and ask the ? or you will be disqualified. Again, the # is 414/899-0126 and is there on your screen. The following facts are based on real-life events. The names have been changed to protect the innocent (and guilty). Deal or not? You’re the new head of HR for a medium-sized company. 3 women allege they were sexually harassed. They contend they were subjected to a variety of inappropriate actions, including a manager exposing himself, inappropriately touching them and forcing them to participate in a – quote – “smooching club” to get sales leads. It turns out that you don’t have an anti-harassment policy. You also don’t have any anti-harassment training. You also don’t have any anti-harassment reporting procedures. Then you discover that the alleged harassing manager has fired 2 of the women who brought the complaints. You then have depositions in the case. The managers testify that they don’t think sexual harassment procedures are necessary. YOU also get deposed and under pressure freeze up and aren’t able to give the legal definition of harassment under the law. The plaintiffs’ attorney comes to you after the depositions and offers to settle the cases for one million dollars -- take it or leave it. No negotiating. So, here’s the question and you may now text your first name and the answer: Deal or not? Do you agree to settle for a million dollars or not? Deal or not. We’ll let some folks weigh in and then we’ll come back to this in a moment.
Ever wondered how much a case is actually worth? Here’s a handy settlement guide based on hundreds of EEOC lawsuits over the years to help guide your decisions. If you have a case with only 1 complainant and no facts that make you want to vomit, probably pay in the range of $0-50,000. If you have 1 complainant and some semi-horrible facts, you’ll probably pay in the $51-100,000 range. You get into six figures if you have a pattern and practice case and up in the high six figures if you have some horrible facts. If you want to pay seven figures, have a pattern and practice and reaaaallllllly horrible facts. For the record, horrible facts include any of the following: having no policy, no training, ignoring complaints, egregious examples of discn or harassment such as nooses or physical assault, etc., etc. So, use this as a guide for settlements.
OK. Here’s the answer to the Deal or Not question. The plaintiffs’ attorney offered a take it or leave it settlement of one million dollars. Deal or Not? The correct answer? DEAL. The facts I recited were based on an actual real-life case in which the company lost a $1.5 million dollar jury verdict. But that’s not all, they also had to pay lots and lots of attorneys’ fees not to mention endure lots and lots of bad PR. So, if you said DEAL, you just saved your company more than $600,000 . Congratulations. [And our winner of the Deal or No Deal game plus a $35 gift certificate is . . .]
OK, now we’re moving on to a topic where the law literally changes every 0.2 nanoseconds: TECHNOLOGY, TECHNOLOGY, TECHNOLOGY.
And here’s our next Text-o-rama. According to a recent survey, the majority of those between 16 and 22 years old would rather lose their _____ than their Facebook. Let’s go with the 3 rd person to text the correct answer to the TOR # there on your screen will get a $25 iTunes gift certificate. Again, the majority of those about to enter the workforce would rather lose their ______ than their Facebook.
While we wait for your answers to roll in, here are the latest techno stats from around the wonderful world of work. Update ‘em constantly. 90% of your employees are surfing the ‘Net right now at work. 80% of employers use social media to screen candidates. More on that in a moment. 77% of your employees now use Facebook @ work. 70% of us text while driving (which is not very bright because it makes us 23 times more likely to crash) 47% of your employees spend more than 30 minutes on-line @ work This just came out last week: 45% of companies still have no SM policy (again, if you want a free one, visit the Blawg and get it from the Tool Box) If you think your security settings are foolproof, you’re fooling yourself: 1 in four of your employees changes ‘em so they can do more SN’g A shrinking minority -- 1 in four of you -- ban SM for non-business use More than 20% of employees say they would turn the world’s otherwise perfect job down if they weren’t allowed to use SM on the job
So, how serious are your employees about SN? Here’s the answer to our last TOR. The majority of those about to enter the workforce would rather lose their sense of smell – or NOSE – than their Facebook. Yikes – that’s pretty serious. [And the winner of a $25 iTunes gift card is _________. Congratulations!]
The YouTube Workplace. More and more and more plaintiffs are going to the EEOC or OSHA or NLRB or court with lots and lots of video and photos of you doing bad stuff taken from smart phones that you issued to them. In fact, it’s estimated that more than half of today’s plaintiffs have recorded evidence of some form. All this video and picture taking is also resulting in some terrible terrible PR. One of my personal favorites was the Burger King employee who video’d himself bathing in the restaurant kitchen sink along with lots of equipment used to make the customers’ food that evening. Was all over YouTube. Not very appetizing. What should you do about all this?
Some key areas to consider . . . Trade secrets, confidential info are particularly susceptible to being stolen via smart phone. Also can be used as a creative new harassment tool with all kinds of things popping up on YouTube and elsewhere that just shouldn’t be. What should you do to address those areas? Implement a policy and – just as importantly – enforce it consistently.
Valuable lessons you and your employees can learn from Anthony Weiner, Brett Favre and just about every other celebrity who has ever tweeted, texted and/or opened their mouths electronically. These lessons have been demonstrated over and over in Twitter’s barely-just-started 5-year history. Mr. Weiner and Mr. Favre have both been waaay overexposed already, so let’s talk a bit about a somewhat lesser known celebrity, Gilbert Gotfried. He was fired by his employer, AFLAC, from his duck-voice job – I’m sure you’ve all seen and heard the commercials. Why was he fired? For posting a not-all-that compassionate “joke” about the Tsunami that devastated Japan. Speaking of Mr. Gotfried, here’s an interesting observation from another not-all-that-appropriate comedian named Louis C.K. who cautions the use of Twitter: Quote: “ I mean, Gilbert Gotfried, he’s been saying a whole lot worse for years than he said on Twitter, and then when he said something on Twitter, he lost his job. He lost his livelihood! Twitter is like making a press statement. It’s very sober, and it’s not funny, and the [expletive deleted] just comes out very dry, and people get upset.” END QUOTE. Actually a pretty astute observation. Think before you tweet, click and/or hit send. Just might save your career. Train your managers to do the same. AND if you do tweet, text or e-mail something you shouldn’t, please please please don’t take the lie or deny route. Lots of employees – and employers -- have learned that very lesson in graphic fashion. A certain coach at a certain Big 10 university not named the University of WI lost a multi-million-dollar job when he decided to lie and deny for short-term gain but suffered instead long-term consequences. Please don’t let that happen to you. Almost all workplace sins are forgiveable but lying usually is not. (HALFWAY)
We’ve gotten LOTS of ?s on what to do about SM in the hiring process. Here are some answers. Again, Be Consistent Treat applicants equally Apply searches to ALL applicants or at least specified categories or departments Use at the same phase of the interview process to ensure consistency Designate Searchers who actually know what they’re doing Choose one employee, or a very small group or a neutral 3 rd party that’s trained in how to do this Please don’t use the hiring manager – they might discover all sorts of things you wish they hadn’t Limit the Scope of the search As always, the focus should be job-related, job-related, job-related. If it’s not, don’t do it. Of course, don’t search or consider any protected information And restrict searches to certain approved sites
Disclose – tell applicants if you’re going to use SM to screen on applications, etc. And document document document -- the consistent process, the legit biz reasons for not hiring and then retain those docs consistent with your retention policies Do that and you should be fine.
POLL: Time for our quarterly social media poll. Again, want to see what YOU are doing. Here’s the question: Do you currently use a social networking tool? Your choices are: Yes, No, or What’s social networking? Again, do you currently use a social networking tool? Yes, No, or What’s social networking. Let’s look at the responses . . . A bit lower than your Ees. According to Social Media Today, 82% of those 18-29 use at least one form of SN. Interesting, went [UP/DOWN] compared to last quarter’s 68 31 and 1. Might want to get a bit more connected to keep up with your employees.
POLL: That leads to our next question … What are you on? What social networking tool do you use most? Here are the current top 5 in alphabetical order, at least according to most recent surveys: Facebook, Foursquare, LinkedIn, Tumblr or Twitter. Which do YOU use most: Facebook, Foursquare, LinkedIn, Tumblr or Twitter? If you read Blawg the past few weeks, may have to soon add Google+ to this list. Could take over the world soon. The results? Facebook continues to be king, followed by LinkedIn. Really the only 2 legit #1 tools. All others are also-rans, altho Twitter is growing. Last quarter, it was Facebook 64, LinkedIn 34, Twitter 2, Tumblr .001 and Foursquare .0007.
Medical Medical Medical Far and away the #1 area of empt law headaches accg to our latest Quarterly Emp Law Thermometer. So, what’s new?
Here’s our next shout-out . . .
Would also have accepted rigid, no-fault, dumb. Last month, EEOC held hearings on rigid leave policies. 3 weeks ago, $20M settlement. Record EEOC disability disc settlement. Followed on heels of $3.2M award and similar suits in recent years. Bottom line: Any policy that imposes a maximum leave amount or other rigid rule w/o exceptions based on the interactive process and reasonable accommodation analysis under the ADA could lead to big $$$.
There on the screen are the very latest stressssss stats. 80% of medical expenses are now stress-related. 40% of us are sleep-deprived. 33% are chronically overworked. Workweeks are up almost a third and 25% of us regularly fall asleep on the job. Also, look at that last factoid there. Brand-new study found that the higher up you are in an organization, the more stressed out you’re likely to be. Based on a scientific study of alpha male baboons. For the record, we’re not equating bosses with baboons. Found that Type A take over the world types tend to have more cardiac, stress and other conditions because of all the politicking they’ve had to do to get to – and stay on – top. So, if you’re stressing out because you’re not at the top, don’t. All you’ll find there is more stress. [Apparently very little of this applies to all you fed Ees out there. Apparently feel much more secure than the rest of us. According to a new USA TODAY analysis, federal workers are more likely to die of natural causes than to lose their jobs. So literally employed for life if you want it. The fed govt only fired 0.55% of its workers last year. In fact, the 1,800-employee FCC and 1,200-employee FTC didn’t lay off or fire a single EE last year.]
The Bottom Line: $200-$300B lost each year due to stress-related absenteeism, burnout, decreased productivity, WC claims, turnover and insurance costs. The Lesson: Be nice to your employees (and your bosses).
Shout-out: What’s true about the relatively new ADAAA regulations? A. It’s easier to establish a covered “disability” B. Mitigating measures – like medication -- can’t be considered C. Episodic or remission conditions are covered D. Individualized assessments are required E. All of the above
The answer, as you probably guessed: All of the above. Easier than ever to prove disabilities. One illustrative case: Bridge worker came to Er and told ‘em that couldn’t work on high bridges bc suffered from acrophobia – fear of heights. Asked for reasonable accommodations. Er basically said how are we supposed to rsbly accommodate that? Refused. Ct refused to dismiss his claim. In short, disability is defined really very extremely very broadly. Also note that in some instances employers who offer public accommodations must allow not only seeing eye dogs but also – in ltd circumstances – miniature horses. Strange but true.
Our next TOR. 1 st person to text their first name and correct answer wins. A question we’ve asked to several thousand in our live presentations and almost no one ever gets it right. Let’s see if you do. An employee comes into your office at 4:59 on a Friday afternoon and informs you that he suffers from multiple conditions, including “work-induced narcolepsy,” “spontaneous combustion syndrome” and “episodic cubicle-confinement hyper-grumpiness.” He demands several accommodations, including: (1) a portable I.V. hooked up to an espresso machine, (2) a fire extinguisher mounted to his head, (3) three-and-a-half weeks off each month and (4) your office. If you have time to make only one call, to whom should it be?
While we’re reviewing the TOR results, here’s another shout-out . . . What work tool used every day by the vast majority of your employees was recently deemed unsafe and placed in the same “carcinogenic hazard” category as lead, engine exhaust and chloroform?
The answer? The maybe-not-so-smart-after-all phone. Might want to think about updating your policies and waivers to make sure you’re communicating and covered.
OK, here’s the answer to our last TOR: Your first call should NOT be to an outside lawyer or to the employee’s spouse or mother as some have suggested. The correct answer is the Job Accommodation Network or JAN. The phone # is there on your screen: 800-526-7234 or jan.wvu.edu. That’ll be in the PPT if you want to find it later. They are truly experts on tough accommodation issues and can help you reach the right result so everyone wins. Plus the EEOC loves it when you call ‘em. And it’s FREE.
Our next Shout-out. What did the Department of Labor just release that makes Steve Jobs happy but is freaking employers out?
The new DOL Timesheet app. There truly is an app for everything. Allows Ees to tracks hours worked, determine wages owed and even has a handy way to contact the DOL to report potential violations. More important than ever that you follow the law.
To help you do just that, here’s a handy ? based on our review of the very latest cases. Which of these items – what we call the Wage & Hour Big 10 -- should Ers pay? If get this, will reduce your chances of w&h class actions by a humongous percentage. What should you pay, generally speaking? 1. On-call time? 2. Commute time? 3. Wait time? 4. Bona fide meal periods of 30 minutes or more? 5. Travel outside work hours? 6. Travel during the course of the work day? 7. Changing into and out of uniform if required at work? 8. Donning and doffing safety gear? 9. Walking between changing and production areas? 10. Rest periods of 30 minutes or less? Which of the Big 10 should you pay? Discuss it there among yourselves or in your own head and shout it out.
Generally speaking, these are the answers most courts give. The top half: unpaid, bottom half: paid. Of course, given the wide variety among state laws, pls contact your favorite emp’t atty to confirm your state’s approach.
On to unions, unions, unions …
What’s the NLRB – the National Labor Relations Board -- been up to lately? Is the correct answer . . . A. Suing employers who fire employees for posting negative comments on Facebook B. Suing Boeing for opening factory in right-to-work state C. Approving giant inflatable protest rats D. Posting ads on Google encouraging unionization E. Proposing new union election rules F. All of the above and much much more
All of the above. ALL employers – even those that aren’t unionized – are subject to the NLRA. So need to be aware of what the NLRB’s doing. These are all things to be aware of in your workplace.
Now it’s time to wrap things up with a look at the BIG PICTURE.
July 30, 2008
According to our research, employers expect fewer than 5% of their workforce to leave … BUT
Also according to our research, a whopping 84% of employees say they’re thinking about leaving your company right now. Up from last year’s 60% -- and even that number shocked Ers. And to make it worse, Harvard Business Review research suggests that a company’s stars are the first to be exit. But don’t worry. We’re going to tell you how to fix all that right now. In one word . . .
One final TOR. First one to text answer to this final TOR wins our grand prize: $100 GC. If you had to boil all of HR and employment law down into one simple word, what would it be. Just take a few moments to let that soak in. One word and one word only. OK, here it is . . .
Want your employees to stop suing you? LOVE them. Want ‘em to stick around, work hard and make your company a better place to be? LOVE ‘em. Want to avoid a union? LOVE ‘em. Times are really, really, really, very, really tough out there. Treat everyone around you the way you’d like to be treated – with dignity and respect . . . and LOVE. It’s that simple.
Want more? Please visit the ManpowerGroup Employment Blawg at marktoth.com, where you can find this PPT, the EL Tool Box, sign up for our FREE EL Alerts AND take part in our post-webinar quiz to determine the official Smartest Person in our Audience.
One final statistic: research shows that hearing something is only a very small part of education. In order to really have something stick in your brain and maybe show up in your actions is to actually DO it. To help make that happen, we’ll conclude today’s festivities with our official Stay Out of Jail Pledge. Please rise (if you’re able) and repeat after me: I state your name Do hereby solemnly swear, vow and pledge That I will stay up-to-date on the law Update my policies, practices & training Proactively address any potentially systemic discrimination Promptly investigate ALL complaints Never ever ever retaliate And always always always Love love love love love love love my employees
Mark your calendars for my next webinar on October 26, entitled Answers to the World’s Scariest Employment Law Questions. Seemed like an appropriate title given that it’s a few days before Halloween. We’ll answer your toughest, gnarliest, most headache-inducing EL issues. The process is simple. When you’re asked for feedback on this webinar, after you’re done saying nice things about me feel free to include any ?s you’d like us to consider answering. We’ll answer as many as humanly possible on October 26.
Thank you so much for joining us. We REALLY appreciate it!
MM SHRM Presentation September 2010
MM SHRM Presentation September 2010
MM SHRM Presentation September 2010
Have one rep from each team come up on stage. MM SHRM Presentation September 2010
MM SHRM Presentation September 2010
MM SHRM Presentation September 2010
MM SHRM Presentation September 2010
MM SHRM Presentation September 2010
MM SHRM Presentation September 2010
MM SHRM Presentation September 2010
MM SHRM Presentation September 2010
MM SHRM Presentation September 2010
MM SHRM Presentation September 2010
MM SHRM Presentation September 2010
MM SHRM Presentation September 2010
MM SHRM Presentation September 2010
MM SHRM Presentation September 2010
MM SHRM Presentation September 2010
MM SHRM Presentation September 2010
MM SHRM Presentation September 2010
MM SHRM Presentation September 2010
MM SHRM Presentation September 2010
MM SHRM Presentation September 2010
MM SHRM Presentation September 2010
Have one rep from each team come up on stage. MM SHRM Presentation September 2010
Have one rep from each team come up on stage. MM SHRM Presentation September 2010
MM SHRM Presentation September 2010
Have one rep from each team come up on stage. MM SHRM Presentation September 2010
OK, now here are the GFs. Fit neatly on one slide unlike all the things you can’t do. The key is . . .
Have one rep from each team come up on stage. MM SHRM Presentation September 2010
Have one rep from each team come up on stage. MM SHRM Presentation September 2010
Have one rep from each team come up on stage. MM SHRM Presentation September 2010
Every time see one of these little Blawg logos that means that you can find add’l free resources there.
MM SHRM Presentation September 2010
Here’s what courts have found. As you can see, second list a whole lot shorter than first. Courts have interpreted retaliation under the law very broadly.
Here’s what courts have found. As you can see, second list a whole lot shorter than first. Courts have interpreted retaliation under the law very broadly.
