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Now, you can reach The Management Advantage, Inc. on the Internet.
Not just through E-Mail, but by visiting our new "home page."
Our address on the "net" is http://www.management-advantage.com.
If you have access to the internet, we invite you to visit. You
will find information about our services and products as well
as statements about our mission and goals and a partial list of
clients we value so highly.
If you have not yet ventured onto the Internet, we still maintain
a system for you. Our instant FAX-back system can give you hard
copy information about any of our products or services right in
your own office, over your FAX machine. Simply call 510-671-0412
and follow the verbal instructions. You will need to input your
FAX machine telephone number so our system can know where to send
information you request. If you have never used a FAX-back system,
it is really simple. A complete index of our system contents is
located in document #101. So, if you aren't sure how to get specifications
for Forklift Safety computer-based training or our Employee Handbook
Development Service, all you have to do is request the system
index and you will have the complete list of all system documents
by number. A second call to the system will allow you to request
those documents you wish to receive.
If all else fails, and you feel a need to work on a "low-tech"
level by talking with a real live person, we invite your call
to our office: 510-671-0404. The only hazard you may encounter
is our voice mail system, but we promise to get back to you as
quickly as possible. However you get here, please come see us.
It takes a while to get acquainted with the process of finding
the information you need on the Internet. Once you learn how,
the whole world opens up to you...literally.
To make things simpler for those of you who have yet to spend
much time on the world wide web, we have compiled a two page list
of web addresses you might find helpful in managing the HR function
in your organization. We have divided the information into subject
categories including: Careers and Job Search; Employee Assistance
Programs; Publications; Organizations; Reference; and Workplace
Violence Resources.
Among the addresses you will find: California Labor Code; Society
for Human Resource Management (SHRM); Personnel Journal; Personnel
News; and the University of Texas Assault Prevention Network.
Many of the sites have additional references listed which you
can also visit.
Some of these addresses you will probably want to add to your
browser's permanent "hot list" so you can return at
your discretion.
If you would like to have a FREE copy of this list, just call
our office at (510-671-0404) and ask to receive your personal
copy. We will be happy to mail it to you. While you're making
the call, why don't you tell us what you think of The Advantage.
Is it a help to you in managing your job? Do you share it with
others? Would one of your colleagues in another organization like
to receive a copy?
We look forward to hearing from you.
With all the bombings, shootings and other violence occurring
around the world, it might be wise to reflect for a moment on
some key safety and security tips for your next meeting. If all
your meetings are held "in-house" there is less potential
for a problem than if you schedule outside facilities for convention
or meeting use. In any event, review the following list and use
it as you plan your next meeting.
To protect VIPs, seek to control the environment: know exactly
who is allowed in the surrounding area when your executives and
VIPs are in the room or moving from one place to another. Further,
explain to staff and guests alike exactly what security rules
will be. Can photos be taken? Can people come right up to the
VIPs?
Always check on the other events at your meeting location. Will
they require significant security? Have they had any threats against
them? If so, your people could get caught in the middle of an
incident, despite being innocent bystanders. Also, are there any
labor disputes that could turn ugly while you're there?
If the meeting is sensitive, don't advertise where you're going
to meet, or who is coming, even within your organization. And
eliminate any signage at the meeting property that lets others
know your group is there.
Test the personnel at the property on their security training.
If at a hotel, see if the desk people will give you someone's
room number without knowing who you are. Also, does the property
staff have choking, CPR, and fire extinguisher training?
Check the fire alarm detection systems and sprinkler systems to
see if they are in place and fully operational. The city's fire
prevention office can tell you if there are outstanding violations
at the location, and if permits and certificates of occupancy
are up to date. Also, check the inspection tags on fire extinguishers.
They should be current to within the past 12 months.
Check all emergency exits to see that they are not barred or blocked.
(SOURCE: Successful Meetings magazine, October 1995)
It is an employer's legal responsibility to provide employees
with "a safe and healthful place of employment." Yet
homicide has become a leading cause of death from injury in the
workplace.
The types of high-risk workplaces and occupations identified suggest
that robbery is a predominant motive. Although, some homicides
are caused by disgruntled workers and clients or by domestic violence
that spills into the workplace.
While there are no sure ways to stop violence, there are things
employers can do to minimize danger to workers.
Employers must let all employees know that violence will not be
tolerated at the worksite. Preventing workplace violence must
be a top priority of management.
Employers should have action plans and a "crisis team"
in place to handle any incident and be prepared for any worst
case scenarios.
Supervisors and employees should be trained in the early warning
signs of trouble and how to respond to them. Threatening words
or actions, even if said in a joking way, should be treated seriously.
Tighten physical security at the workplace by installing more
lighting, cameras, alarms, drop safes, bullet proof barriers,
or enclosures. Post signs saying there is limited cash on hand.
Think about special situations: where money is exchanged, where
there are night shift workers, or where employees work alone.
Have prevention programs like employee counseling and pre-employment
screening programs. Enforce workplace rules consistently for all
employees.
Have a written plan to be followed in a crisis or when there are
signs a crisis may occur.
Consider what legal actions may be taken when threats arise. Once
threatening information surfaces at a worksite or an incident
occurs, employers could be held liable if they fail to act.
In high crime areas have police regularly check on workers or
close the business late at night and early in the morning (high
risk hours).
Cal/OSHA recommends including workplace violence prevention plans
in each employer's Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IPP).
Although it is not required, we endorse their recommendation and
strongly suggest that every employer have proper plans established.
If you wish to include workplace violence prevention in your IPP
and need a model to do so, give us a call and request a copy of
our IPP document with workplace violence prevention. Cost is $99.95
plus sales tax and shipping. Considering the possible alternatives,
it's a very in-expensive investment in the future of your business.
The program comes in both hard copy and on disk for modification
on your word processing program.
(SOURCE: Trades & Services Safety News, State Compensation
Insurance Fund, Loss Control Services, 1275 Market Street, San
Francisco, CA 94103)
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has "picked up the pace"
on its investigations of employers claiming independent contractor
status for its workers. May you never have such a review.
One employer in the Bay Area recently received a "Notice
of Levy" from the IRS which may ultimately cause them to
go out of business.
The employer operated a courier service and had six workers delivering
materials for client organizations. Each worker used his or her
own vehicle, worked as many as twelve-hours a day, and bought
their own gas and insurance.
Because they were classified as independent contractors, and the
IRS determined they should have been classified as employees,
payroll taxes were not withheld as they should have been, and
the employer's portion of social security and medicare were not
paid. Those assessments were made by the IRS. Then penalties and
interest were added. All this covered a fifteen month period in
1990 and 1991. Penalties were calculated through October, 1995.
The bill: $93,460.78.
Two thirds of that amount was for the unpaid taxes and the final
third for penalties.
If you now have independent contractors working for you, please
be sure you can pass the 20-point test required by the IRS to
accept your classification of those workers. If you can't justify
the "independent" status, the workers MUST be employees.
An alternative to running your own organizational payroll is to
use a payroll service or "rent" your own employees from
a specialty employer who essentially serves only the payroll function.
Two such services we endorse and recommend are:
MasterPlan 7 Mt. Lassen Dr., Suite A-251 San Rafael, CA 94903
(415) 491-0236 Contact: Don Merritt
Merit Resource Group 7950 Dublin Blvd., Suite 205 Dublin, CA 94568
(510) 828-4700 Contact: Rod Hanna
Employers may now ask applicants with obvious disabilities what
reasonable accommodations they would need to perform the job according
to guidance issued October 10, 1995 by the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission (EEOC). In particular, employers will be permitted
to ask limited questions about reasonable accommodation if they
reasonably believe that the applicant will need accommodation
because of an obvious or voluntarily disclosed disability, or
where the applicant has disclosed a need for accommodation.
Employers may: Ask if applicant can meet attendance requirements;
Ask about current illegal drug use; Ask whether an employee drinks
alcohol (but not how much); Require applicants to take physical
agility and fitness tests. Employers may not: Ask about workers'
compensation history.
(SOURCE: HR News, November 1995, SHRM, Alexandria, VA)
Courts are grappling with a growing number of cases on what constitutes
religious discrimination in the work-place.
There are discrimination claims by religious employees who have
been prevented from discussing religion on the job or organizing
Bible study groups with other employees. And in at least one case,
an employee who doesn't want to hear about his employer's beliefs
has filed a harassment lawsuit.
The number of religious discrimination disputes is rising. According
to the EEOC, such charges filed with state and federal agencies
grew 31% to 2,900 last year from 1990.
Advocates of religious rights were heartened after a July ruling
by the 11-member U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
in St. Louis. Isaiah Brown, the former director of information
services for Polk County, Iowa, had sued his employer claiming
he had been fired because of his religious activities, including
on-the-job prayer and Bible discussions. The court, which covers
a large part of the Mid-west, rejected the employer's argument
that "occasional" religious discussion and prayer could
place undue hardship on its operations by polarizing the work
force between fundamentalist Christian employees and others. Federal
antidiscrimination law requires an employer to "reasonably
accommodate" an employee's religious belief unless doing
so would cause "undue hardship" to the employer's business.
The court said Mr. Brown's employer wasn't required to accommodate
other religious activities by him that imposed more than a minimal
cost. These included opening the office early so that he could
pray before the start of the day and having a secretary type up
his Bible study notes.
While the decision only applies directly to government employers,
the attorneys for religious-rights and church groups say that
most of the court's reasoning should extend to private employers
as well.
In a separate case a few weeks earlier, however, the same court
found that antidiscrimination law doesn't require an employer
to allow a religious employee with strong views to "impose
those views" on co-workers.
It ruled that a unit of U.S. West Inc. had reasonably accommodated
a Roman Catholic employee in Nebraska, who claimed a religious
vow required her to wear a badge bearing a two-inch color photo
of a fetus and the words "Stop Abortion." The company
had offered her several options, including covering the button
at work, wearing it only in her cubicle or replacing it with one
that contained only writing, not pictures.
The employee, Christine L. Wilson, had argued that U.S. West should
have instructed co-workers who were upset by her badge to ignore
it. But the court said that solution would be "antithetical"
to the concept of barring religious discrimination. The court
noted that many of Ms. Wilson's co-workers opposed abortion but
had undergone miscarriages or found the photos disturbing for
other reasons. Two of them filed grievances complaining that the
supervisors' failure to prevent Ms. Wilson from wearing the badge
amounted to harassment.
In Oregon, a house painter, James V. Meltebeke, claimed that his
boss, the sole proprietor of a painting business and an evangelical
Christian, had created a hostile work environment for him. His
boss believed that he had a continuing duty to tell others about
his faith, known as "witnessing" to God. The witnessing
was "persistent" because the employer believed no one
would ever be persuaded if he quit when they didn't show interest.
During the single month that he was employed, Mr. Meltebeke claimed
that the employer had harassed him by inviting him to church at
least twice a week, telling him repeatedly that he was a sinner
who would go to hell for living with his fiancee and insisting
that a person had to be a good Christian to be a good painter.
The Oregon state agency responsible for overseeing workplace complaints
ruled that Mr. Meltebeke had been harassed. In Oregon, religious
harassment occurs "whenever a reasonable person would find
an employer's religious advances hostile, intimidating or offensive."
But the state appellate court and the state's highest court ruled
for the employer. While agreeing that religious discrimination
had occurred, the state supreme court said the agency was wrong
in imposing sanctions on the employer because he hadn't been aware
that Mr. Meltebeke found his behavior unwelcome. If Mr. Meltebeke
had told the boss he was offended, or if there had been evidence
that the employer intended to offend him, the high court suggested,
its ruling would likely have been different.
"The government may not constitutionally impose sanctions
on an employer for engaging in a religious practice without knowledge
that the practice has a harmful effect on the employees intended
to be protected," the court wrote. "If the rule was
otherwise, fear of unwarranted government punishment would stifle
or make insecure the employer's enjoyment and exercise of religion,
seriously eroding the very values that the Constitution expressly
exempts from government control."
What all this means is the subject is much less than clear in
legal terms. Employers would be wise to seek counsel from their
legal advisors and other subject matter experts when such a situation
arises in their work-places.
(SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal, October 10, 1995.)
The Fair Employment and Housing Commission's (FEHC) revised regulations
on pregnancy and the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) went
into effect on August 12, 1995. These regulations contain numerous
substantive changes to the previous versions. Here are some of
them:
- Both the pregnancy and CRA regulations now require employers
to post notices of employees' rights to take pregnancy disability
leaves (PDL) and CFRA leaves. Employers may create their own PDL
and CFRA notices. However, the regulations provide sample notices
that contain the minimum requirements of employers' obligations
to provide PDL and CFRA leave.
- Notice A - Pregnancy Disability Leave - contains only the
minimum requirements of the FEHA's provisions regarding pregnancy,
childbirth or related medical conditions. This notice is suitable
for use by employers with less than 50 employees who are not subject
to the CFRA or the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
- Notice B - Family Care and Medical Leave (CFRA Leave) and
Pregnancy Disability Leave - combine notice of an employee's CFRA
and PDL rights. This notice is suitable for use by all employers
having 50 or more workers.
If you have not yet obtained your copy of the proper notice for
your establishment, give us a call and we will gladly send you
a FREE copy of the one you need. Please tell us whether you wish
Notice A or Notice B. You are also advised to dispose of any copies
of the "Pregnancy Discrimination Fact Sheet" pamphlet
you have. They are out of date and will be replaced sometime soon.
Another California case, Fuller v. City of Oakland, 47 F.3d 1522
(9th Cir. 1995) offers some clear advice for employers who have
complaints of sexual harassment. Here the court said, the fact
that an employer discovered sexual harassment after the harassment
had stopped did not relieve it of its obligations to remedy the
harassment. The employer's obligation is not discharged until
it takes prompt, effective action; liability will attach if the
employer does not undertake a remedy or if the remedy attempted
is ineffectual.
Fuller was a City police officer who had a romantic relationship
with Antonio Romero, a fellow officer. A few months after it began,
Fuller told Romero that she no longer wished to continue their
relationship. Romero would not give up his pursuit of Fuller.
He called her at home; he tracked her down at work and on her
beat; he called her at work and threatened to kill himself; he
steered his unmarked police car directly at Fuller and her new
boyfriend nearly causing a head-on collision. Later Romero was
appointed as supervisor of Fuller. She developed a severe stress
disorder and went on disability leave. When it was time for her
to return to work, she was told she would be assigned to a post
under Romero's supervision. She resigned rather than return to
work.
Although the City contended that because the harassment stopped
(the employee resigned) and that its response was reasonable,
the court disagreed. The court said: "Effectiveness will
be measured by the twin purposes of ending current harassment
and deterring future harassment by the same offender or others
... Title VII does not permit employers to stand idly by once
they learn that sexual harassment has occurred."
Employers should take this case to heart. Any notice of sexual
harassment should be considered enough to require an investigation,
even if the complaining employee is already off the payroll.
For example, a former employee files a claim for unemployment
insurance benefits and writes on the application form the reason
for leaving was "harassed by supervisor." Don't let
that go unaddressed. Open an investigation and properly determine
if any further action must be taken to prevent future occurrences.
And, remember, we are experts in conducting discrimination complaint
investigations should you need help.
If you don't think your employees' elder-care responsibilities
will affect your business, think again. By the year 2000, nearly
half of all workers will have some day-to-day responsibility for
elderly parents. The tab: about $2,500 per year per employee in
lost productivity. A handful of companies have discovered a relatively
new solution: long-term-care insurance that covers both institutional
and home health care.
Long-term care is among the fastest growing segments of the insurance
industry. Yet, if you are an employer of less than several hundred
employees, you likely won't be contacted by a sales agent for
these programs. Talk with your own insurance carrier and ask about
benefits coverage for employees and their elders. Be sure to explore
coverages which offer immediate coverage versus restrictive policies
which deny coverage for preexisting conditions.
We believe this is the next "deciding factor" as employees
are shopping for jobs in the marketplace. Employers who offer
such a benefit will have an advantage in attracting and retaining
qualified and talented workers.
(SOURCE: INC. magazine, September 1995.)
SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management, conducted a survey
recently of 1,331 respondents on the subject of pre-employment
reference checking. Here are some of the things they found.
- 65% to 85% said they always check references of candidates
for executive, professional, administrative, technical or skilled
labor jobs.
- 78% indicated they speak to references provided by candidate.
- Only 45% said they require agencies or vendors to conduct
reference checks on candidates they were provided.
- 89% require a job candidate to sign a waiver giving permission
for them to contact references and/or former employers. 85% said
the waiver is part of their application.
- 81% of the reference checking was done by phone, 27% by mail,
22% by e-mail, and 14% by FAX.
- 73% reported that they believe reference checking is more
important now than in the past. 94% report they provide references.
- Somewhere between a third and a half of all responses indicated
they would give reference information about dates of employment,
salary history, reason for leaving, work habits such as absence
and tardiness, personality traits, violent/bizarre behavior, human
relations skills and overall impression of employability.
- 78% agreed they would provide personal references to candidates.
79% report they have never been challenged by a disgruntled former
employee alleging their organization provided an inaccurate reference.
- Those who had been challenged changed their reference providing
policy in only 20% of the cases.
- 76% report there has been no change in challenges lodged against
their organizations since 1990.
Keep checking every applicant's references and job history!
The Advantage is published each quarter by: The Management Advantage, Inc.
Please also take time to read the important articles in other issues.
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