Employee benefits – Law Office Manager

EMPLOYMENT LAW UPDATE

COVID, opioids and payroll taxes on HR radar

September 7, 2020 by Barb Manning Grimm

By Mike O’Brien bio Applicants, testing, and screening The EEOC has said you cannot test applicants for COVID-19 until after a conditional job offer. Fine, makes sense. What about taking temperatures? You can take a temperature of visitors to your business/office to make sure they are not bringing COVID-19 with them. In fact, you may have an OSHA duty to do so to protect your workers from the pandemic. What about applicants visiting your office to apply to interview—can you subject them to the same temperature screening as all other visitors? Logic would say yes; but the EEOC guidance says no, you can only take an applicant’s temperature after a conditional job offer. Yet, a visiting applicant with COVID-19 could turn your office into a virus hot spot, thus attracting… . . . read more

Filed Under: blog, Compliance, Employee benefits, Hiring Tagged With: Compliance, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Employee benefits, Federal, Workplace Safety

COVID & Telework

Are employers responsible/liable for an employee’s home ergonomics, safety and expenses?

August 31, 2020 by Barb Manning Grimm

By Lynne Curry bio Question: COVID-19 has caused employers large and small to require the employers work from home rather than their employer’s worksites. Word has it that this may continue beyond weeks and months and become the new normal. What is my employer’s responsibility/liability for workplace ergonomics and safety when my home becomes my workplace? Do they need to compensate me for my expenses in upgrading my WIFI and getting a new office chair? Answer: “That depends,” says FisherBroyles management-side employment attorney Eric Meyer. According to Meyer, because the “Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) ensures safe and healthful working conditions–even outside of the normal workplace, employers technically have a duty to protect remote workers at home.” “But in reality,” notes Meyer, OSHA won’t inspect employees’ home offices. Additionally,… . . . read more

Filed Under: blog, Electronic workplace, Employee benefits, featured, Managing staff, social media, Workplace safety Tagged With: Compliance, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Employee benefits, telework, Workplace Safety

EMPLOYMENT LAW UPDATE

Employment law changing on the fly in response to COVID-19

April 22, 2020 by Barb Manning Grimm

By Mike O’Brien bio COVID-19 has ushered in a variety of new, and fast-evolving employment law changes, from the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). EMPLOYEE RETENTION TAX CREDIT: The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) includes a tax credit for employers that retain employees during the COVID-19 crisis. The credit generally provides relief to employers of all sizes in the form of a refundable payroll tax credit of 50% of all “qualified wages” paid (up to $10,000 per employee) during the COVID-19 crisis if (i) operations were fully or partially suspended or subject to a shut-down order; or (ii) gross receipts declined more than 50% compared to the same quarter in the prior year. Note that for… . . . read more

Filed Under: blog, Compliance, Employee benefits, Managing staff Tagged With: Compliance, COVID-19, Employee benefits, Managing staff

EMPLOYMENT LAW UPDATE

New overtime rule now in effect

January 20, 2020 by Barb Manning Grimm

By Mike O’Brien bio Jan. 1, 2020 was the deadline to comply with new FLSA overtime rule. At the end of September the Department of Labor issued its long-awaited final rule updating the salary level test for white-collar overtime exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Under the new rule, the minimum salary level for exemption is raised from $455 a week to $684 a week, or $35,568 annually. The change marks the first increase in the minimum salary level to take effect in more than 15 years. It is expected to bring overtime eligibility to over a million employees who are ineligible under the current threshold. Although the DOL released a final rule raising the salary level in 2016, the rule was blocked by a federal district court and… . . . read more

Filed Under: blog, Employee benefits, Hiring, Hiring & firing, Managing staff, Managing the office, Risk management Tagged With: Compliance, Employee benefits, FLSA, Hiring, Hiring & firing, Managing staff, Risk management

EMPLOYMENT LAW UPDATE

Pay rates, vacations while recovering, gig economy

November 19, 2019 by Jared Edis

Department of Labor enters final stage of update to ‘regular rate’ rule under FLSA. As we have discussed previously in these updates, the Department of Labor has been working to update the definition of “regular rate” of pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act

Filed Under: blog, Employee benefits, Hiring, Hiring & firing Tagged With: Employee benefits, Hiring, Hiring & firing, Risk management

MANAGING THE OFFICE

The importance of recognizing your employees’ hard work

October 4, 2019 by Barb Manning Grimm

Happy Administrative Professionals Week! What have you got planned to acknowledge your hard-working support staff? If you’ve decided to do nothing this year, you may want to…

BLOG

Employee morale and your firm’s productivity: 6 easy ways to boost both

August 23, 2019 by Barb Manning Grimm

By Elizabeth M. Miller bio
Employees’ attitudes have changed over the years. Good, loyal employees want more than a paycheck and…

MANAGING STAFF

3 bonus formulas that boost staff productivity

August 2, 2019 by Barb Manning Grimm

What bonuses should the office give, and how can it design the bonuses to increase productivity…

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS

Some FMLA questions on using vacation time and counting to 50

July 12, 2019 by David Brooks

Here are three questions on the Family and Medical Leave Act.
They are answered by Morganville, NJ, management consultant…

MANAGING STAFF

How to support the caregivers in your workplace

June 7, 2019 by Barb Manning Grimm

Half of working female caregivers feel they have to choose between being a good employee and being a good daughter, according to a new survey by…

COVID, opioids and payroll taxes on HR radar

Employment law changing on the fly in response to COVID-19

New overtime rule now in effect

Pay rates, vacations while recovering, gig economy

The importance of recognizing your employees’ hard work

Employee morale and your firm’s productivity: 6 easy ways to boost both

3 bonus formulas that boost staff productivity

Some FMLA questions on using vacation time and counting to 50

How to support the caregivers in your workplace

live events

training on demand

connect with us

useful links

recent articles

Employment offers pulled and start dates for law grads uncertain

Use contact logging to ensure law office employees practice social distancing

tools you can use

Telecommuter home office hazard assessment & inspection checklist

Model mandatory face mask policy

Tool: Model COVID-19 Contact Log Sheet

Tool: Model COVID-19 Exposure Control Plan