eqHR Solutions Business Tips: Are you ready for an HR Audit?

An HR audit is an objective look at your company’s HR policies, practices, procedures and strategies.

Like most business leaders, the word “audit” may fill you with feelings of dread. No one wants a regulatory “expert” coming in to their world, asking a bunch of technical questions and passing judgment on their business practices or worst, issuing a citation / fine.

Employment law, especially in states as complex as California, is ever evolving. Practices put in to place five years ago may now violate current state and/or federal regulations and recent court decisions.

Scheduling a periodic human resources audit is an effective tool to assess the current state of your company’s HR policies and procedures and to reduce potential future liability.

A properly executed audit can protect the company, establish best practices and identify opportunities for improvement. This objective evaluation can help you determine whether specific practice areas are adequate, legal and/or effective. The results can provide decision-makers with the information necessary to decide what areas need improvement.

What can you expect from a professional HR Audit?

The scope of HR audits conducted by eqHR Solutions focus on all areas of the HR function including:

• Are you properly managing leaves of absence, based on your company size?
• Are your employment files set up correctly?
• Are your exempt employees properly classified?
• Are your independent contractors properly classified?
• Based on the number of your full time employees, are you complying with those specific laws and regulations like, AB1825, AB2053 and the ACA?
• Do you comply with the California paid sick leave?
• Do you handle employee terminations appropriately?
• Do you have a performance review system in place that does not discriminate?
• Do you have a policy prohibiting sexual and bully harassment?
• Do you have a structured compensation plan in place?
• Do you have an updated employee handbook?
• Do you keep accurate hiring records, such as job postings, interview records, job applications and resumes?
• Does your company have a drug & alcohol free workplace policy?
• ü  Is your method of determining salary increases /bonuses discriminatory?

If you want to eliminate your worry about a regulatory audit, call or email eqHR Solutions today schedule a no cost consultation with a highly trained HR consultant

This article was written by Lauren Sims, an eqHR Solutions Principal Consultant who may be contacted by calling eqHR Solutions.

eqHR Business Tips: Are Your Holiday Policies Offensive?

How to Try and Not Offend Anyone This Holiday Season

Wonder what happened to the "good old days"? With the lighting speed of social media peoples views and opinions change.

Starbucks is catching some flak recently in social media because their holiday cups for 2015 are plain red, without any Christmas related imagery, holiday decoration or seasonal message. Some Christians are offended and have started a hashtag campaign: #merrychristmasstarbucks.

In protest, some customers are giving “Merry Christmas” as the call name for their drink so that the holiday greeting will be written on their cup, and the barista will have to say “Merry Christmas” when their drink is ready.

This story got me thinking, how does an HR professional survive the holidays without offending some or all employees?

Religious beliefs are widely protected by both state and federal discrimination laws. HR professionals should remember that this also includes an employee’s wish not to be religious. Cal-Chamber recommends that employers keep their seasonal decorations religion-neutral.

Depending on the culture at your company, this may or may not be practical. If your company has a tradition of decorating their lobby every year with a large Christmas tree, you might want to consider including some Hanukkah or Kwanza decorations as well.

If you allow employees to deck their cubicle walls with boughs of holly, then you must also allow decorations reflecting other religious beliefs. Conversely, if you allow employees to decorate their cubicles year round but forbid decorations during the holiday season, this could be viewed as discrimination, so be careful.

Think about it too, if your company has an annual gift exchange, maybe don’t call it “Secret Santa,” but come up with some other neutral name. Don’t force employees to participate in any of the holiday festivities your company has planned, try to keep them as universal and optional as possible.

If you thought the only offensive thing during the holidays was how many pumpkin flavored products are for sale right now, then you may be in for a surprise. As the Starbucks situation shows, sometimes even trying to be as neutral and inclusive as possible offends some people, proving the old adage that “you can’t please all the people all the time.” 

As HR professionals, sometimes the best we can do is just make sure we are treating everyone fairly and consistently, and most importantly, legally.

Call us today if you need to assitance or require guidance for your employment policies / procedures .

This article was written by Lauren Sims, an eqHR Solutions Principal Consultant and may be contacted by calling eqHR Solutions.

eqHR Business Tips: Progressive Discipline - Why is it Important to be Flexible?

Most companies practice a progressive discipline policy. Progressive discipline specifies a range of responses to employee performance or conduct problems. The disciplinary actions range from minor to serious, depending on the nature and frequency of the issue.

Steps of Progressive Discipline:

1. Verbal Counseling
2. Written Counseling
3. Administrative Leave
4. Final Written Counseling
5. Termination

Progressive discipline helps employees get back on track. Done correctly, progressive discipline:

• Intervenes and corrects employee behavior early on
• Enhances communication between managers and employees
• Ensures consistency and fairness in dealing with employee issues, and
• Establishes grounds for fair, legally defensible employment terminations when employees cannot or will not improve.

Flexibility is the Key

Many times I will advise employers not to include a progressive discipline policy in their Employee Handbooks. When it comes to discipline, every situation is different and it is important not to lock yourself in to a single response to a given situation.

For example, let’s say you are dealing with is an employee with an attendance problem. The Progressive Discipline steps listed above are a fair and consistent way address and correct the attendance issue.

However, if the issue is more severe, such as theft or a serious performance problem, you want the freedom to be able to skip steps, perhaps going straight to Written Counseling or Final Written Counseling, or in an egregious situation, directly to termination. In those circumstances the last thing you want is an employee filing a claim against your company because you did not follow the exact discipline steps laid out in your handbook.

Another good example of the importance of flexibility in your progressive discipline practices is step 3: Administrative Leave. You most likely will skip this step in most cases, however it should be utilized in situations when there is a reason the employee needs to be removed from the work environment such as: harassment investigations, suspicion of theft, potential threat of violence or other disruption, or if they can’t perform their duties until an investigation is complete.

Progressive Discipline is an important tool for employers when they need to discipline their employees. It allows for due process and documents fair and consistent treatment of employees. It is important to remember, however, that all situations are different and employers must allow themselves some room to ensure that the punishment does indeed fit the crime.

Call us today if you need to assitance or require guidance for your employment policies / procedures .

This article was written by Lauren Sims, an eqHR Solutions Principal Consultant and may be contacted by calling eqHR Solutions.

eqHR Business Tips: 228 million dollar Settlement - Misclassified Employees - Are Yours?

Recently a $228 million settlement in a class action lawsuit filed against FedEx alleging that drivers were misclassified as independent contractors was preliminarily approved by the courts.

This is yet another example from the headlines of the importance of classifying your employees correctly.

You may feel that your company is too small to worry about huge class action lawsuits, but there are still very real risks and financial penalties for employers who misclassify their employees. According to the IRS, misclassifying employees as independent contractors and failing to pay Social Security and Medicare Tax as well as withhold and pay federal income tax can subject an employer to back taxes of as much as 41.5% of the contractors’ wages. These penalties can go back for three years. IRS will add fines on top of that ranging from $50-25% of the total tax liability depending on the situation.

Compounding the problem is if the misclassified worker should have also been eligible for overtime during the time they were misclassified. The employer could then be subject to further fines and paying back overtime wages.

What is an independent contractor?

In general, an independent contractor controls what will be done and how it will be done, while the employer can only control the result of the work. For more information, see the EDD worksheet for determining if a worker is an employee or an independent contractor: http://www.edd.ca.gov/pdf_pub_ctr/de38.pdf

Things to consider:

• What is the degree of control over work and who exercises that control?
• What type of skill is required for work?
• Is the worker an integral part of the business?
• Does the worker provide their own equipment, supplies and tools?
• Can the worker be discharged at any time?
• Does the worker set their own schedule for work?
• Is the work temporary or permanent?

As the saying goes: “if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, then it’s a duck.” In other words if the worker looks like an employee, has a desk, an office extension, business cards, etc., then chances are they’re an employee.

Call us today if you need to assitance or require guidance for employee classifiation

This article was written by Lauren Sims, an eqHR Solutions Principal Consultant and may be contacted by calling eqHR Solutions.

eqHR Business Tips: Understanding Pregnancy Leave in California

An employee tells you she is pregnant and due in a few months. You ask youself, how does Pregnancy Disability Leave work? How do I explain and keep track of the time she can take off?

Navigating pregnancy leave can be confusing for employers. It is important to track and document the leave entitlement for the Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL) and ensure that you are providing the correct information.  If do need assistance, please call our offices (855-461-8808). 

Remember, you must notify the employee the designation of her leave. For example, you

would say that the leave for 12 weeks has been designated as PDL. If they are taking additional CFRA leave, you must also designate that leave as well.

Keep track of the leave and how much time counts toward each type (i.e. PDL, FMLA or CFRA)

The three primary regulations that regulate pregnancy leaves are the Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL),the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) and the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA). 

• In California, employers with 5 employees or more are required to provide up to 4 months or 17 -/3 weeks of job-protected time off. Here are some important things to know about Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL):
• All employees are eligible, full-time and part-time, regardless of how long they have been with your company.
• Full-time employees are eligible for up to 693 hours of leave (17-1/3 multiplied by 40 hours), part-time employees are pro-rated by the number of hours they work per week (i.e. someone working 20 hours per week would be eligible for 346.5 hours or 17-1/3 multiplied by 20 hours).
• California Family Rights Act (CFRA) leave does not run concurrently with PDL. Therefore, an employee can take up to an additional 12 weeks of protected leave under CFRA (if she is eligible for CFRA), after her PDL has ended.
• The 12 week leave entitlement under Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) does run concurrently with PDL and should be designated as such if the employee is eligible for FMLA when the leave is requested and approved.
• PDL does not have to be taken all at once, for example, if your employee takes 2 weeks off at the beginning of the pregnancy due to severe morning sickness, the 2 weeks count toward her 17-1/3 week entitlement. She then has 15-1/3 weeks remaining of her PDL entitlement for this pregnancy. Employees may take PDL in any increment: hours, days, weeks, or months.
• The employee’s health care benefits must stay in effect the same as they were prior to the leave. The employer can collect the employee portion of the premium amount from the employee during the leave.
• PDL is unpaid, however, the employer can require the employee to use any accrued and unused sick time while on leave. The employer cannot require her to use vacation time or personal time off. She may also be eligible for State Disability Insurance (SDI) while on PDL.
• The employer can and should require that the employee provide medical certification that she is disabled due to pregnancy. The certification should include the date that she became disabled, and the date the disability will end.
• When the employee returns from PDL, she must be reinstated to the same position she had prior to her leave. The only exceptions are if she would have been laid off for legitimate business reasons even if she had not taken the leave. Also, if the employer cannot reinstate the employee to the same position, for legitimate business reasons, she is entitled to return to a comparable position.
• Employees may also request temporary transfers or duty restrictions as pregnancy related accommodations. Accommodation requests should follow your usual procedure for reasonable accommodations under the Americans with Disabilties Act (ADA).

To manage your employee’s leave, make sure you do the following:

1. Have the employee provide you written notice of her need to take leave including the projected dates she will need to be off work.
2. Provide the employee a notice of their rights. Sample forms - click DFEH

• Ask for medical certification, sample form click here:

Call us today if you need to assitance or require guidance for a specfic employment leave situation.

This article was written by Lauren Sims, an eqHR Solutions Principal Consultant and may be contacted by calling eqHR Solutions.

eqHR HR Business Tips: Handling an Intoxicated Employee

A client recently called and asked how to handle an employee they suspected of a drinking problem.

Several employees reported smelling alcohol on John's breath. Plus, we’ve noticed that John's attendance and punctuality has gotten worse. What is the best way to handle this situation?

Hopefully you have a drug and alcohol policy in your Handbook at your workplace. This is helpful because it gives you a guide as to what is acceptable and what isn’t acceptable and can help guide you through this situation. However, even if you don’t have a written policy in effect, the strategies to deal with this situation remain the same.

If someone comes to wor,k apparently under the influence of alcohol or drugs, you should send them home immediately. Have a co-worker drive them home, or call them a cab. This is true in any situation, but particularly critical where there is a safety issue, for example they use machinery or drive for their positions.

When the employee returns, follow your normal disciplinary procedures and either present them with a verbal or written counseling. Make it clear that coming to work intoxicated is unacceptable, and further occurrences may result in further action including termination or employment.

In some cases, an employer may suspect that an employee’s issues with chemical dependency are impacting his or her performance in the workplace, even though the employee is not observed at work in an obviously intoxicated condition. In those situations, employers should always remember to focus on job performance issues rather than the suspected chemical dependency. Document and make clear what expectations aren’t being met and provide a roadmap and timeline for improvement.

What if your employee admits their problem and asks for help? Depending on your company size, the employee may have certain rights under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the American’s with Disability Act (ADA) to seek treatment for their condition. You may also want to review your medical insurance coverage to see what it covers for substance abuse treatment, or refer them to your Employee Assistance Plan (EAP) if you have one.

Finally, a word about drug testing. If you believe the employee has a problem with alcohol or drugs and you want to have them take a drug test to be sure, tread very carefully. Drug testing current employees is a highly litigated area, and I would advise consulting legal counsel before going any further.

Employers often want to help their employees when they suspect a potential alcohol or drug problem. However, sometimes their compassion can lead them down a long path of poor performance and frustration. The best strategy is to try and remain focused on job performance, and avoid getting embroiled in what could become a drawn out and drama filled problem.

Call us today if you need to update your employee handbook or require guidance for a specfic employment situation.

This article was written by Lauren Sims, an eqHR Solutions Principal Consultant and may be contacted by calling eqHR Solutions.

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Lionsgate Entertainment Selects eqHR Soloutions for Sexual Harassment & Bully Prevention Training

LionsgateEntertainment, a leading global entertainment company that brought us The Hunger Games and hundreds of other movies and television shows, selected eqHR Solutions to provide their required sexual harassment and bully prevention training (AB1825 & AB2053) for their executive and supervisors.

The training/presentation was held in October in the movie screening auditorium at their Santa Monica offices.  Our trainers, June Jeong and Lauren Sims commented that our presentaion and video vinettes looked fantastic on the "big screen" where major motion pictures have been screened by the Lionsgate executives 

Crane Co. Retains eqHR Soluitons for a Recruitmenmt Project

Crane Co. is a diversified, international manufacturer of highly engineered industrial products with a substantial presence in a number of focused niche markets. The Crane Co Long Beach, CA division had an immediate need to recruit/interview/hire for multiple positions and retained eqHR Solutions for this critical project.

The assignment is scheduled to last three months or until the open positions have been filled. Many of the open positions are for senior engineers.  We assigned a senior consultant, Patricia Kim, for this project.  Ms. Kim will work up both on and off site. eqHR was selected based on recruitment experience and knowledge of the Los Angeles DMA.    

HR Business Tips: EEO-1 reports are due October 30, are you ready?

Each year businesses miss the EEO-1 deadline and face potential penalties. 

Confirm your report has been filed

Who must file?

1. All employers with 100 or more employees, excluding state and local governments, school systems, institutions of higher education, Indian tribes and tax-exempt private membership clubs other than labor organizations.
2. Employers with fewer than 100 employees if the company is owned or affiliated with another company and the entire enterprise employees a total of 100 or more employees.
3. All federal contractors who have 50 or more employees and have a contract, subcontract or purchase order amounting to $50,000 or more

How do I file?

Single establishment employers (i.e., employers with only one physical location) can file either a paper form or can submit their report online.

Multi-establishment employers (i.e., employer doing business at more than one location) must complete online:

A report covering the headquarters office

A separate report for each location with 50 or more employees

A separate report for each location with fewer than 50 employees, or a location list that consolidates the data

To file or get more information about filing, go here: http://www.eeoc.gov/employers/eeo1survey/

What information do I need to provide?

The number of employees by race, sex and job category. Remember to provide an opportunity for your employees to self-identify their race and ethnic information. You are required to attempt to allow employees to self-identify. This information should be kept confidential and separate from the employee file. If an employee declines to self-identify, employment records or observer identification may be used.

Make sure your forms and data collection is updated with the most current race and job categories.

Current Race/Ethnic categories:

• Hispanic or Latino
• White (Not Hispanic or Latino)
• Black or African American (Not Hispanic or Latino)
• Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander (Not Hispanic or Latino)
• Asian (Not Hispanic or Latino)
• American Indian or Alaska Native (Not Hispanic or Latino)
• Two or More Races (Not Hispanic or Latino

Current Job Categories:

• Executive/Senior Level Officials and Managers
• First/Mid-Level Officials and Managers
• Professionals
• Technicians
• Sales Workers
• Administrative Support Workers
• Craft Workers
• Operatives
• Laborers and Helpers
• Service Workers

For more detailed information about the categories, see: http://www.eeoc.gov/employers/eeo1survey/2007instructions.cfm

A job classification guide can be found here: http://www.eeoc.gov/employers/eeo1survey/jobclassguide.cfm

his article was written by Lauren Sims, an eqHR Solutions Principal Consultant. 

HR Business Tips: Choosing a Performance Driven & Cost Effective Job Board

Are you a business owner that is planning to hire an entry to mid-level position soon?  I suggest you read my article to save you time and money.

Our HR consulting firm was recently hired on an hourly basis to recruit for a newly created entry-level position. The job posting was for an entry level, management trainee for customer services for a well know Tech Company in Orange County, CA.

Because it has been over a year since I had last posted a position to a job board, I elected to test some of the top job boards. First I reviewe several job board articles that I found on Google.

Monster and CareerBuilder have their own platforms and it was routinely suggested to use one or the other.  I chose CareerBuilder, SimplyHired and indeed.com for my evaluation.

In the past, I have used Monster and ZipRecruiter.  Monster’s results were adequate and many articles suggested using either CareerBuilder or Monster, but not both.

When I last used ZipRecruiter, they had just lost their major job board partnerships and thereafter their results were almost non-existent.

The pricing models for CareerBuilder and SimplyHired are similar, a flat rate for each job post for a certain length of time. While CareerBuilder cost is in the $400.00 range, Simply Hired is half the amount. 

Indeed.com is different and what really intrigued me was their new pay per click model.  Perhaps, because I have done considerable Google pay per click, their methodology made sense.

What were the results?  CareerBuilder produced three (3) candidates during the 30 days and none of those applicants met my criteria.  After one week, I called my sales rep and he referred me to his manager in NY. The manager called me and said that CareerBuilder is “not really for entry level positions” and had I called my sales representative, he may have suggested that I not use CareerBuilder for my position!  The manager did not offer a credit, just his advice.

With SimplyHired, I experience website logging difficulty and was required to reset my password each time.  Although they are the cheaper alternative, the $149.00 was also a waste my time and my clients’ money. Two candidates applied during the 45-day period, but one was qualified.  The client needed five candidates and based on SimplyHired performance, it could take another four months to locate qualified candidates!

The “Job Board Champion” was indeed.com. Almost immediately, five to six candidates applied daily and approximately 30% of the applicants met my initial qualifications.  In addition, unlike CareerBuilder, indeed.com provides access to their resume data base and only charges a nominal amount if you do reach out to a potential candidate.  CareerBuilder charges $400.00 just to look!

Recruiters charge commissions of 30%, so they can afford to post to every job board. But, as a business owner, your time and money is valuable. If you do recruit and hire your own employees, I recommend you first look into using indeed.com for your recruiting needs.

 Robert Reifeiss, Consultant

When your business requires professional HR assistance, please consider eqHR. Call 855-461-8808 for a no cost consultation.

Giving Birth at Yahoo - Good / Bad Polices?

If you are the business leader of a small to medium size business, you may care less what the fortune 100 tech companies offer their employees, but you should....

Tech companies, famously on the forefront of creative and generous benefits and perks, have recently been pushing the envelope in the area of new parent benefits.

Netflix announced in early August their new maternity and paternity leave policy, allowing new parents to take unlimited paid parental leave during the year following the birth or adoption of a child.

Microsoft increased their paid maternity leave allotment from 12 weeks to 20 weeks. Yahoo increase their paid maternity leave to 16 weeks and paid paternity leave to 8 weeks. IBM instituted a plan to help breast-feeding mothers who are on business trips ship their breast milk home for free. Facebook and Apple announced new benefits allowing their female employees to harvest and freeze their eggs, deferring child-rearing.

It’s interesting, especially in light of the fact that woman are underrepresented in the tech industry, with only about 25% of tech employees being female. Yet, this recent surge in maternity benefits could be interpreted as an effort to attract more female employees to the industry.

All these new perks sound exciting, but how many employees will actually take advantage of them? Companies create these policies but then send out mixed signals, and employees who take advantage of them find themselves victims of peer pressure.

Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo, recently announced she was pregnant was twins and announced she would only be taking as little as 2 weeks of maternity leave, and working throughout. It’s not a big surprise, this is the same woman who only took 2 weeks of maternity leave for the birth of her first child, and also famously eliminated Yahoo’s flexible work from home policies not long after taking the helm at Yahoo.

What is the message they are sending? IBM will ship home breast milk but they are still sending that new mother on a business trip. Yahoo will give a new mother a paid 16 week leave, but clearly the culture at the organization is not to take the full allotment of leave.

It will be interesting to see over time if employees are taking advantage of these new policies, and if they will spread to other industries, or even to the nation as a whole, as the United States remains the only developed country in the world that does not require paid leave for new mothers.

This article was written by Lauren Sims, an eqHR Solutions Principal Consultant. 

For further information regarding this topic, visit:

http://www.theguardian.com/money/us-money-blog/2015/aug/09/netflix-parental-leave-policy

http://www.wired.com/2015/08/techs-selfish-reasons-offering-parental-leave/

http://fortune.com/2015/08/10/adobe-parental-leave/

http://time.com/4033935/parental-leave-technology-companies/

Whenever your business requires professional HR assistance, from employment policies, employment investigations, employee handbooks, live sexual harassment prevention training (AB1825 and AB5053), management development, HR outsourcing or ADP payroll training / processing, please call 855-461-8808 for a no cost consultation.

eqHR Business Tips: Fragrance Sensitivity- Do You Have to Accommodate?

As as business owner, did you ever imagine being involved with an employee's complaint about their sensitivity to another employee's fragrance? 

Today, you must be prepared. This article was written to offer business leaders guidance to deal with employment issues.

For employees with certain medical conditions, such as asthma or allergies, the workplace can be a daunting miasma of irritating scents and fragrances. Especially in modern workplaces that favor more open space, if someone is wearing perfume or strong cologne, it can be almost impossible to escape the cloud of scents.

It can be intimidating for employers to navigate this issue. In fact, according to a recent NPR story, SHRM reports that fragrance policies are among the top five requests it receives from its members. 

Employers should understand that individuals with medical conditions that make them fragrance- or irritant-sensitive might be covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and entitled to reasonable accommodation.

Many employers are adopting light-fragrance policies instead of imposing fragrance free mandates. Light-fragrance policies can be beneficial to all employees, not just those with sensitivities, as heavy perfumes and colognes can be irritating and distracting to everyone.

Fortunately, fragrance free environments and policies have so far been viewed in the courts as unreasonable accommodations. However, as with any request for accommodation, the employer should engage in an interactive process with the employee to achieve a mutually satisfying solution.

When an employer receives a request for scent- or irritant-free environments, the employer should treat the request like any ADA accommodation request.

First, determine they have sufficient information from the employee’s medical provider to ensure the employee comes within the ADA disability definition. Next, the employer should consider the request and evaluate the challenges of implementing their request or if there are other solutions to satisfy the employee’s concerns.

Possible solutions include: asking a particular employee to refrain from wearing an irritating scent; allowing the affected employee to telecommute; moving the employee’s workstation; allowing the affected employee to call-in to meetings; if the irritating scent is from a cleaning product used by the cleaning crew, investigating using other products.

It’s important for employers to understand they have options when dealing with this issue and may sometimes have to be creative in finding solutions that are satisfying to all involved.

If you business needs help with your employment policies, employee handbook or any human resources assistance, please call 855-461-8808 or email info@eqhrsolutions.com .

This article was written by an eqHR Principal Consultant, Lauren Sims. 

Further resources on this topic can be found at www.shrm.com and http://www.npr.org/2015/09/22/442189543/what-s-that-smell-when-workplaces-try-fragrance-bans

What's new in Workplace Bullying? More than 25% Report being a Victim of Abusive Conduct

Bully prevention in the workplace is now required for all businesses in California with 50+ employees (AB 2053), which is in addition to the 2 hour required sexual harassment training.

  

What is new? Being victim is more prevalent than you may realize. More than a 25% of U.S. workers have encountered abusive conduct at work.

Do you agree that it is time for all business leaders to acknowledge there is a high probability bully harassment is present in their companies?

All forms of harassment affect employee morale, productivity and if unchecked, opens the very real potential of financial liability.

Whether you have 5 or 500 employee, we urge you to schedule training sessions now.

eqHR Solutions is offering a 13% discount on live, on-site bully and sexual harassment training classes for both supervisors and staff employees scheduled in August 2015,

We invite you to read a recent article on being bullied at work, published by the OC Register.

eqHR Solutions adds HR Consulting Staff - Denny Rubin

Denny Rubin, SPHR is a seasoned HR practitioner, experienced in the areas of strategic & succession planning, employee relations, performance management, talent acquisition, development and retention. With such broad experience, Denny is prepared for any manner of Human Resources challenge.

Whether servicing HR departments of one, or those numbering in the  hundreds; from small, privately owned businesses to large, publicly traded corporations, Denny’s career has afforded her many unique and challenging situations, including opportunities to create entire HR departments, for both start-up and established companies.  She authors and facilitates training seminars, has extensive involvement in talent development, executive coaching, high-volume recruitment, and change management. 

Denny understands how all the components of a business must work together to create a finished product or service.  Using outstanding communications skills and by developing partnerships with management and employees, she is able to identify and implement innovative and practical HR solutions. 

A certified Senior Professional in Human Resources, Denny obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Business Management and has experience in a variety of industries, including retail, restaurant, entertainment and technology. She has provided full spectrum HR support for companies conducting business in multiple states in the contiguous US, the state of Hawai’i, and the US territory of Guam.  Denny brings a comprehensive range of HR expertise to EQHR solutions.

Please Welcome eqHR Solutions newest Clients

AEM, Inc

AEM is an award-winning high-tech company located in San Diego, with its leading technologies in proprietary materials, patented processes, and specialty equipment for the manufacturing of high reliability electronic components.

eqHR Solutions will provide professional HR guidance. The first assignment is to review the company employee handbook to ensure the handbook complies with current federal and California employment regulations. Also, we will review and recommend changes to their existing policies.

CASA – OrangeCounty

CASA - Court Appointed Special Advocates of Orange County is a non-profit organization serving our county’s most severely abused, abandoned and neglected children through the recruitment and training of volunteers who advocate for their best interests.

eqHR Solutions is donating services to provide professional HR guidance. CASA needs their company employee handbook reviewed to ensure it complies with current federal and California employment regulations. In addition, eqHR is creating three important new employment policies to provide uniformity. (Hiring Policy, Disciplinary Policy & Termination Policy)

Classic Components

Classic offers unrivaled flexibility and customization of material management solutions to many of the world’s largest electronics manufacturers from 15 global locations.

eqHR Solutions is providing professional semi-monthly payroll processing and auditing services using the client’s ADP software.

Duncan Bolt

Duncan Bolt, your fastener resource equipped with the best solutions for your fastening needs We area west coast authorized warranty repair center for Alcoa Fastening systems and many others.

eqHR Solutions is a preferred on-site training vendor for ADP software. Our consultant provided hands-on trained to the Duncan Bolt payroll department at their location.

Gliffy

Gliffy is known as the Visio killer. Its cutting edge online software allows users to create flowcharts, uml diagrams, org charts, or any other kind of diagram using the Gliffy tools. Whether you’re an engineer creating a revolutionary piece of software, a manger clarifying roles and responsibilities, or just a person trying to figure out the complex relationship between ninjas, pirates and zombies, Gliffy diagram software has all the tools you need to get started.

eqHR Solutions is providing professional HR guidance and is our first client in the San Francisco area. Our first assignment is to review their employee handbook and ensure it complies with current federal and California employment regulations. In addition, eqHR is providing guidance on Independent Contractor potential issues; reviewing illness and safety programs.

Premier Business Centers

Premier Business Centers provides professionally staffed office space on a full- or part-time basis, offering the flexibility of rental by the hour, day, month, or year. All of the services that you need are available at each of our office center locations, such as office space rental in San Francisco, Los Angeles County, Orange County, and San Diego in California; Bothell, Bellevue, and Seattle in Washington; and two locations for office space in Dallas, Texas.

eqHR Solutions is providing professional semi-monthly payroll processing and auditing services using the client’s ADP software.

St. Mar Enterprises

A franchisee of Taco Bell

St. Mar Enterprises is highly successful located, long term owner of multiple Taco Bell franchises in San Diego County.

eqHR Solutions will provide professional HR guidance. Our first assignment is to review the company’s employee handbook to ensure it complies with all current federal and California employment regulations; review and update the company’s job description; and review and update all existing employment policies and procedures.

eqHR Solutions HR Tip: What Does “one day’s rest there from in seven” mean to your business?

Stay tuned for a potential new interpretation of labor law codes 551 & 552 (“one day’s rest there from in seven”) that could affect your business.

Three California labor questions regarding these labor codes have been certified for review by the California Supreme Court, based on a 9^th Circuit court ruling in Mendoza v. Nordstrom (9th Cir. 12-57130, 12-57144 2/19/15)

Note: Even if your employees volunteer to work seven or more continuous day, you should discontinue that practice until this appeal is decided.

Facts:

Mendoza sued Nordstrom, alleging that it had violated California Labor Code sections 551 and 552 by failing to provide him with one day’s rest in seven on three occasions. He brought the action in California state court; Nordstrom removed to federal court. Mendoza also pleaded other claims that are not at issue in the present appeal. He filed his complaint on behalf of a class of similarly situated hourly, non-exempt Nordstrom employees in California, and he brought the relevant claim pursuant to the California’s Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004. See Cal. Lab. Code §§ 2698–2699.5. Gordon’s complaint in intervention alleged the same causes of action as those in Mendoza’s complaint.

With respect to the day-of-rest claims, the district court held a bench trial. The district court then ruled: (1) the day of-rest statute, California Labor Code section 551, applies on a rolling basis to any consecutive seven-day period, rather than by the workweek; (2) but California Labor Code section 556 exempts Nordstrom from that requirement, because each plaintiff worked less than six hours on at least one day in the consecutive seven days of work; and (3) even if the exemption did not apply, Nordstrom did not “cause” Mendoza or Gordon to work more than seven consecutive days, within the meaning of California Labor Code section 552, because there was no coercion; Plaintiffs waived their rights under California Labor Code section 551 by accepting additional shifts when they were offered.

The court dismissed the plaintiff’s action and a timely appeal to the Supreme Court

The court will decide three questions:

(A) California Labor Code section 551 provides that “[e]very person employed in any occupation of labor is entitled to one day’s rest there from in seven.” Is the required day of rest calculated by the workweek, or is it calculated on a rolling basis for any consecutive seven day period?

(B) California Labor Code section 556 exempts employers from providing such a day of rest “when the total hours of employment do not exceed 30 hours in any week or six hours in any one day thereof.” (Emphasis added.) Does that exemption apply when an employee works less than six hours in any one day of the applicable week, or does it apply only when an employee works less than six hours in each day of the week?

(C) California Labor Code section 552 provides that an employer may not “cause his employees to work more than six days in seven.” What does it mean for an employer to “cause” an employee to work more than six days in seven: force, coerce, pressure, schedule, encourage, reward, permit, or something else?

See http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2015/02/19/12-57130.pdf)

Please welcome our new client, Vitatech Nutritional Sciences

eqHR Solutions was retained to provide specialized ADP payroll product (WorkForceNow 6.0) implementation and to create several custom payroll reports:

• Generate HR/Payroll Reports
• Headcount Report
• Anniversary Report
• New/Term Report
• Benefits Reconciliation Report
• Hours Report (OT, Vacation/Sick Report)
• Other Reports as needed

Vitatech manufactures Tablets, Powders and Capsules per your specification. Vitatech® Nutritional Sciences brings a mandate for superior quality – and the NPA’s Gold Seal of Approval – to every product made for you. With its laboratory FDA pharmaceutical licensed since 1954, Vitatech® is known for providing a level of quality and attention that exceeds the requirements of many regulatory agencies. Learn more about Vitatech Nutritional Sciences by visiting their website, http://www.vitatech.com/