Fully Paid Leave for New Parents in San Francisco

San Francisco Becomes First Place in Country to Offer Fully Paid Leave for New Parents

The measure was approved unanimously by the Board of Supervisors and will give new mothers and fathers six weeks of fully paid time off.

The measure requires another formal vote by the board next week as well as approval by Mayor Ed Lee, who says he is happy to sign it.

Employers have added this new directive to the long list of recent laws that they feel are difficult and expensive to comply with, including paid sick leave and health coverage.

The issue of paid parental leave is gaining momentum across the country much like the debate over a higher minimum wage. Paid leave has even become a topic in the presidential campaign. Many companies such as Twitter, Netflix, and Facebook have recently and very publicly started offering paid parental leave to their workers.

The state of California currently allows workers to receive 55 percent of their pay for up to six weeks to bond with a new child. The money comes from a Paid Family Leave (PFL) Program funded by workers through payroll deductions.

The San Francisco measure requires employers with at least 20 employees to make up the difference between the 55% paid by the PFL Program and the employee’s regular salary.

The regulation will be phased in, starting with businesses that employ 50 workers in January 2017. Businesses with 35 to 49 workers must comply starting in July 2017 and businesses with 20 to 34 workers have until January 2018.

The benefit applies to new mothers and fathers who work at least eight hours a week and spend at least 40 percent of their work week within San Francisco boundaries.

The legislation does not apply to the federal, state or other municipal governments. People who work for the city and county of San Francisco receive up to 12 weeks of paid leave.

Companies who currently offer generous paid leave benefits to attract and retain workers can keep their current policies as long as they comply with the minimum requirements of the San Francisco measure.

Lauren Sims, a Senior HR Generalist, prepared this article.

Need help navigating the ever-changing landscape of California Employment Law?  Call eqHR Solutions today for a no obligation consultation?

eqHR Solutions is a leading HR consulting firm providing tactical and strategic human resources support to all size businesses in Southern California and the San Francisco / Bay area.

Do You Know the Required California New Hire Forms?

Required Forms and Pamphlets for New Hires in California

Get off on the right foot and ensure that you are giving all your new hires the proper forms and pamphlets on their first day. Below we have provided a list and explanation of the forms and pamphlets that must be given to newly hired employees in California:

Federal

□   I-9 - must be completed and verified within 3 business days of the Employee’s start date

□   Insurance Exchange Notice (ACA) - All Employers subject to FLSA must provide a notice to all new employees of their coverage options under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). There are 2 notices, 1 for employers who offer coverage, 1 for employers who do not offer coverage. For sample notices, got to the Department of Labor website: http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/healthreform/regulations/coverageoptionsnotice.html

Job-related

□   Offer letter - Offer letters serve as a legal basis for employment and can be valuable documents if there are future questions or issues

□   Employment application - Applications allow employers to consistently gather the same data in the same format from each prospective employee. The also collect information that isn’t on a resume such as reasons candidates left a prior employer, felony or misdemeanor crime convictions, and names and contact information for references. Applications also obtain the applicant's signature attesting that all statements on the employment application are true.

Payroll

□   W-4 - Required by the IRS to set up tax withholding in payroll for federal income tax.

□   DE6 CA State tax form - Required by state tax agencies to set up tax withholding in payroll for California state income tax.

California Brochures and Notices (click form ID to view)

□   DE 2511- Paid Family Leave Pamphlet:

□   DE 2515 - State Disability Insurance Pamphlet:

□   DFEH 185 - Facts About Sexual Harassment Pamphlet:

□   DFEH 188 - California Family Rights Act (CFRA) Pamphlet:

□   DE 1857 - California Unemployment Notice:

□   LC 2810.5 - Wage Theft notice:

□   Worker’s Compensation “Time of Hire” Pamphlet:

All pamphlets and brochures can be found in Spanish and other languages on the websites shown above.

California employers face many challenges in ensuring compliance with employment laws, this checklist provides you a guideline to ensure you have the proper foundation for all your new hires.

Lauren Sims, a Senior HR Generalist, prepared this article.

Need help navigating the ever-changing landscape of California Employment Law?  Call eqHR Solutions today for a no obligation consultation?

eqHR Solutions is a leading HR consulting firm providing tactical and strategic human resources support to all size businesses in Southern California and the San Francisco / Bay area.

Taco Bell just Learned an Expensive Lesson - Meal & Rest Breaks

Does your Employee Handbook Have a Compliant Meal and Rest Period Policy? 

Taco Bell workers were just awarded approximately $496,000 in a class action suit that alleged meal and rest period violations.

The plaintiffs in the suit claimed that Taco Bell failed to properly provide meal breaks before the fifth hour of work as required by California law. The workers also claimed that the company failed to provide the right number of rest breaks.

The workers did not win their suit on either of these claims, however, they did win their claim that Taco Bell failed to properly pay them when a meal break was skipped.

If an employer fails to provide an employee a meal period, the employer must pay the employee one additional hour of pay at the employee’s regular rate of compensation. This is often referred to as “premium pay.”

Taco Bell paid them only 30 minutes of wages when a meal period was missed, rather than the full hour of required premium pay.

Interestingly, Taco Bell originally faced litigation because its employee handbook policy did not meet California’s strict meal and rest break requirements. 

Taco Bell used a meal period “matrix,” which was a policy of providing the meal after five hours of work, instead of before. The matrix was printed in Taco Bell’s employee handbook.

This case highlights the importance of including a meal and rest break policy in your employee handbook that is compliant with California law. Meal and rest break policies must state the legally required timing of meal breaks and not be open to interpretation.

This case further demonstrates the challenges California employers face in the ever-persistent litigation over meal and rest periods.

Make sure your Employee Handbook is compliant and you and properly administering meal and rest periods. 

Lauren Sims, a Senior HR Generalist, prepared this article.

Need help navigating the ever-changing landscape of California Employment Law?  Call eqHR Solutions today for a no obligation consultation?

eqHR Solutions is a leading HR consulting firm providing tactical and strategic human resources support to all size businesses in Southern California and the San Francisco / Bay area.

More than 5 Employees? Are You Prepared for new FEHA regulations

Are you prepared for new, April 2016 FEHA regulations?

New California regulations that took effect on April 1, 2016, requires employers with 5 or more employees to develop written anti-discrimination and harassment policies that meet several new requirements.

These regulations require employers to develop and distribute anti-discrimination and harassment policies to employees.

Requirements Under the New Regulations

In addition to the requirement that employers distribute the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH)-185 brochure on sexual harassment, employers must now also have anti-discrimination and harassment policies that:

1. Are in writing;
2. Lists all current protected categories covered under the Act;
3. Indicates that the law prohibits coworkers and third parties, as well as supervisors and managers, with whom the employee comes into contact from engaging in conduct prohibited by the Act;
4. Creates a complaint process to ensure that complaints receive:
1. An employer's designation of confidentiality, to the extent possible;
2. A timely response;
3. Impartial and timely investigations by qualified personnel;
4. Documentation and tracking for reasonable progress;
5. Appropriate options for remedial actions and resolutions; and
6. Timely closures.
5. Provides a complaint mechanism that does not require an employee to complain directly to his or her immediate supervisor, including, but not limited to, the following:
1. Direct communication, either orally or in writing, with a designated company representative, such as a human resources manager, EEO officer, or other supervisor; and/or
2. A complaint hotline; and/or
3. Access to an ombudsperson; and/or
4. Identification of the Department and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) as additional avenues for employees to lodge complaints.
6. Instructs supervisors to report any complaints of misconduct to a designated company representative, such as a human resources manager, so the company can try to resolve the claim internally. Employers with 50 or more employees are required to include this as a topic in mandated sexual harassment prevention training, pursuant to section 11024 of these regulations.
7. Indicates that when an employer receives allegations of misconduct, it will conduct a fair, timely, and thorough investigation that provides all parties appropriate due process and reaches reasonable conclusions based on the evidence collected.
8. States that confidentiality will be kept by the employer to the extent possible, but not indicate that the investigation will be completely confidential.
9. Indicates that if at the end of the investigation misconduct is found, appropriate remedial measures shall be taken.
10. Makes clear that employees shall not be exposed to retaliation as a result of lodging a complaint or participating in any workplace investigation.

In addition to the above, the regulations require employers to disseminate the anti-discrimination and harassment policies. To this end, employers can do one of the following:

1. Printing and providing a copy to all employees with an acknowledgment form for the employee to sign and return;
2. Sending the policy via e-mail with an acknowledgment return form;
3. Posting current versions of the policies on a company intranet with a tracking system ensuring all employees have read and acknowledged receipt of the policies;
4. Discussing policies upon hire and/or during a new hire orientation session; and/or
5. Any other way that ensures employees receive and understand the policies.

Finally, the regulations require employers whose workforce includes 10% or more non-native English- speaking employees to issue the anti-discrimination and harassment policies in each such language.

What Should Employers do to Ensure Compliance?

California employers must ensure they have written policies that comply with these new regulations. In particular, employers should:

1. Review and update their anti-discrimination and harassment policies prior to April 1, 2016.
2. Distribute their anti-discrimination and harassment policies via one or more of the approved methods (in addition to Form DFEH-185).
3. Ensure proper complaint and investigation procedures are in   place.
4. Train human resources personnel on how to address all inquiries and potential complaints related to implementation of these new policies and procedures.

Out of State Employers

An out-of-state employer with at least one California employee will now have to adhere to FEHA with respect to that one employee if the total number of its employees is at least five. Even though out-of-state employees are counted for the purpose of determining whether an employer is covered under FEHA with respect to its California employees, the out-of-state employees are not themselves protected by the statute.

Lauren Sims, a Senior eqHR Solution's Generalist, prepared this article.

Need help navigating the ever-changing landscape of California Employment Law?  Call eqHR Solutions today for a no obligation consultation?

eqHR Solutions is a leading HR consulting firm providing tactical and strategic human resources support to all size businesses in Southern California and the San Francisco / Bay areas.

Hey Boss, Where's My Chair

The Latest Demand on California Employers: Provide a Chair to your Employees

A recent class-action lawsuit against the CVS pharmacy chain was one of many filed in California during the last several years against corporations that required workers to stand.

In a unanimous ruling Monday, the California Supreme Court clarified labor law in a way that is likely to make it more difficult for companies to deny workers a chair.

“There is no principled reason for denying an employee a seat when he spends a substantial part of his workday at a single location performing tasks that could reasonably be done while seated, merely because his job duties include other tasks that must be done standing,” Justice Carol A. Corrigan wrote for the court.

Whether a worker is entitled to a seat depends on “the totality of the circumstances,” including whether a task can be performed from a chair, whether seating the worker would interfere with job performance and whether the physical layout of the work space is conducive to seating, the court said.

An employer may not design a work space to “further a preference for standing” and must consider whether it could be reasonably changed to accommodate a chair or stool, the court said.

“If the nature of the work reasonably permits seated work,” the court said, the law “unambiguously states employees ‘shall be provided with suitable seats.'” Employers must now give workers the option of sitting.

This ruling affects employers in several industries, most notably retail and banking and may place an additional financial and procedural burden on employers as they struggle to comply with the law and the demands of their employees.

Lauren Sims, a Senior HR Generalist, prepared this article.

Need help navigating the ever-changing landscape of California Employment Law?  Call eqHR Solutions today for a no obligation consultation?

eqHR Solutions is a leading HR consulting firm providing tactical and strategic human resources support to all size businesses in Southern California and the San Francisco / Bay area.