eqHR Solutions is Searching for a Motivated HR Consultant (Los Angeles or Orange County)

We are expanding in 2015 and are searching for an experienced HR Professional to service our Los Angeles and Orange County clients.

If you are seeking to have the flexible schedule, control over your future and make a solid contributions to multiple employers, this is the right opportunity for you, please email your resume immediate to jobs@eqhrsolutions.com

eqHR Solutions, Inc., is a boutique HR Consulting firm based out of Orange County supporting clients in Southern California providing strategic and operational Human Resources needs to our clients.

We are expanding and have an immediate need for a sharp, business savvy, knowledgeable HR consultant with a “can do" attitude.

We provide project and retained based Human Capital guiding clients to define, structure and implement improvements to the operation of their HR function and to improve the overall impact and value that HR can drive to their business.
Candidates must be articulate, professional in demeanor, work independently, and possess excellent writing skills with a strong knowledge of California State and Federal employment law.

This colleague must have the ability to collaborate with senior executives, functioning as a strategic adviser and the periodic need to be a tactical manager.

We are seeking candidates with a minimum of 5-7 years of senior level HR generalist experience with an expertise in one to two specific HR disciplines.

He/she should have a bachelor’s in business or related field, PHR/SPHR or MA/MBA highly preferred.

Candidates with working knowledge of ADP Products, like WFN 7.0 are highly desirable.

Memorable Excuses for Calling in Sick

We need to promote humor in the workplace for our employees. Most managers are aware that humor will lessen stress, can be educational and can improve teamwork. 

The lesson  your employees should learn, do not post your outrageous (fake) reasons for calling in sick on your social media!

Thanks to our friends an SHRM, we are re-posting CareerBuilder’s employees survey of funny employees excuses when calling in sick

According to the their survey, one in four employers have caught an employee faking being sick through social media and one in five employers have fired an employee for calling in sick with a fake excuse.

Some of the most memorable excuses reported this year:

• Employee just put a casserole in the oven.
• Employee’s plastic surgery for enhancement purposes needed some “tweaking” to get it just right.
• Employee was sitting in the bathroom and her feet and legs fell asleep. When she stood, up she fell and broke her ankle.
• Employee had been at the casino all weekend and still had money left to play with on Monday morning.
• Employee woke up in a good mood and didn’t want to ruin it.
• Employee had a “lucky night” and didn’t know where he was.
• Employee got stuck in the blood pressure machine at the grocery store and couldn’t get out.
• Employee had a gall stone they wanted to heal holistically.
• Employee caught their uniform on fire by putting it in the microwave to dry.
• Employee accidentally got on a plane. 

If you have heard of other funny excuses, please add a post

AB 2053 - Stop Bullies - Expanded Mandatory Supervisor Training in CA – Abusive Malicious Conduct

California businesses with 50 or more employees are already required to train supervisors on sexual harassment. A.B. 2053 requires that training must now include education on preventing “abusive conduct” in the workplace, even if the conduct is not based on prohibited discrimination or harassment.

The new Code defines abusive conduct as malicious conduct “that a reasonable person would find hostile, offensive, and unrelated to an employer’s legitimate business interests.” Although A.B. 2053 provides that a single act is not abusive “unless especially severe and egregious,” its list of conduct that may be abusive is expansive and includes:

• Infliction of verbal abuse, such as the use of derogatory remarks
• Insults, Epithets
• Verbal or physical conduct that a reasonable person would find threatening, intimidating, or humiliating
• Gratuitous sabotage or undermining of a person’s work performance

Like AB1825, supervisory employees must receive at least two hours of this enhanced anti-harassment training in an interactive format every two years.

We recommend to our clients, regardless of size, they provide AB2053 and AB1825 training every two years to all employees as proactive measure to reduce potential claims and lawsuits. 

Another Legislative Setback for CA Employers

California has amended Cal. Lab. Code § 218.5 to limit the circumstances under which an employer may recover its attorney’s fees and costs as the prevailing party in a lawsuit in which an employee has sued for nonpayment of wages, fringe benefits, or health and welfare or pension fund contributions (SB 462).

Prior to enactment of Senate Bill 462, the prevailing party (either the employer or the employee) could seek recovery of his, her or its attorney’s fees and costs.

As amended, the statute provides that “if the prevailing party in the court action is not an employee, attorney’s fees and costs shall be awarded pursuant to this section only if the court finds that the employee brought the court action in bad faith.”  See Kirby v. Immoos Fire Prot., Inc., 53 Cal. 4th 1244 (2012

Are you risking an expensive lawsuit?

It only takes one uncomfortable look, one complaint, one inappropriate touch or off color statement for a single employee to file a harassment lawsuit. Do you want to risk the future of your business due to the lack of professional harassment training? Sexual harassment in the California workplace continues to spur payouts in the millions! Supervisors can be personally liable for their actions and the acts of their employees if the supervisor failed to act. Business insurance may not pay judgments against supervisors. There may be punitive damages claimed against your business for failure to provide adequate supervisor training. Our best advice, provide on-site, interactive supervisor harassment training annually. By providing harassment training for your supervisors, they will understand how to identify potential harassment situations, thereby reducing your company’s liability. Our recommended steps: 1.   Verify that your handbook is California compliant and includes a general and sexual harassment policy with instructions of how and who to report potential violations or questionable conduct. 2.   Annually review / update policy changes with your employees. We have discovered that often, employees do not understand what a harassment-free workplace is. 3.   Thoroughly investigate all claims. If severe or the claim involve a supervisor, see independent assistance. Many times, your attorney will retain an HR firm such as eqHR Solutions to conduct an independent confidential investigation. 4.   If you are a California employer with 50 or more employees, you must provide mandatory supervisor sexual harassment training every two years and new supervisors within six month.

If you are a serious business leader, who understands the potential liability threat, you will not opt for an inexpensive online sexual harassment training course. You will retain your law firm or a professional HR consulting firm like eqHR Solutions. 

If you have questions about harassment claims or training, please call us.  There is no charge for your initial consultation.  

New California Bill - Requires Paid Sick Leave for Most Employees

If you are a CA employer you should be aware of this announcement. On Wednesday, Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation that entitles most CA workers, including part-time workers, to three paid sick days a year. The new law takes effect in 2015.

Surprise, surprise not everyone agrees with the new law. Some business groups said small businesses might not have enough employees to fill in for sick workers, which seems to imply it is OK for sick workers not to stay home when sick, but come to work and infect their co-workers.

In addition, the CA Chamber of Commerce and the Society of Human Resources Management opposed this bill.

We recommend our clients provide sick and vacation hours. We agree this law may cause a limited financial burden, but in our experience, even limited employee benefits do increase morale, productivity and employee retention.

You can view the entire article at http://www.sacbee.com/2014/09/10/6695628/jerry-brown-signs-bill-requiring.html

Do you have an opinion about this new law? Please post a comment

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eqHR Solutions is a professional, full service human resources consulting firm where trained consultants assist business leaders strategize their HR plans by providing guidance to avoid HR regulatory pitfalls.

We are a boutique HR consulting firm that is available to resolve your human resources issues or complete needed human resource projects. 

Los Angeles City to Pay 26-million Dollars for a Wage & Hour Class Action

Why should this story be so interesting to company leaders?  Rather than first seek advice from a knowledgeable HR professional or labor attorney, it appears the leaders decided to surrender to citizen complaints.  After all, these were just garbage-men. 

The moral of this story, seek advice from a  human resources professional before you make an employment decision that could cost your company millions. 

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The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday finalized a $26-million legal settlement to end a lawsuit over a ban on lunchtime naps by trash-truck drivers. The expenditure, approved on a 9-2 vote, resolves a class-action lawsuit involving nearly 1,100 sanitation workers who said they were improperly barred from sleeping and engaging in other activities during their meal breaks.

Sanitation officials had imposed the no-nap rule to avoid the bad publicity that would come if a resident, business owner or television news crew stumbled across a sleeping city employee. But lawyers for the drivers said the city, by limiting workers' mealtime activities, had essentially robbed them of their meal breaks.

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eqHR Solutions is a professional, full service human resources consulting firm where trained consultants assist business leaders strategize their HR plans by providing guidance to avoid HR regulatory pitfalls.
We are a boutique HR consulting firm that is available to resolve your human resources issues or complete needed human resource projects.