How does Your Company Process Resignation Letters

Employers Best Practices: Resignation Letters

Often when we are performing an HR Audits, we discover that several employers do not require the employee to give them notice of their resignation in writing. We always recommend to employers to not just accept a verbal resignation but to require the employee to give them notice in writing.

The reasons you want the employee's resignation in writing are:

• Provides documentation if later the employee files a claim against the company
• Provides documentation if the employee tries to file for unemployment

Now, after a recent case in California, we can add another reason to the list:

• In case the employee tries to rescind their resignation, and the employer does allow them to rescind.

The case involved an employee who sued their employer when they would not allow the employee to withdraw their resignation. The employee claimed the employer, by failing to all the employee to withdraw their resignation was discriminating against her because of a disability.

The court ruled that because the employer had already accepted the employee’s resignation, the employer was under no obligation to allow the employee to withdraw her resignation, and the employer’s decision did not amount to an adverse employment action.

This is an important reason for all HR departments to add to their best practices to not only require the employee to submit their resignation in writing but also to accept the resignation in writing. Doing this simple step can avoid issues down the road.

Lauren Sims is the author and the Director of Human Resources Consulting for eqHR Solutions.

Whenever you require professional Human Resources or Payroll guidance to navigate the ever-changing landscape of California and Federal Employment Laws & Regulations, contact us for a no obligation consultation.

eqHR Solutions offers professional, tactical and strategic, human resources support, ADP payroll product implementation/training and payroll processing services for businesses throughout Southern California.

What to Do When an Employee Says the Word “Union”

Usually, managers have distrusted unions and fought unionization. Even hearing the word “union” can strike fear into the hearts of any Human Resources professional. The fear comes from the dread of collective bargaining and contract negotiations making their organizations less flexible and less efficient as well as increasing the cost of labor.

The segment of the workforce most likely to unionize these days includes lower-skilled workers making less pay. Typically examples of employees susceptible to unionization include maintenance, clerical and call-center workers.

The first best defense to preventing unionization in your workplace is to create a culture in your organization where workers will not want to unionize. Sounds simple, but not always easy to do. Union membership costs time and money and workers are unlikely to unionize unless they are very disgruntled.

If a company cannot afford to provide adequate pay and benefits to keep workers happy, they should consider increasing job satisfaction by giving them more flexibility and involvement in job duties and procedures. Companies should try to emphasize communication, involvement, respect, and rewards.

Unionization efforts tend to arise when management shows that it doesn’t care about employees. Managers need to regularly engage employees and hear their concerns.

If a unionization effort arises in your company, remember it a symptom. Management should take time to learn why employees believe that unionization is an option for them. Once management understands the issues, it can look for ways to address the concerns.

Companies should be very careful in how they react to an effort to unionize. It is a good idea to consult legal counsel before taking any action. It’s easy to violate labor regulations. Employers should make no comments or efforts that appear threatening to the employee for taking this action.  Employers should also refrain from threatening to shut down operations or asking individuals whether they are pro or anti-union.

While it can be frightening, management should continue to communicate with employees during this process. Active listening and positive response before a union vote may lead to rejection of the union and lay the groundwork for a better long-term relationship between management and workers.

Lauren Sims is the author and the Director of Human Resources Consulting for eqHR Solutions.

Whenever you require professional Human Resources or Payroll guidance to navigate the ever-changing landscape of California and Federal Employment Laws & Regulations, contact us for a no obligation consultation.

eqHR Solutions offers professional, tactical and strategic, human resources support, ADP payroll product implementation/training and payroll processing services for businesses throughout Southern California.

CA Employees Rest Period - Is Your Company Complying?

Rest Periods - Review Your Practices

Several industries, such as security firms, car dealerships, and medical fields have argued that they are not able to relieve their employees of all duties during rest breaks. Their argument has been that due to the nature of work, for example, a security guard or an emergency medical technician must remain on-call during rest breaks even if they do not actually do work during this time.

At the end of 2016, the California Supreme Court ruled that the employer must relieve employees of all duties during rest breaks and cannot require them to be on-call. Employers must:

•       Provide employees with an uninterrupted break;

•       Relieve employees of all duties; and

•       Relinquish any control over how employees spend their break time.

As a reminder, non-exempt employees must be provided rest periods, as close to the middle of each work period as is practical.  The rest period is based on the total hours worked daily at the rate of ten (10) minutes per four (4) hours worked. This chart illustrates how rest periods should be calculated:

Number   Hours Worked	Number - Ten Minute Periods
3 ½ – 6	1
6 – 10	2
10 – 14	3
14 – 18	4
18 – 22	5
22 – 24	6

Rest periods may not be added to meal periods to extend the time, nor used to make up for tardiness or leaving work early.

The court also ruled recently that commission only employees must be paid separately for their rest breaks. If you have commissioned employees, ensure that you pay those employees separately for their rest breaks and pay at least the minimum wage for that time. Don’t include the pay for rest breaks in employee’s advance against commissions.

Employers who do not permit employees to take a rest break owe each employee one hour of wages as a penalty for every day the rest period was missed.

Since rest breaks are paid and no off the clock like meal breaks, most employers do not require employees to clock in and out for breaks. However, employers should review their policies and procedures to ensure that employees are being provided uninterrupted rest breaks. Employers may also want to consider having their employees sign attestations every pay period that they were provided all their uninterrupted rest periods.

Lauren Sims is the author and the Director of Human Resources Consulting for eqHR Solutions.

Whenever you require professional Human Resources or Payroll guidance to navigate the ever-changing landscape of California and Federal Employment Laws & Regulations, contact us for a no obligation consultation.

eqHR Solutions offers professional, tactical and strategic, human resources support, ADP payroll product implementation/training and payroll processing services for businesses throughout Southern California.

What it could Cost Your Company for a Minimum Wage Claim

Carl's Jr. Fined $1.45 million for Minimum Wage Violation

The City of Los Angeles has fined the restaurant chain Carl’s Jr.  $1.45 million in minimum wage violations and related penalties. That number covers more than three dozen workers at franchise outlets across the city over a six-month period, plus fines.

The issue stems from what Tennessee-based CKE Restaurant Holdings (the parent company of Carl’s Jr.) calls a “payroll error,” though they argue the amount of money missing from 37 employees’ paychecks is well below the number the city is fining them. Reps for Carl’s Jr. claim to have paid out $5,400 to give the workers their missing funds after correcting a six-month issue where workers were making $10.00 or $10.25, instead of the city-mandated minimum wage of $10.50.

More than $900,000 of the $1.45 million is purely penalties meant to go to the workers in question, while more than a half-million in further fines would be collected by the city directly.

As minimum wage in LA just went up again on July 1, 2017, employers should take a moment to review their pay rates and ensure they are following all local ordinances.

CITY	MINIMUM WAGE AS OF JULY 1 2017
California State	$10.50 (26 or more employees) $10.00 (25 or fewer)
Berkeley	$12.53
El Cerrito	$12.25
Emeryville	$14.82( 56 or more employees) $13.00 (55 or fewer)
Los Angeles	$12.00 (26 or more employees) $10.50 (25 or fewer)
Pasadena	$12.00
Mountain View	$10.30
Oakland	$12.25
Palo Alto	$11.00
Richmond	$12.30
San Diego	$11.50
San Jose	$10.30
Santa Clara	$11.00
San Francisco	$14.00
Santa Monica	$12.00 (26 or more employees) $10.50 (25 or fewer).
Sunnyvale	$13.00

Lauren Sims is the author and the Director of Human Resources Consulting for eqHR Solutions.

Whenever you require professional Human Resources or Payroll guidance to navigate the ever-changing landscape of California and Federal Employment Laws & Regulations, contact us for a no obligation consultation.

eqHR Solutions offers professional, tactical and strategic, human resources support, ADP payroll product implementation/training and payroll processing services for businesses throughout Southern California.

California's One Day of Rest in Seven Law

Most non-exempt employees in California are entitled to one day of rest in seven, but there has been some confusion among employers in how that seven-day period should be measured.

On May 8, the California Supreme Court delivered some good news for employers: The day of rest must be given in a workweek, not on a rolling basis for any consecutive seven-day period.

This means that if an employer's workweek runs from Sunday to Saturday, it's not a problem for an employee to be scheduled to work every day from Wednesday to Wednesday— even though that's more than seven consecutive days of work.

The court ruling gives work-scheduling flexibility to employers by saying that employees must average no less than one day of rest for every seven days over the course of a calendar month.

The California Supreme Court also clarified that part-time employees are exempt from the day of rest requirements if they never work more than six hours in any day of the workweek.

Employers should:

• Review scheduling policies to ensure that they comply with the requirement to provide one day of rest in a seven-day workweek
• Designate the workweek. If an employer does not set a designated workweek, the law presumes a workweek of 12:01 a.m. Sunday to midnight Saturday.
• Ensure all part-time workers are provided a day of rest if they work more than six hours on any one day of the workweek
• Remember overtime and double-time pay requirements apply if an employee does work seven consecutive days in a workweek:
• Train supervisors that they’re not to encourage employees or pressure employees to take on extra shifts and work a seven-day workweek. Similarly, train supervisors not to retaliate against employees who don’t want to work on the seventh day.

Lauren Sims is the Director of Human Resources Consulting at eqHR Solutions.

Whenever you require professional Human Resources or Payroll guidance to navigate the ever-changing landscape of California and Federal Employment Laws & Regulations, contact us for a no obligation consultation.

eqHR Solutions offers professional, tactical and strategic, human resources support, ADP payroll product implementation/training and payroll processing services for businesses throughout Southern California.

New CA Employer Responsibilities

Starting in July - Additional CA Employers Regulations

Required Posting of Leave for Domestic Violence Issues

Employers must now notify employees of their rights regarding domestic violence victims. Employers with 25 or more employees to discriminate against employees who take time off to:

• Seek medical attention for injuries caused by domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking,
• Obtain services from a domestic violence shelter, program, or rape crisis center as a result of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking,
• Obtain psychological counseling for domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, or
• Participate in safety planning or other actions (including temporary or permanent relocation) to increase safety from domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking.

Employees taking time off must give the employer reasonable advance notice unless the advance notice is not feasible. If the employee takes an unscheduled absence, the employee remains protected by providing, within a reasonable time after the absence, a certification of the protected reason for leave. Employers must maintain the confidentiality of the reason.

The Labor Commissioner has developed a notice form which can be found here: http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/Victims_of_Domestic_Violence_Leave_Notice.pdf

Criminal Background Checks

The Fair Employment and Housing Council (FEHC) will begin enforcing new regulations related to the use of criminal background checks in employment decisions. Employers must justify their criminal background check policy and any adverse action related to the policy as job-related and consistent with business necessity.

The regulations identify two ways an employer could justify the policy: (1) show that a “bright-line” disqualification properly distinguishes those who do and do not pose an unacceptable level of risk; (2) individually assess the individual’s qualifications.

The employer must also give the applicant or employee a reasonable opportunity to show that the information on the background check is incorrect. If the individual provides evidence of factual inaccuracy, then the information cannot be considered in the employment decision.

Employers who have no-hire policies for individuals with criminal convictions are now at risk. Any such policy should be reviewed for compliance.

Transgender Rights

As of July 1, transgender employees must have equal access to restrooms and other facilities, including locker rooms, dressing rooms, and dormitories. Employers now must allow employees to use those facilities without regard to the employee’s assigned sex at birth. The regulation provides that employers may make reasonable, confidential inquiries of employees to ensure that facilities are safe and adequate for use.

Employers must now also honor an employee’s request to be identified by a preferred gender or name, The regulations also prohibit employers from enforcing appearance, grooming or dress standards inconsistent with an individual’s gender identity and gender expression, as well as requiring proof of an individual’s sex, gender, gender identity or gender expression.

Lauren Sims is the author and the eqHR Solutions Director of Human Resources.

Whenever you require professional Human Resources or Payroll guidance to navigate the ever-changing landscape of California and Federal Employment Laws & Regulations, contact us for a no obligation consultation.

eqHR Solutions offers professional, tactical and strategic, human resources support, ADP payroll product implementation/training and payroll processing services for businesses throughout Southern California.

Reflecting on Companies Open Door Policies

Recently the media was buzzing about a leaked memo Steve Harvey, the popular talk show host, sent to members of the staff of his production company. In the memo, Mr. Harvey warns his staff:

"There will be no meetings in my dressing room. No stopping by or popping in ... Do not open my dressing room door. If you open my door, expect to be removed ... Do not approach me while I'm in the makeup chair unless I ask to speak with you directly ... I want all the ambushing to stop now. ... I promise you I will not entertain you in the hallway, and do not attempt to walk with me."

Because I always look for HR angles in everything, this immediately made me think about Open Door Policies. While the situation with Mr. Harvey may be different because he is a celebrity, most companies should and do have an Open Door Policy.

It is crucial for companies give their employees an avenue for communication and complaints.

Open Door Policies let employees know that they have a path for all issues to be addressed, and they should never feel as though they don’t have anyone to turn to. In fact, some open-door policies specifically outline to whom an employee can turn with any type of issue.

• Open Door Policies develop employee trust and make certain that important information and feedback reach managers who can utilize the information to make changes in the workplace.
• Managers who are accessible to their employees will find that their employees feel comfortable stopping by for a quick chat to bring difficult issues, situations or ideas to their attention.
• Open Door Policies encourage employees to come by and speak up when issues or important situations arise or when employees have creative ideas.
• Open Door Policies can help a company defend themselves if an employee makes a claim against the company for something like harassment or discrimination. Showing that the employee had the opportunity to bring the situation to management is an important piece of the defense.
• Open Door Policies create an environment in which employees feel they can express any question or concern without fear. It can also signal to the employees that the company wants to be transparent in its operations. Employers hope to keep employee morale high by ensuring employees their voices will be heard. Employers also benefit from open-door policies because it often means the employer will hear of issues before the issues escalate. You’d rather hear from an employee than from a lawyer.

Lauren Sims, the author of this article, is the Director of Human Resources Consulting at eqHR Solutions.

eqHR Solutions provides professional, tactical and strategic, human resources support, ADP payroll product implementation/training and payroll processing services for businesses throughout Southern California.

When your business requires professional Human Resources or Payroll advice to navigate the ever-changing landscape of California and Federal Employment Laws & Regulations, contact us for a no obligation consultation.