FOR THE PEOPLE

Sept/Oct 2010 A snapshot into the current issues affecting your people

Hold Your Fire! Have the Proper Documentation

A frequent question in the mind of managers is How much documentation is enough to fire someone? Most HR professionals might answer that you can never have too much documentation. Others strongly advocate a progressive discipline approach. In progressive discipline the model works something like this: Step 1: The employee is given a verbal warning of the behavior/action that is not to the managers liking. Step 2: The employee is given a written warning the second time the behavior/action is noticed by the manager. Step 3: The employee receives a final written warning the third time the behavior/action is observed. Written at the bottom of this third warning are the famous words The next violation will lead to further disciplinary action up to and including termination. Step 4: The employee is suspended without pay or terminated. They are many virtues of progressive discipline.
Please see Fired! page 2

Time to Keep Time

The number of Department of Labor (DOL) audits has jumped through the roof in 2010. The economic times have caused employees to watch their pay more closely than any time since the Depression. Employees are reporting pay irregularities to the DOL at the highest levels ever. What the DOL audits are finding is that employers are inconsistent in how they record employees time. DOL regulations do not require the use of time clocks, however they do require the following information be recorded for non-exempt employees: 1. Personal information, including employee's name, home address, occupation, sex, and birth date if under 19 years of age; 2. Hour and day when workweek begins; 3. Total hours worked each workday and each workweek; 4. Total daily or weekly straight-time earnings; Please see Keeping Time, page 3

Inside This Issue

Hold Your Fire! Have the Proper Documentation Time to Keep Time One for the Road: Employment for Returning Troops Yup, They Said It Perfect People Solutions

Fired!
Continued from page one

The first of which is obvious: It provides a paper trail of decisions that eventually led to the firing of the employee. These documents can be used in any unemployment hearing or other legal matter. The second and perhaps most important benefit of progressive discipline is that the employee cant say he wasnt given a chance to modify his behavior to save his job. Unfortunately, there are also some draw backs to progressive discipline. There will be times when the manager does not have the patience to go through all the steps and wants to jump ahead to termination. If one employee is taken through all the steps and another employee in a similar situation is treated differently you would be giving your latter employee a great case for wrongful termination or discrimination. The inability to manage similar situations differently is a big drawback of progressive discipline. Progressive discipline also forces employers to place values on different behaviors and actions so they can follow those steps consistently. For example, you may want to require a final written warning or termination of an employee who has a cash drawer shortage of over $50 but require only a verbal warning for an employee with a $5 shortage. A mechanic who fails to utilize proper safety measures which could have resulted in a serious injury might move directly to termination. So if not the progressive discipline approach then what? Well, companies should clearly outline its policies for proper company behavior in either a handbook or other document. When a situation arises, it should be

managed balancing the individual circumstances with the idea of having fair and equitable treatment of all employees in a similar situation. If this is the first occurrence of its kind, the employer must realize that he will be setting a precedent for how this decision will be made in the future. Does that mean that you can never have different decisions for different people in the same circumstances? No, but it does mean that you should understand the possible impacts of making that different decision. Aside from an obvious legal impact, it can send mixed signals to your employees about the actions you expect. It could also have a negative effect on morale if the employees see the decision as unfair. There is nothing worse than creating a system in which employees believe a manager has his favorite employees but that anyone outside of the chosen ones can get fired the first time they make a mistake. Dealing with discipline can never be a simple road map. When dealing with an employee, it is always best to write all employee conversations down. This does not mean that every conversation should be placed in the employees file. In fact, the only items that should be in an employees file are companyapproved documents. There should never be handwritten notes or other thoughts because these will often end up hurting the company in any legal matters. Managers must be trained on conducting disciplinary conversations and having the right policies and procedures in place for making good business decisions. One poorly handled disciplinary matter can cost a small company several months worth of profits.

One for the Road: Employment for Returning Troops

With President Obamas August 31, 2010 announcement of the end of the U.S. combat role in Iraq, the job market will soon be hit with a flood of veterans coming back looking for jobs. If you have veteran or National Guard member returning from active duty, the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) covers how a company is supposed to manage its employment relationship with an armed service member. USERRA established that five years is the cumulative length of time an individual may be absent from work for military duty and retain reemployment rights. The previous law allowed for reemployment after four years of active duty, plus an additional year if it was for the convenience of the government. There are important exceptions to the five-year limit. These exceptions include:

Initial enlistments lasting more than five years Periodic National Guard and Reserve training duty Involuntary active duty extensions and recalls, especially during a time of national emergency

USERRA clearly establishes that reemployment protection does not depend on the timing, frequency, duration, or nature of an individual's service as long as the basic eligibility criteria is met. In other words, please be careful dealing with returning military personnel. The government is looking at the possibility of providing tax credits to employers who hire a returning veteran since state unemployment rates for some vets is double the state and national average. We should all stayed tuned for legislation in this area as well as encourage returning troops to take advantage of Transition Assistance Centers being created by various branches of the military to help them as they return to the states.

Keeping Time...
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5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Regular hourly pay rate for any week when overtime is worked; Total overtime pay for the workweek; Deductions from or additions to wages; Total wages paid each pay period; and Date of payment and pay period covered.

The DOL conducts investigations and gathers data on wages, hours and other employment conditions or practices in order to determine compliance with the law. Where violations are found, they may recommend changes in employment practices to bring an employer into compliance. Willful violations may be prosecuted criminally and the violator fined up to $10,000. A second conviction may result in imprisonment. Employers who willfully or repeatedly violate the minimum wage or overtime pay requirements are subject to a civil money penalty of up to $1,100 for each such violation. On top of the federal laws, states and local municipalities have regulations that can be difficult to navigate. When a small business runs afoul of the laws they do have some recourse. The Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 (SBREFA) allows for small businesses to file a comment with an official ombudsman and businesses may also use the normal channels to appeal decisions or findings not in the companys favor. The key to all of this is to get in and stay in compliance at all times and to account for all monies paid to your employees.

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P ERF ECT P EOPLE S OLUTIONS

Yup, They Said It

A company had recently installed a security program to track internet usage and block certain websites including pornography and gambling sites. The manager in charge of monitoring the data discovered that a summer intern was constantly on the web attempting to access a wide variety of blocked sites. The manager consulted with HR and the decision was made to let the summer intern go. When the manager and the HR rep sat down with the intern the manager asked, Tim do you know why we want to talk to you? The young intern said with a wry smile, Yup. It is because of the sites I have accessed from my desk computer. Both the HR rep and manager were surprised. The HR rep said Well, unfortunately you have violated the companys internet usage policy so we are going to have to let you go. Still smiling, the intern responded, I understand your decision and I wish you and the company the best. He then stood up, shook both of their hands and proceeded to head for the door. Truly baffled, the manager asked, Why are you so happy about being fired? Reaching the door, the intern turned and replied, Well, the internship paid me $8/hour for 20 hours a week for 10 weeks. The employees paid me to find out how good the internet tracking software was and what you would do if someone violated the policy. Their pay was a whole lot more than the internship. On top of that, I can now enjoy my summer break and have the money I need to buy a good used car.