MBA News - Employees

Free Printable Employee Attendance Form

MBAHRO — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 19:41:00 GMT

Free Printable Employee Attendance Form

As another offering in our template area of the site, we’re posting our Free Printable Employee Attendance Form. Feel free to use this blank Free Printable Employee Attendance Form for your company. As a business owner, documenting attendance can greatly help mis-understandings when employees go to book their vacations. In addition having a place for both the employee and supervisor to sign helps to ensure the timely completion of the form and creates a paper trail to lower process errors.

Customize the form as you see fit.

Modern Business Associates is an HR company that frequently helps companies with their business forms. As a Professional Payroll and HR outsource organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics.

Occupational Health concerns at a workplace, tips to avoiding workplace injuries

MBAHRO — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 20:48:00 GMT

Occupational Health concerns at a workplace, tips to avoiding workplace injuries.

Occupational health concerns at the workplace can cause un-needed stress on your workforce and expose you to liability. Your goal, as a business owner, should be to create a safe work environment for your employees. As part of your occupational health plan, you may also consider the health of your customers, suppliers, nearby communities who may be impacted by your business operations.

Create a safety manual and include:

Proper procedures for performing routine tasks that could be dangerous. (Employee feedback on this section is very beneficial to creating a good safety manual.)
What to do in an emergency: fire, natural disaster, etc.
Location of fire-exits and fire extinguishers.

Have an insurance professional or attorney review your manual and policies.

Lastly, make a point that safety meetings and inspections are important.

As inspiration, you might want to focus on two main benefits to a plan:

Keeping Employee Moral High – Keeping your employees (and others associated with the work environment) in a safe and injury-free workplace can go a long way toward fostering happy and productive team.
Avoiding Distracting Legal Situations – A documented plan for employee safety with procedures can help to avoid accidents that may lead to lawsuits. These can lead to legal fees, fines, compensatory damages and lost goodwill from your employees.

Modern Business Associates frequently deals with HR policies. As a Professional Payroll and HR outsource organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics.

Employee Employer Conflict – Communication Tips for Avoiding

MBAHRO — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 20:41:00 GMT

Employee Employer Conflict – Communication Tips for Avoiding

Employee employer Conflicts in the workplace are not uncommon. Perceived conflicts between employees and employers hold great potential for distracting from a happy and efficient work environment.

Reviewing the values that each party typical holds dear, can help to understand the other side’s point of view. Only then, can true conflict resolution begin.

Employee Interests during Employee Employer Conflict

Typically, employees want a stable and growing company to work for. Ample amounts of fairness, equality and respect help to grow their enthusiasm for their work. Conflict can arise when the employees feel business decisions are being made to hit company goals, that don’t seemingly benefit employees. For example, a decision to perform layoffs, rather than having lower quarterly profits can cause conflict.

Business Owner: As Employers during Employee Employer Conflict

As a business owner, you must focus on the business profitability and ability to survive through difficult times. You probably put great emphasis on efficiency in the workplace.

Communication processes to avoid conflicts

Avoiding Rumors Through Pro-active communication

Many workplace conflicts come from rumors running rampant. There may be a real issue at stake, but the rumor mill is blowing it up to a full scale problem. Your communication of decisions can go a great way toward avoiding a lot of change management. Arm your managers with written instructions about how to deliver news of any company decisions. The bullets should cover:

How to deliver news about a new business decision. For example, setting a meeting time in advance and not delivering the message one person at a time.
What the message is. To keep constancy in the communication, arm the manager with
How to get more information. Instruct the managers on how to respond to tough questions and where further resources may be. For example, you can role play these questions with your managers before they meet with employees. Also, you may have a handout with answers to anticipate questions.

Working with employees to generate ideas to improve the company

Getting feedback from employees is a great way to uncover conflict before it can fester and grow. Having meetings, suggestion tools and speaking one-on-one with employees can shed light on situations that may be easily fixed.

Modern Business Associates frequently deals with employee and employer conflict issues. As a Professional Payroll and HR outsource organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics.

Employer Education Benefits Tips When Creating a Benefits Package

MBAHRO — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 20:39:00 GMT

Employer Education Benefits Tips When Creating a Benefits Package

When creating a benefits package for your employees, it’s important to offer a package that can attract and retain employees. Potential employees may weigh their employer education benefits heavily in their choices of employment. You can also design a package that will expand the capabilities of your employees through education benefits. By growing your employees internally, you can help avoid the time and risks associated with losing employees and hiring new ones.

Employer Education benefits usually come in two flavors:

Tuition Reimbursement
Continuing Education

Tuition Reimbursement

Companies offering Tuition Reimbursement programs are generally more college friendly, and these programs are typically much more lucrative to your employees than Continuing Education programs. When looking at a Tuition Reimbursement program, make sure you decide upon and document the normal parameters surrounding tuition reimbursement.

What are you willing to allow in terms of the maximum annual reimbursement?
Is there a lifetime, or program specific, maximum reimbursement?
Do you want to ask for a commitment from the employee, typically having the employee pay back some of the tuition dollars if they leave the company within a set period of time?
What restrictions would make sense for you in term of what degree fields you are willing to fund? Also, get some advice about any legal limitation that may apply at the state level.
Will you vary the reimbursement amount depending on the grades attained by the employee? For example, only reimbursing for grade of the “B” or “A” level.

Continuing Education

Typically focuses on professional and industry-specific certifications. In some industries, these certifications can be very significant to the employee, especially in the IT fields.

Modern Business Associates frequently deals with designing employee benefit packages and issues. As a Professional Payroll and HR outsource organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics.

What is the legal definition of harassment?

MBAHRO — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 20:58:00 GMT

What is the legal definition of harassment?

At least a few times a year, one of your managers, or one of their employees, will get into a situation and need to ask, “What is the legal definition of harassment?” Now, while this is usually a very loaded and stress inducing question to be asked by a manager, this article will just focus on giving you an overview of the legal definition.

So, what is the legal definition of harassment? Harassment is a kind of discrimination that can erupt from a handful of different categories. First, let’s highlight a few of the different types:

Sexual harassment

Unwanted sexually explicit words or advances, gestures and images.
Applying a positive or negative personnel action based on accepting or refusing sexual advances.
Can also be based on negative treatment on the basis of gender.

Race harassment

Most often occurs as offensive comments, jokes, gestures.
Includes even when the victim and harasser are the same race.

Religious harassment

Usually involves jokes, or other demeaning conduct based on a person’s religion and religious observances of holidays or dress.
Attempting to force an employee to participate or not participate in religious activities also constitutes religious harassment.

Other harassment categories

National origin harassment
Disability harassment
Age harassment
Genetic Information

Delivery - Harassment can occur

In person
In writing
By telephone (voice, text messaging)
Via e-mail
Or through any other means of communication. (text messaging, instant messaging)

Harassment can be physical, verbal or visual. Examples of verbal harassment include but are not limited to unwelcome comments, jokes, insults and name-calling. It can include any other words and conduct that demean, stigmatize, intimidate, or single out a person because of his or her sex, race, color, religion, national origin, age, disability or other legally protected status.

Examples of physical or visual harassment include but are not limited to unwelcome physical contact, damaging personal property, possession or display of derogatory pictures or other graphic materials.

So you see, the answer to, “What is the legal definition of harassment” has a long answer. Consult with your HR professionals to make sure you have your policies developed, documented and distributed to your employees.

The following resources can help with your research:

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) Harassment information page has good information, as well as additional resources on the right-hand side of their page.

The Age Discrimination Employment Act

Facts about sexual harassment

Modern Business Associates is an HR company that frequently helps companies with their business issues. As a Professional Payroll and HR outsource organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics.

Free Employer Advice and Tips

MBAHRO — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 20:35:00 GMT

Free Employer Advice and Tips

We strive to make the Modern Business Associates free tips area a wealth of quality articles that can benefit you with your daily concerns about running your business. Please click on our list of topics on this page to see more articles to address your specific current needs and offer some advice. Also, click in the “search” box to type in keywords to look for more free employer advice and tips. Some of our most popular articles include:

A free template for a letter confirming employment

Cons of Hiring an intern

Where’s a good payroll calculator?

U.S. Child Labor Law changes that may affect you

Modern Business Associates frequently deals with outsourcing HR and Payroll functions. As a Professional Payroll and HR outsource organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics.

Types of workplace harassment

MBAHRO — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 20:19:00 GMT

Types of workplace harassment

Workplace harassment comes in a variety of deliveries and categories.

The harassment delivery mediums include:

In person
In writing
By telephone
Via e-mail
Types of workplace harassment can also occur through any other means of communication. (text messaging, instant messaging)

Examples of physical or visual types of workplace harassment include but are not limited to unwelcome physical contact, damaging personal property, possession or display of derogatory pictures or other graphic materials.

The most frequent types of workplace harassment occur in the following categories:

Sexual harassment, which includes unwanted sexually explicit words or advances, gestures and images. Applying a positive or negative personnel action based on accepting or refusing sexual advances. It can also be based on negative treatment on the basis of gender.
Race harassment most often occurs as offensive comments, jokes, gestures. This includes even when the victim and violator are the same race.
Religious harassment usually involves jokes, or other demeaning conduct based on a person’s religion and religious observances of holidays or dress. Also, attempting to force an employee to participate or not participate in religious activities also constitutes religious harassment.
National origin harassment occurs when the nature of the slur is based on the perceived persons origin.
Disability harassment is when a physical or mental disability of the focus of the harassment message.
Age harassment is when subjects are left out, or asked to do something, based on their age.
Genetic Information is discrimination based on information the employer has about the employee, or hiring prospect’s genetic information. (Title II of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA), which prohibits genetic information discrimination in employment, took effect on November 21, 2009.)

With harassment arriving in many different forms, work with your HR professionals to make sure you have your policies developed, documented and distributed to your employees.

The following resources can help with your research:

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) Harassment information page has good information, as well as additional resources on the right-hand side of their page.
Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA)
Facts about sexual harassment

U.S. Child Labor Laws - Changes that may affect your business

MBAHRO — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 19:30:00 GMT

U.S. Child Labor Laws - Changes that may affect your business

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) Child-Labor Regulations have recently been revised. On July, 19, 2010, the final revisions to the child-labor regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act will become legally effective.

The Department of Labor has been receiving comments on these most recent suggested regulation changes to the U.S. child labor laws since 2007. The DOL states that these revisions are supposed to make it easier for people under that age if 18 to get a job. These revisions only apply to non-agricultural positions. The Department of Labor (DOL) is scheduled to revise the provisions concerning minors in agricultural employment. The revisions single out industries like banking, information technology and advertising.

While the regulations offer an array of rules to follow, the most recent revisions address specific issues:

There is a provision permitting 14 and 15 year olds to work in teaching, computer programming and other jobs of an “artistically creative nature.”

“Youth peddling” is not now banned. This is “the selling of goods or services to customer at locations other than the youth-employer’s establishment.” Though, being a volunteer can make it okay.
The new revisions to these U.S. child labor laws address the definition of the “workweek” for 14 and 15 year olds. It’s characterizes it as, “seven consecutive 24 hour periods.” This releases the employer from a strict Sunday through Saturday calendar week definition in terms of compliance with the totalj-hours limitations applying to minors.
DOL adopted regulations implementing the child-labor civil money penalty changes made in the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA). GINA added penalties of up to $50,000 for each child-labor violation that results in death or serious bodily injury of any employee under 18. The penalties may be doubled to as much as $100,000 if the violation is determine dto be “willful” or if it’s "repeated."

Modern Business Associates frequently deals with employee issues. As a Professional Payroll and HR outsource organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics.

Your Employee’s Work email expectation of privacy – New Supreme Court Decision adds some clarity.

MBAHRO — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 19:35:00 GMT

Your Employee’s Work email expectation of privacy – New Supreme Court Decision adds some clarity.

The latest Supreme Court ruling help that a California police department’s review of sexually charged text messages sent by the officer to his wife and to his mistress from his employer-issued pager, did not constitute an invasion of the employee’s privacy. This overturned a previous ruling by the 9^th Circuit. (Link to the full opinion in City of Ontario v. Quon).

As a business owner, you should take note that the Supreme Court’s decision was largely motivated by concept that the police department’s review of the messages was in line with its policy and was conducted for a valid business reason. Also, that the implications of the decision on the employees texts in this case could also be seen to apply to the work email expectation of privacy for the average employee.

The officer had exceeded the allotted monthly number of messaged approved for his text pager and, according with policy, the texts were then reviewed by his employer to determine the amount the officer would need to pay for non-work-related messages.

This court decision is the first in the area of an employer’s right to monitor the electronic communications of its employees sent and received during working time or with devices issued as part of the job.

As a business owner, it’s important to understand that:

The decision does not take away the right to privacy in all cases.
You should consider having a written policy for communication review policies and procedures for your company to avoid getting out of sync with your employees work email expectation of privacy (or texts, or phone calls).
Any search of employee communications should not go beyond what is necessary to achieve a legitimate business purpose. In this case, reviewing the records to determine the personal overuse of the texts.

Modern Business Associates frequently deals with privacy issues. As a Professional Payroll and HR outsource organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics.

Hot summer weather can turn up the heat on your HR department, be prepared.

MBAHRO — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 19:51:00 GMT

Hot summer weather can turn up the heat on your HR department, be prepared.

Here is a list of things to help you prepare your business for complexities that Summer brings, regarding increased HR work and liabilities.

Staff vacation planning. How will you track vacation time? What is your policy for receiving and granting vacation requests? Think about a few quick policies to publish to your staff. Having all requests sent via email, to create some documentation and prevent misunderstandings, can prove to be very useful.
Summer introduces the opportunity for employees to push the boundaries of the dress code. Revealing and/or inappropriate hot weather clothing may start to trickle into your workplace. Consider clear dress policies and a consistent application of them.
Temporary staffing whether it’s for increased business, or for intern programs come with their own HR concerns regarding how they are treated and compensated. Doublecheck that your policies are in compliance.
Employee safety is on the top of the list, especially for outdoor employees. Making sure they have the right resources to do their jobs safely can include things like access to water, spray sunscreen, eye protection and cover. Don’t get caught in a preventable injury or other medical situation involving the heat.
Local summer events can create an unusual number of morning “sick” calls. Try to prevent these situations through planning and being honest with your employees and their expectations. For example, your employees may be just as motivated as anyone to attend the big game, or concert that’s coming to town.

DOL says you may have to compensate employees for time spent putting on protective equipment required by law.

MBAHRO — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 19:54:00 GMT

DOL says you may have to compensate employees for time spent putting on protective equipment required by law.

The new Department of Labor’s (DOL) Administrator’s Interpretation, issued by Deputy Administrator Nancy J. Leppink), concerns whether you have to pay for the time employees use to change put on and take off protective equipment required by law. It’s entitles “SUBJECT: Section 3(o) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. 203(o), and the definition of clothes.” (Administrator's Interpretation No. 2010-2)

Under the Fair Labor and Standards Act, you don’t have to pay employees for their time spend changing clothes or washing at the beginning or end of each workday. But, this new Administrator’s Interpretation explains that safety equipment is going to be treated separately, and that changing into and out of protective equipment required by law is now time that your employees will be compensated for.

So, if your employees are just putting on uniforms, then it’s probably not time that you need to pay them for. On the other hand, if they are putting on protective equipment to abide by safety laws, then it would be “on the clock” time.

These DOL has previously stated the opposite opinion regarding whether you have to pay for this time. So, read the new brief and consult your legal resources to see how it may apply to your business.

Modern Business Associates frequently deals with compliance issues. As a Professional Payroll and HR outsource organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics.

Designing an Internship Program

MBAHRO — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 16:19:00 GMT

Designing an Internship Program

Designing an Internship Program can create a great way to pave the way to create relationships with local schools and pave the way to boosting your recruiting program. It’s not uncommon for over 20% of a company’s new-hires to come from its internship program.

Then designing an internship program, several factors should be considered:

Strategic Planning

Will your internship program be available year-round? Post openings at least eight weeks from the start date.
Will they need workspace?
Will they need computer access?
What kinds of meaningful projects will they participate in?

Supervising

Since internships are generally a training type of program, they will typically need a greater amount of supervision than the normal employees.

Each intern will need to be welcomed to the company and taken through many of the normal employee orientation efforts, like security, facility accommodations, punch in/out procedures, etc.

Compensation/Legal Compliance

Make sure you get advice on how to stay in compliance with federal and state laws regarding if your interns need to be paid. Generally, it is much harder to create a compliant unpaid internship program.

Whether the intern receives course credit for their efforts is also part of the equation when determining compliance. In an article by Patterson (1997), the author highlights information provided by the NACE general counsel on academic credit. Each local university will also have their own guidelines for internships taken for course credit.

Compliant Hiring of an Intern

Equal Employment Opportunity laws apply to the hiring of interns. You will want to check with your state to see if workers’ compensation laws cover interns. Just as you would a regular employee, it is important to provide interns with information on your safety and harassment policies, as employers may be held liable for intern safety and harassment issues.

Set and document goals for the Internship

Documentation is very important for effective learning to take place. It is strongly advisable that an employer and intern create mutually agreed upon learning objectives. Well documented learning objectives provide clear direction and targeted goals for the intern. This ensures both parties envision the same experience and reduces the possibility of misunderstanding and disappointment.

Feedback

Each internship program should include two-way feedback. The intern should be able to receive feedback on their performance. In addition, you need to get feedback on your internship program directly from the participants to understand if it is meeting the goals you have for your program. This feedback should come from the interns themselves, as well as your full-time staff that worked with the interns.

Modern Business Associates frequently deals with employee and intern programs. As a Professional Payroll and HR outsource organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics.

Federal Employment Posters Update – Use the new NLRA poster by June 21st to stay in compliance.

MBAHRO — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 19:02:00 GMT

Federal Employment Posters Update – Use the new NLRA poster by June 21st to stay in compliance.

Now, under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), most federal contractors and subcontractors, by law, must inform employees of their rights.

The Department of Labor's regulations implement Executive Order (E.O.) 13496 E.O. 13496 advances the Administration's goal of promoting economy and efficiency of Federal government procurement by ensuring that workers employed in the private sector and engaged in activity related to the performance of Federal government contracts are informed of their rights to form, join, or assist a union and bargain collectively with their employer. Knowledge of such basic statutory rights promotes stable labor-management relations, thus reducing costs to the Federal government.

Pursuant to Executive Order 13496 and its implementing regulations, 29 C.F.R. Part 471, Federal contractors and subcontractors, beginning on June 21, 2010, must notify employees about their rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

The NLRA is the primary law governing relations between unions and employers in the private sector, and guarantees the right of employees to organize and to bargain collectively with their employers, and to engage in other protected concerted activity with or without a union, or to refrain from all such activity.

Additionally, Federal contracts and subcontracts must include a provision requiring Federal contractors and subcontractors to post the notice.”

Display the correct federal employment poster for compliance. This poster details those employment rights, including the authority to organize and bargain collectively with their employers and to engage in other protected activity. The federal labor law posting provides contact information for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the agency responsible for enforcing the NLRA.

Executive Order 13496 was signed by President Barack Obama on January 30, 2009 (74 FR 6107, February 4, 2009).

Again, be sure you stay in compliance by acquiring and properly displaying this poster by the mandatory June 21, 2010, deadline.

Cons of hiring an intern

MBAHRO — Sun, 23 May 2010 16:18:00 GMT

Cons of hiring an intern

Internships can be either paid or unpaid, depending on the circumstances. Keep a sharp eye on the current guidelines to stay in compliance, especially when trying to create an unpaid intern program. It’s now very difficult to create a compliant unpaid internship program. Here are a few of the cons of hiring an intern:

Hiring an intern takes time. The candidate search and the interviewing and screening process can take just as much work as a full-time employee hire. Plus, the intern usually only participates in the program for a few months, lowering the return on the hiring investment your team made.
Hiring an intern is usually not free. A recent flurry of political focus has clearly established that federal and state regulators are worried that companies are abusing internship programs and using them for free labor. In general, for an unpaid internship to be lawful under the FLSA, the intern must be properly classified as a "trainee" rather than an "employee." In the meantime, it may be safest to assume that all unpaid internships are unlawful.
Hiring an intern means your full-time staff has to expend effort bringing the employee onboard with orientation procedures and frequently temporary computer access and workspace.
Hiring an intern that is unpaid requires you to abide by a six factor check list produced by the FLSA, including your company receiving “no immediate benefit” from the work performed.

Modern Business Associates frequently deals with designing internship programs. As a Professional Payroll and HR outsource organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics.

Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and nonpaid internships: Quiz

MBAHRO — Wed, 19 May 2010 16:12:00 GMT

Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and nonpaid internships: Quiz

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires that nonexempt employees receive at least minimum wage for all hours worked and must also receive time-and-a-half pay for all hours worked more than 40 during the workweek.

While the FLSA doesn't define what an intern is, nor provide an exemption from minimum wages or overtime for interns, it does define an employee as "any individual employed by an employer." The definition of "employ" under the FLSA "includes to suffer or permit to work."

Under federal law, for-profit organizations must pay workers unless the position fits six criteria. The following quiz helps to illustrate the six criteria.

Would the employee be correctly classified as a “Coordinator”, “Trainee”, or “Intern”?

For an unpaid internship to be lawful under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), the intern must be classified as a “trainee” rather than an employee.

Does the training need to be similar to that which would be given in a vocational school?

Yes.

Is the internship program for the benefit of the company to leverage willing people to help the company in exchange for experience?

No, the training is for the benefit of the trainee.

Can you use the unpaid internship program to delay hiring normal employees?

No, the trainees cannot displace regular employee positions.

Are you required to make some kind of hiring offer to unpaid interns at the end of the program, even if you know they won’t take it?

No, trainees are not necessarily entitles to a job at the completion of the training period.

To ensure compliance, employers offering unpaid internships should structure the position in a way that the intern receives the full benefit of the experience.

Failing to comply with wage and hour laws can lead to serious FLSA administration errors that could cost your business thousands in fines. Tools like the FLSA Compliance Kit can help you navigate through every FLSA regulation from child labor laws to timekeeping discrepancies.

Restaurant Employee Benefit Service Tips For the Small Restaurant

MBAHRO — Mon, 17 May 2010 18:09:00 GMT

Restaurant Employee Benefit Service Tips For the Small Restaurant

Small restaurant owners often find it difficult to compete for talent with larger restaurants regarding employee benefits. In an industry where 100-precent yearly turnover is the norm, most independent restaurants do not offer extensive benefits packages. By outsourcing your payroll and HR responsibilities to a professional employer organization (PEO), a small restaurant can level the playing field, and offer its employees the same benefits as a chain.

Frequently, things as small as direct deposit and a small benefit plans for dental and vision contribute to increased employee retention. Many restaurants see a change by letting an employee benefits service focus on these things for them.

Lower Premiums

The economies of scale provided by PEOs are helpful when procuring and administering health insurance benefits. By pulling all of its clients’ insurance premiums together and aggregating all of its worksite employees, a PEO can contract with providers all over the country and keep annual premium increases lower than average yearly double digit increases currently being experienced.

Better Benefits for Your Staff

Forty percent of businesses that use PEOs upgrade their benefit packages with supplemental health-care choices, including vision and dental care, employee assistance programs and even adoption assistance.

This was the case with Howl at the Moon franchisor, Lee Jerousek, who switched from employing a full time HR manager to PEO, Modern Business Associates, two years ago.

Better communications with staff

Employee benefit services are professional communication experts in being able to help bring new employees onboard. They also help with your communications plan to keep all the employees up-to-speed with the benefits offerings, to help retain them.

Avoiding Employee Claims

Many restaurants have predominately young males and females working together late into the night. This environment tends to create problems in the form of sexual harassment and a hostile work environment. A PEO is uniquely suited to train and develop managers, as well as institute proactive procedures for dealing with problems as they occur.

Modern Business Associates frequently deals with employee benefit services. As a Professional Payroll and HR outsource organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics.

What is an ASO?

MBAHRO — Fri, 14 May 2010 18:12:00 GMT

What is an ASO?

Administrative Service Organizations (ASOs), also called “Hybrid Outsourcing”, are used by companies when they don’t want to move their entire HR organization to an outsource service provider. It allows for the business to outsource one or several difficult or time-intensive HR processes, such as payroll or benefits-plan administration. It is not uncommon for a business to have a relationship with multiple HR outsources, each experts in specific services.

Core Concepts of an administrative service organization (ASO):

Functionally the same as a PEO
No co-employment relationship
No Shared Status (Employees remain 100 percent yours).

Modern Business Associates frequently deals with ASO issues. As a Professional Payroll and HR outsource organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics.

Letter Confirming Employment, Free Template

MBAHRO — Fri, 14 May 2010 15:29:00 GMT

Letter Confirming Employment Free Template

To have an employee request a letter confirming employment is a new experience for some small businesses. It's important to keep the letter simple and not to divulge any private information that goes beyond the request.

Frequently, these requests for a letter confirming employment are the result of an employee needing to provide back-up documentation when applying for apartments, insurance applications, and when pursuing other financial commitments. Employment Confirmation letters (also called Employment Verification Letters)

Many HR departments have created policies that prevent managers from writing reference letters for past and current employees. There do, however, allow the staff to write employment confirmation letters. They are a safer alternative.

You should equip your HR department with a template to use. The template should be on company letterhead and be stored on your computer network so it can be easily located when needed.

The general format is:

Current Date
Your Contact Information
Greeting
Subject Line ("Letter of Employment Verification for Sally Smith")
Opening Line with the employee's name, your company name and their hire date
The compensation information, including the term (weekly, bi-weekly, annual, etc.)
An offer to be available for answering any questions
Closing

SAMPLE:

3/15/2010

Mr. Mike Williams

Century Apartment Complex

25 Century Lane

Springfield, MO 13243

Subject: Letter of Employment Verification for Sally Smith

Mr. Williams,

Sally Jones has been employed as a Marketing Manager at Smith Industries since Jan 15th, 2010.

Sally's annual salary as of 3/1/2010 is $40,000.

She works on a full-time basis.

Please contact me at 1 800 555 5555 if I can be of any additional service.

Sincerely,

Bob Smith

Smith Industries

123 Avenue North

Springfield, MO 12345

Notes:

Sign the letter.
Only include salary information if it is specifically requested.
Keep the letter simple and short. Do not disclose any unnecessary information.
Print the letter on your letterhead.

Modern Business Associates offers a variety of frequently needed blank business forms, free templates and example letters in our free business form templates news category.

Modern Business Associates frequently deals with HR issues and creating HR letter templates, like the Letter Confirming Employement. As a Professional Employee Organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics.

Slip and Fall Workmans Comp – Tips for Risk Management for Restaurant Business Owners

MBAHRO — Mon, 10 May 2010 17:11:00 GMT

Slip and Fall Workmans Comp – Tips for Risk Management for Restaurant Business Owners

Slip and Fall Workmans comp insurance covers the slips and falls, as well as occasional accidents, but accounts for one the fastest growing labor costs. Premiums for workmans comp have risen 50 percent nationwide in the last three years - the fastest pace in a decade, according to the New York City-based Insurance Information Institute.

Due to food handling and preparation, restaurants have to comply with more regulations and compliance issues than ninety percent of the general business population.

Today workplace health and safety is more crucial than ever before to a small business’s long-term success. Dealing with the unexpected, the Swine Flu scare, along with constant recession-driven layoffs, is driving the cost of workers’ compensation premiums.

Workmans Comp accidents cost money such as direct costs:

Medical expenses
Compensation expenses

There are indirect costs as well. If lost, these items can easily cost you many times the direct costs.

Loss of Production
Loss of Time
Lowering of Employee morale
Drops in Customer Service

One option to deal with these risks is to partner with an HR outsource, like a Professional Employer Organization (PEO). A PEO routinely implements risk management processes to keep expenses down. For more than two decades, workmans comp (including slip and fall) risk management has been a central component of the total human resources solution PEOs have been providing. They routinely review and document the claims experience to understand the frequency and severity of claims. Results of these reviews help you avoid excessive costs and employee claims.

Modern Business Associates frequently deals with Slip and Fall Workmans Comp. As a Professional Payroll and HR outsource organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics.

Note these legal age issues when planning to layoff employees.

MBAHRO — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 17:11:00 GMT

Note these legal age issues when planning to layoff employees.

The Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA) provides additional protection to employees covered by the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). The OWBPA affects downsizing employers in two ways.

First, the OWBPA places strict requirements on an employee's release of an ADEA claim. Requirements include:

It requires such a release to be in writing as part of the information given to the employee during the layoff.
Employees must be able to easily understand the release. (the "knowing and voluntary requirement").
The employee must be advised to consult with an attorney after the day of the layoff.
Employees must be given a 21-day consideration period to evaluate the release
The employee must be given a seven-day revocation period after signature.

Second, the OWBPA includes potentially dangerous conditions for group layoffs. If an employer offers severance and an associated release to two or more employees, and any of the employees are 40 years old or older, the release must include:

A 45-day consideration period.
Information about those eligible to participate, eligibility factors used, and job titles and ages of any employees in the same job classification or unit not eligible to participate.

Modern Business Associates frequently deals with HR issues. As a Professional Employee Organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics including designing processes for terminations and council when planning to layoff employees.

Layoff Damage Control Focus: Employee Morale

MBAHRO — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 17:15:00 GMT

Layoff Damage Control Focus: Employee Morale

Lowered employee morale is an unwanted (and often unavoidable) consequence of a mass layoff. Retained employees can feel various emotions, including:

Loss or guilt over colleagues who were laid off
Insecurity about their future with the company
Increased stress due to a heavier workload

To maintain employee moral and loyalty, you must reaffirm the remaining employees' value to the company, and refocus them on company objectives and goals (using incentives if possible).

Immediately after a layoff, you should facilitate a company-or department-wide meeting to discuss the layoffs and provide a forum for employees to ask questions and air concerns.

Thereafter, you should hold periodic meetings to maintain this dialogue with employees and follow up on the company's direction and achievement. Being honest and inspiring confidence in the company's future will help preserve employees' allegiance.

Will your PEO have what it takes lower your employee turnover?

MBAHRO — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 17:17:00 GMT

Will your PEO have what it takes lower your employee turnover?

As a large business executive, you may be considering outsourcing your payroll or HR issues. Savvy Professional Employer Organizations have developed specialized services and delivery systems that cater to needs specific to larger companies.

A common requirement from large businesses working with professional employer organizations is for the PEO to be able to deal with HR issues like employee morale and turnover.

You probably consider your employees as your most important asset. You should view your PEO selection as a choice to further protect this important asset. As opposed to small sized companies, your large business probably needs constant attention for HR issues.

We’re talking about needs beyond the traditional human resources services such as policy development, background checks, drug testing, compliance, discipline, termination, and employee relations.

Large companies also expect their PEOs to provide value-added services that make it a true strategic human resources solution. Businesses like yours are increasingly expressing their desire for long-term strategic human resources programs and practices that benefit the bottom line, as well as short term.

Through human resources assessments and strategic discussions with businesses like yours, PEOs have discovered that the "missing link" between human resources and the bottom line has been the absence of employee involvement. As a result, large PEO clients are requesting strategies in critical areas that impact their bottom line:

Human resources recruiting
Selection
Retention
Turnover
Absenteeism
Morale
Development
Performance
Complaint resolution
Communication management.

Are these areas of need issues in your company, too? Try to get a sense of whether your PEO has a history of solving these kinds of issues relating to human resources.

Recruiting of your own HR people to help work on these issues should be an area of expertise. Ask them about it. Your internal HR team should anticipate working with the PEO in developing and implementing proactive human resources services. Make sure the PEO you’re considering has the capability to do this in a professional, organized and timely way. Exposing your HR people to an unprofessional representative from the PEO is a quick way to lose their confidence.

At Modern Business Associates, our knowledgeable Florida HRO team includes HR specialists with legal backgrounds, employment tax professionals, certified payroll processors, licensed insurance agents and award winning customer service professionals. Our products and services are designed to offer you back-office support so you can focus on new revenue.

Training Your Staff on How To Use the Performance Appraisal Form

MBAHRO — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 18:28:00 GMT

Training Your Staff on How To Use the Performance Appraisal Form

Training your supervisors on how to complete the appraisal forms can be invaluable. Some of the factors that should be covered in such training include:

Relevant documentation about the employee's performance rating, including discipline and commendations, should be evaluated prior to completing the appraisal form.
If this is not the employee's first appraisal, the appraisal from the prior year(s) should be reviewed.
If the employee worked with another department during the rating period, input from that department's supervisor should be solicited.
Make sure performance during the entire rating period — not just the most recent few months —is evaluated.
Avoid personal feelings about the employee. The performance rating should be based only on job-related matters.
Include examples in the comments.
Avoid the "halo" effect (rating the employee high in all areas because of excellent performance in a specific area) and the "horn" effect (rating the employee low in all areas because of substandard performance in a specific area).
Make sure the performance ratings and the comments are consistent.
Consider having one person at the organization review all appraisals with the goal of achieving consistency among appraisals given to different employees.

A well designed and administered performance appraisal program can go far to protect employers from certain legal challenges to employment decisions.

Modern Business Associates frequently deals with performance appraisal topics. As a Professional Employee Organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics including issues around a performance appraisal form and performance rating.

Are your discrimination claims going up? You need a HR outsource. Here’s why.

MBAHRO — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:50:00 GMT

Are your discrimination claims going up? You need a HR partner. Here’s why.

USA Today recently ran an informative article, based on recently release EEOC data, on why your discrimination claims are going up. Understanding the effects of recent market and discrimination law changes will help you better prepare for what’s ahead for you.

Contributing Factors to more claims:

Changes to the Americans with Disabilities Act last year made it easier for people with treatable conditions to say they are disabled (epilepsy, diabetes, etc.) Legislation signed into law by President George W. Bush before he left office directs courts to apply the definition of disability more generously.
We have a more diverse workplace with people from all over the world and made up of many races.
The economic environment seems to be contributing to employees being more aware of their rights.
Changes at the EEOC filing processes (and EEOC website) have been made it easier for an employees to learn about their rights and to file discrimination charges.

In part because of these changes last year…

There was a record number of job discrimination claims based on disability, religion or national origin last year. 93,000 discrimination claims were filed during the 2009 fiscal year, a 2% decrease from the record set in 2008, but still the second-highest level in the commission's history.
Charges of discrimination based on national origin rose about 5% to 11,134 claims
Allegations of race discrimination remained the most frequently filed complaint, accounting for about 36% of all filings last year.
Religious discrimination claims rose less than 1%, to 3,386 claims.
The largest increase in any category was a rise of about 10% to 21,451 claims, for disability discrimination.

It is a lengthy and tedious process for companies to actively deal with EEOC compliance paperwork, and many details can often be overlooked until it is too late. To help businesses keep up with their paperwork and discrimination law, there are a growing number of professional employee companies that manage these kinds of HR and EEOC issues for their clients.

Modern Business Associates deals with these kinds of issues on a frequent basis. As a Professional Employee Organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of issues.

Payroll deductions should include state income tax and payroll insurance deductions

MBAHRO — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 22:52:00 GMT

Payroll deductions should include state income tax and payroll insurance deductions

As a Professional Employee Organization, our clients ask us to handle their payroll responsibilities including two of the most talked about deductions: their state income tax and payroll insurance deductions.

The state income tax is part of the statutory payroll tax deductions.

As required by law, statutory Payroll Tax Deductions are payroll taxes that must be withheld from your employees paycheck. You must hand these withholdings over to the multitude of tax agencies on all levels of government.

Local tax withholdings (city, county, or school district taxes, state disability or unemployment insurance).
State income tax withholding
Federal income tax withholding
Social Security tax withholding
Medicare tax withholding

The payroll insurance deductions are part of the Voluntary Payroll Deductions

Voluntary deductions pay for various benefits which the employee has chosen to participate in. Voluntary payroll deductions are withheld from an employee's paycheck only if the employee has agreed to the deduction.
Voluntary payroll deductions include the following:

Retirement plan contributions (such as a 401k plan)
Health insurance premiums (medical, dental, and eyecare)
Life insurance premiums
Meals, uniforms, union dues and other job-related expenses
Employee stock purchase plans (ESPP and ESOP plans)

Voluntary deductions can be paid with pre-tax dollars or after-tax dollars, depending on the type of benefit being paid for.

As a business owner, decisions you make about state income tax and payroll insurance deductions issues are important ones to make correctly. Always consult with your HR advisors when these issues come up.

At Modern Business Associates, we deal with state income tax and payroll insurance deductions as a daily part or our business. Our clients outsource their payroll processing to us. We take pride in working with our St. Petersburg and Tampa clients, as well as clients from across the nation. Please contact us for more information about utilizing an HR company and any specific questions about our services. Our goal is for you to make the best informed decision for your St. Petersburg or Tampa-based company.

Why national unemployment levels mean legal hassles for you.

MBAHRO — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 22:56:00 GMT

Why national unemployment levels mean legal hassles for you.

As a business owner, you should understand that a significant level of unemployment is the largest predictor of an increase in employee lawsuits relative.

Understandably, employers face difficult questions and concerns during a weakened economy

What is the process for an employee’s layoff?
Which employment laws are relevant?
How can I avoid an employee lawsuit?
How do I combat lowered employee morale?

A downsizing employer is expected to navigate a complex legal and human resources minefield, and must get its answers right the first time. Employers will increasingly seek legal guidance to minimize risk when answering these critical questions and dealing with laws.

You may need compliance assistance (or a shoulder to cry on) during an isolated layoff,
You should develop a strategic reduction-in-force plan while consulting your legal resources. In this way, you can avoid looming legal hassles that are characteristics of high levels of unemployment.

Modern Business Associates frequently deals with layoff issues. As a Professional Employee Organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics including designing layoff plans and educating clients about lowering the chance of an employee claim.

Worst mistakes you can make when selecting an online payroll service.

MBAHRO — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:59:00 GMT

Worst mistakes you can make when selecting an online payroll service.

When selecting an online payroll service, there are many mistakes to avoid. Here are the top things to avoid:

Not evaluating the online payroll service’s customer service.

Let’s say you select your online payroll processing service because they offer the best rate. Then, a week into getting the system initialized for your particular business, you realize there’s no live customer service available. You’re waiting two days to get an email returned from them. Always ask about live customer service capabilities and whether customer service is an additional fee, or hourly rate.

Not asking the online payroll service about ongoing fees or yearly tax table updates.

Services with ongoing fees can be a fair situation, depending on how well the online payroll processing service meets your needs. But, you just don’t want to be surprised about them.

Selecting a young service because of price

There are hundreds of online payroll processors. Picking one that is new to the industry and that has few clients means using a service that has not had years of feedback from companies to refine their service features.

Not having your staff go through the demo of the service

Don’t ever purchase a payroll processing service without having your staff (the people that will actually use the service every week) go through a demo. They are the ones that can best identify the best features for your company, or if any are lacking. Let your team help you.

Modern Business Associates is a professional employer organization. We provide our online payroll processing service as part of our offerings to clients. Why not give us a call to help with this decision?

What does PEO stand for?

MBAHRO — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:57:00 GMT

What does PEO stand for? What is a PEO?

If you’re asking yourself, “What does PEO stand for?”, then you should know that, professional employer organizations (PEOs) are in the business of being an outsource for companies that want to focus on their core business model. PEOs provide the ability to outsource:

Human Resources
Employee Benefits
Payroll
Workers’ Compensation

Many businesses today see the value in outsourcing the parts of their business that don’t focus on their expertise at revenue-producing and operational efforts.

A few benefits of using a PEO are:

Lower payroll processing costs with higher reliability concerning documentation and regulatory requirements
Using their HR legal resources to lower their risk of employee lawsuits
Professionally dealing with compensation and unemployment insurance claims.
Improved employment practices, compliance and risk management to reduce liabilities.
Access to a comprehensive employee benefits package, allowing clients to be competitive in the labor market.

“What does PEO Stand For?” – Let Modern Business Associates help you through the process of understanding how a Professional Employer Organization can help your bottom-line this year. As a PEO, Modern Business Associates provides a wide range of personnel management solutions through our team of HR and payroll professionals. Contact us about your PEO questions today.

You make the call: Is this gas station employee non exempt, vs exempt?

MBAHRO — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:00:00 GMT

You make the call: Is this gas station employee non exempt, vs exempt?

Two decisions from different federal appellate courts illustrate the potential uncertainty in classifying an employee as an exempt employee. You make the call: Is this gas station employee non exempt, vs exempt?

In Thomas v. Speedway SuperAmerica, LLC1, the court pondered whether the store manager of a chain of gas station-convenience stores was properly classified as an exempt employee.

The key issue in the case was whether the employee's primary duty was management.

She spent approximately 60 percent of her time on non-managerial tasks such as stocking merchandise, sweeping floors, cleaning bathrooms, operating the register and clerical duties.
However, she also hired, trained, disciplined, scheduled and evaluated employees.
She recommended increases, most of which were approved, and terminated some employees without prior approval from her district manager.

Is this gas station employee exempt?
Based on these facts, the court concluded that the employee's primary duty was management and that she qualified as an exempt-executive employee.

In Rodriguez v. Farm Stores Grocery, Inc., the court considered whether managers for a drive-through grocery store chain were non-exempt employees.

The issue in this case turned on whether the employees' primary duty was management.

One store manager testified that in a typical week, he spent an average of 30 percent of his time cleaning, 50 percent on customer attention or service, 10 percent on merchandise receiving and 10 percent on stocking merchandise.
Other managers conceded that they spent some time each week on managerial tasks, but all insisted it was not the majority of their work.
The store managers further testified that they lacked authority and discretion over their stores and employees. For example, evaluation forms they signed were actually completed by district managers and they had to seek permission from a district manager before making management decisions.

Is this gas station employee exempt?

Based on these facts, the appellate court found that the jury reasonably concluded that the store managers' primary duty was not management. Therefore, these employees were entitled to overtime pay.

Whether a given employee is properly classified as exempt is a factual determination. Effective Aug. 23, 2004, the DOL issued new regulations governing the white-collar exemptions. While the cases outlined here apply the older regulations (because few appellate court cases have been decided under the new regulations), the issue of whether management is the primary duty of an exempt employee remains crucial under the new regulations. In both cases, however, the courts refused to adopt an across-the-board rule that any employee who is responsible for a store location must come within the executive exemption.

Modern Business Associates deals with the non exempt vs exempt employee issues including keeping updated on recent statues and case law. As a Professional Employee Organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of labor standards act issues.

Employer Payroll Taxes – How to stay out of trouble

MBAHRO — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:03:00 GMT

Employer Payroll Taxes – How to stay out of trouble

Many growing companies have questions like, “How do employer payroll taxes work?” At Modern Business Associates, many of our small clients come onboard with our payroll processing to let us handle their entire payroll processing burden, which includes payroll taxes. Our systems are set up to ensure your business does not get into trouble by missing withholdings or taking the wrong amounts.

As background, you should know that employer payroll taxes are the state and federal taxes that you, as an employer, are required to withhold and/or to pay on behalf of your employees.

After having each new employee complete their IRS form W-4, we’ll use this information to calculate the amount of federal income tax to withhold from the employee’s wages. Most all of the states have income tax structures that are based on the federal blueprint, so you will use the same W-4 to calculate the amount of state income tax to withhold as well.

You are also required to withhold social security and Medicare taxes from your employees' wages.

Social security and Medicare taxes (FICA taxes) must be withheld from your employees' wages.

You are required to withhold the social security taxes from the employee’s wages, and to pay a matching amount in social security taxes until the employee reaches the wage base for the year. At higher salary levels, there is a cap on the total amount of social security tax per year that must be paid per employee.

You will withhold the Medicare portion of the FICA tax and pay a matching amount. There is no cap for the Medicare portion of the FICA tax. Both the employer and the employee continue to pay Medicare tax, no matter how much is earned.

Employer payroll taxes also include State and Federal unemployment tax.

The employer also must pay State and Federal Unemployment Taxes (SUTA and FUTA). There may be some tax credits available for some businesses for the FUTA amounts.

Generally, your SUTA tax rate is based on the amount of unemployment claims that are filed by employees that you have terminated. Generally, when your business is brand new, your SUTA tax rate is at its most, and declines as you build a history of few unemployment claims.

Modern Business Associates is an outsource company that deals with payroll processing and employer payroll taxes all the time. If you are considering a payroll company, why not call us to help answer your questions and offer important information for making this kind of decision?