HR Pieces: Human Resource News & Updates

July 2015

HR Advantage continues to monitor the ever changing landscape that impacts employers. We address these changes through our monthly newsletter, HR Pieces, but for more timely updates please follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter!

HR Advantage has created a series of informational videos on various HR related topics. Please check out July's Employer Advice in the column to the right and learn more about Terminating New Hires In Missouri.

You can also contact us directly with any HR needs that you may have. We are always available to help!

HRA is Hiring!

HR Advantage is currently seeking qualified candidates for the following career opportunities:

HR Manager - $60-70K Springfield, MO. Local employer with 300-350 employees seeking HR Manager to oversee the HR function from Recruitment, Employee Relations, Safety, Affirmative Action, Union Contracts to Employment Compliance.

HR Consultant - Full-time. Office/Remote setting performing full service HR generalist activities from recruitment, employee relations, worker' comp, benefit & comp analysis, to on-site HR audits, Must have 3-5 years current HR work experience, be highly organized, and customer service driven. Prefer HRCI or SHRM certification.

IT Help Desk - $30-$40K with full benefits. Springfield, MO. Seeking qualified individuals to provide customer support by maintaining a variety of office equipment onsite at customer's location and remotely. Provide day-to-day desktop support: Macs and Windows environments, iOS and Android devices. Provide remote support. Support various Microsoft Office applications, Adobe and various Mac OS applications. Must have a working knowledge of various backup technology and cloud based systems such as hosted/managed Exchange and cloud backup and sync.

For review and consideration, qualified applicants please submit a cover letter and resume to [email protected]

Same Sex Marriage Ruling will have limited impact on employers

All 50 states must issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples and must recognize same-sex marriages legally performed out of state, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled June 26, 2015, in a historic victory for gay civil rights.

"Under the Constitution, same-sex couples seek in marriage the same legal treatment as opposite-sex couples, and it would disparage their choices and diminish their personhood to deny them this right," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority.

Implications for Employers

The impact of this decision on many employers will be limited, Scott D. Schneider, an attorney in Fisher & Phillips' New Orleans office. In states where same-sex marriage is currently legal, this ruling will have no effect, he said. But in other states, "employers should sit down and ask, 'Where do we stand in light of this ruling?'"

One area that may be impacted is the granting of leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Schneider said. "Someone who enters into a same-sex marriage may be entitled to FMLA leave."

Similarly, employers in states that have not allowed same-sex marriage to date should examine their medical insurance and retirement plans. Same-sex spouses may qualify as beneficiaries under these plans now, where previously they might have been legally excluded from participating.

"The bottom line is that all employer policies related to spouses should apply to same-sex marriages," according to Nonnie Shivers, an attorney in the Ogletree Deakins Phoenix office. In addition, employers should require the same level and type of proof of a same-sex marriage as they would of any other marriage, she said.

And she cautioned that just because the legality of same-sex marriage is now a settled issue, that doesn't meant that it won't sometimes be a "hot-button issue" in the workplace. Employers need to be prepared to deal with possible employee reactions-whether based on religious beliefs or other factors-to gay and lesbian employees in the workplace, she said.

Your Employees May be Covered Under California's Paid Sick Leave Act

Are you a non-California company with employees who work in California from time to time? California's Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 ("the Act") provides for mandatory paid sick leave to any employee working in California for 30 days or more in a year, even if employed by a non-California employer. This includes part-time and temporary workers. Employers of a workforce with sufficient travel and/or work in California should consider a tracking protocol to monitor their employees' eligibility under the Act to ensure compliance.

Eligibility kicks in after the employee works in California for 30 or more days in a year and accrual begins on the first day of employment or July 1, 2015, whichever is later. There are few exceptions to the type of employees covered by the Act, and are limited to:

Most employees covered by a valid collective bargaining agreement
Providers of in-home supportive care
Certain flight deck or cabin crew members

Accordingly, it is recommended that companies with employees who spend sufficient time working in California track their employees' working time in the Golden State to ensure compliance with the Act and avoid any fines or penalties for failure to do so, which range from $50 to $4,000 in the aggregate. Further possible penalties include additional fines owed to the State of California as well as the potential for the Labor Commissioner or Attorney General to file a civil action to obtain relief on behalf of any employee. It is important to note that a current PTO policy which follows the Act's requirements will be sufficient for compliance with the Act.

Salary Increase Budgets for 2016

U.S. companies' salary-increase budgets for 2016 are projected to increase by 2.7 percent, down from the 2.9 percent increase for 2015, according to a preliminary forecast of global salary budgets by ERI Economic Research Institute, a provider of compensation data.

Salary-increase budgets typically include merit increases, although promotions may be budgeted for separately. Increasingly, employers are shifting toward variable pay based on performance and away from cost of living raises-although pay ranges may be adjusted due to general industry pay trends, as positions become more or less in demand in the local labor market.

When developing a salary-increase budget, it's valuable to consider not only the prior year's market movement of salaries, but also increases and decreases in the consumer price index (CPI), unemployment rates, and gross domestic product, the report states. For instance, "Traditionally, a salary-increase budget would typically be 1-2 percent above the change in the country's CPI. However, since salaries tend to respond more slowly to changes in the cost of living, salary-increase budgets may lag changes in CPI."

As a best practice, the report recommends that salary-increase budget recommendations be reviewed twice a year-once early in the financial budgeting process around mid-year, and then later in the financial budgeting process for finalization and approval. "The second review is more extensive, since the majority of the global salary-increase budget surveys are available at that time, future economic projections are more clearly defined, and companies have a clearer position on the next year's budgets and financials," the report states.

HR Advantage provides compensation advising around pay issues and would be happy to assist you.