January is a busy month and we have new tools to make this year more productive than last year!

THE HR FUNCTION AUDIT: A New Way to Improve Your HR System & Profile

We are pleased to introduce our HR Function Audit (HR FUNCTION AUDIT OVERVIEW). This Audit is based on years of experience and the current HR climate and challenges. Our HR Function Audit and guidance will allow your team to effectively assess then provide evidence that HR has a positive impact on the bottom line. This Audit, like the others we provide, will be protected by the attorney/client privilege and indemnified by our comprehensive malpractice coverage. Give us a call or reach out electronically. We look forward to helping you and your team. We will provide this Audit service for a low fixed fee to avoid uncertainty and minimize impact on your budget.

It's a Bird...It's a Plane...No, It's...a DRONE!
More than a tool used by the Defense Department, drones are here and the implications of drone use are far reaching.

No one can deny the benefits presented by Unmanned Aircraft Systems a/k/a Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), such a drones. For example, UAVs can present a school or a business with an affordable means of obtaining aerial photographs, collecting data and conducting surveillance. In the not-to-distant future, we expect to see companies making package deliveries via UAV. The benefits of the technology are both broad and exciting. As with every scientific advancement, however, the law must eventually evolve to catch up with the science. The evolution has begun, and Foley & Foley, P.C. stands at the forefront ready to assist our clients with a full understanding of the skyscape.

To avoid our droning on, please check out our blog for regular updates and follow us on Twitter.

A CORRECTION...Sick Leave

Last month's Management Moxie alerted our clients to the January 1, 2016 expiration of the Safe Harbor provision of the Massachusetts Earned Sick Leave Law. Unfortunately, the final sentence of the second paragraph of the newsletter contained a typographical error that requires correction. The sentence should read:

The policy must also allow employees to accrue sick leave at a rate of 1 hour for every 30 hours worked, up to a maximum accrual of 40 hours per year; or receive a lump sum of 40 hours of sick leave each benefit year.

Our sincerest apologies for any confusion this may have caused. To make it up to you, below you will find the top three facts you may not know about the new Earned Sick Leave law:

1. If your written policy does not specifically state that employees are limited to accruing 40 hours each year, there is no limit to the number of hours employees may accrue under the Massachusetts Earned Sick Leave Law.
2. If an employee does not use any sick leave in the prior year, and carries over 40 hours of sick leave to the new year, the employee will still be able to accrue up to 40 hours of sick leave in the new year, but will not be able to use any more than the 40 hours he or she carried over at the start of the year.
3. If you provide your employees with a monthly lump sum accrual it must provide at least 8 hours of sick leave per month to full-time employees, but may stop accruing after five months. More generous monthly accruals are allowed, but employers may not simply divide the 40 hours of sick leave required by the law by 12 to create monthly allotments.

So much to do, so little time. Let us help. We look forward to a productive and improved 2016 for all.

¹ This is a correction of a typographical error stating that employees receiving a lump sum allotment should receive 24 hours of leave per year. It should read 40 hours.