News from Ollis/Akers/Arney Human Resources Consulting

DHS Previews Big Changes to New I-9 Form

The Form I-9 is getting another makeover. The ubiquitous HR onboarding document used to record employment eligibility verification, as required by the federal government, is slated to undergo a significant structural overhaul by the time the current form expires on Oct. 31.

"Used by all employers, the Form I-9 has always had many traps for the unwary," said Amy Peck, an attorney in the Omaha, Neb., office of Jackson Lewis. "DHS [The Department of Homeland Security], with its proposed changes, is trying to simplify and clarify things."

Peck listed the department's proposed changes, including:

Compressing Sections 1 and 2 from two pages to one page to reduce paper use.
Moving Section 3 to a separate Reverification and Rehire Supplement, making it "a stand-alone section, which only is accessed if needed," she said.
Updating the List of Acceptable Documents to include a link to List C documents (on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website) issued by DHS. Some List C documents were unlisted, so this will be a helpful resource, Peck said.
Reducing and simplifying the form's instructions from 15 pages to 7 pages.
Removing electronic PDF enhancements to ensure that the form can be completed on all electronic devices. "Problems that some users may have had due to software issues may be reduced," Peck said.

John Fay, an immigration attorney and president of the LawLogix division of Hyland Software, a company that specializes in cloud-based I-9, E-Verify and immigration case management services, noted that in addition to the structural changes, there were other interesting, proposed modifications to the form, including eliminating "the N/A requirement."

Read the entire article here

HSA/HDHP Limits Increase for 2023

On April 29, 2022, the IRS released Revenue Procedure 2022-24 to provide the inflation-adjusted limits for health savings accounts (HSAs) and high deductible health plans (HDHPs) for 2023. The IRS is required to publish these limits by June 1 of each year.

These limits include:

· The maximum HSA contribution limit;

· The minimum deductible amount for HDHPs; and

· The maximum out-of-pocket expense limit for HDHPs.

These limits vary based on whether an individual has self-only or family coverage under an HDHP.

Employers that sponsor HDHPs should review their plan’s cost-sharing limits (minimum deductibles and maximum out-of-pocket expense limit) when preparing for the plan year beginning in 2023. Also, employers that allow employees to make pre-tax HSA contributions should update their plan communications for the increased contribution limits.

More details can be found here

EEOC Announces Opening

of 2021 Data Collection

Deadline to Submit and Certify Reports is May 17, 2022

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced that the 2021 EEO-1 Component 1 data collection is now open. The deadline for submitting and certifying 2021 EEO-1 Component 1 Report(s) is May 17, 2022. To meet this deadline, the EEOC strongly encourages eligible filers to begin the filing process as soon as possible.

For the 2021 EEO-1 Component 1 data collection, the EEOC is continuing to modernize the agency’s EEO data collections and improve the quality of data collected. The EEOC is also improving the filing process by making it more user-friendly and streamlining functions, including additional self-service options, and providing a new Filer Support Team Message Center for filer support.

Full article is HERE

Which Laws Apply

to My Company?

An employer’s size, or number of employees, is a key factor in determining which federal employment laws the employer must comply with.

Some federal laws, such as the Equal Pay Act (EPA), apply to all employers, regardless of size. However, other laws, such as the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), only apply to employers that reach a certain employee count. Also, some federal laws, such as COBRA, include exclusions for certain types of employers (for example, churches).

This Compliance Overview provides a high-level overview of key federal employment laws and explains which employers they apply to. Most states also have their own labor and employment laws. This summary does not address state labor laws, and it also does not address additional compliance requirements for companies that contract with the federal government or businesses in specific industries.

What Employers Should Know About On-demand Pay

The traditional weekly or biweekly concept of “payday” is engrained in many workplaces. However, some employers are exploring ways to pay their workers faster, especially those in industries that provide hourly wages or have high turnover rates.

As Americans face rising costs for everyday essentials, health care and other emergencies, on-demand pay—also known as earned wage access (EWA)—allows employees to be paid as soon as they’ve earned their wages. In turn, employers are considering how to provide employees with faster access to their earnings.

On-demand pay is a method of paying employees’ wages as they earn them instead of using traditional weekly, biweekly or monthly pay cycles. Some retail, hospitality, manufacturing and health care organizations are already embracing on-demand pay since most of their employees are paid hourly.

Read the Article Here

Creating a Psychologically Safe

Work Environment

Psychologically safe employees feel confident sharing ideas, asking questions, being themselves and even challenging the status quo—without the fear of being punished or humiliated. Remote work can put company culture and team trust to the test. However, the concept of psychological safety can still be achieved regardless of team or workplace location.

According to research, you may progress through four sequential stages of psychological safety:

Inclusion — You feel safe and accepted to be who you are.
Learner — You feel safe learning, asking questions, and giving and receiving feedback.
Contributor — You feel safe contributing with your skills.
Challenger — You feel safe speaking up when you see room for change or improvement.

After progressing through those four stages, you are more likely to be comfortable speaking up in the workplace. Psychological safety typically hinges on organizational leadership, but there are ways that remote employees can challenge or influence workplace cultural norms.

Read about the ways you can help create a psychologically safe work environment by clicking HERE...

Web Accessibility and Why It Matters

On March 18, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued guidance on how public and private entities can ensure that their websites are accessible to individuals with disabilities, as required under Titles II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Inaccessible web content means that individuals with disabilities are denied equal access to information. An inaccessible website can exclude people just as much as steps at an entrance to a physical location.

Read about this important topic

Encore Presentation of Our Most Popular Training Session

Targeted Selection Behavioral-Based Interviewing

Thursday/Friday - July 21 & 22, 2022

Specific interviewing techniques, particularly behavior-based interviewing, have been found to have a substantial impact on the results of hiring. Interviewing for motivational fit, related to organizational culture and core values, further increases the likelihood of successfully aligning talent to the needs of your organization.