Workers’ compensation is insurance you provide to your employees that covers work related injury, illness, or disability.  Injuries that are not work related are not covered.  For example, an employee slips on a wet floor at home, resulting in a minor injury.  The employee reports to work as usual, then during the course of the work day experiences some pain as a result of the incident at home.  The employee then leaves work to go to the doctor for diagnosis and treatment.  Although the pain surfaced at work, the original injury happened at home.  It would not be considered a workers’ compensation claim under most circumstances, unless there were other reasons that could prove that the work was the cause of, or contributed to, the injury.  If the employee had slipped on a wet floor while on the job, it would be considered work related and would most likely fall under the protection of workers’ compensation, unless it was the result of reckless or willful behavior of either the employee or employer.

Having a workers’ compensation policy in place will usually not protect you if your employee has opted out of coverage, or you have failed to give the employee proper legal notice of the right to opt out.

If an employee is absent from work due to a work related injury, illness, or disability, that employee’s job is protected.  The employee cannot be fired for anything that does not involve the employee’s intentional behavior.  Coverage is generally no fault.  The employee may receive a partial salary as well as payment of medical expenses while off work during convalescence.  After recovery, the old job or an equivalent job must be available.  If the employee is unable to perform previous job duties due to the incident, training costs for suitable, equivalent job duties may be covered.  In the event that the employee does not recover, there may be the possibility of permanent disability benefits.

Here are some options to find workers’ compensation coverage in Arizona:

1. Self-funding.  Go to the Industrial Commission of Arizona: www.ica.state.az.us and fill out the application.  There are general qualifying guidelines, including an annual payroll of at least 2 million dollars per year, 50 million dollars in assets, and a minimum of 5 years in business.
2. Go to the list of approved workers’ compensation carriers and get several quotes.
3. Go to the Arizona State Compensation Fund to get a quote.
4. Assigned Risk Pool.  If you are unable to find coverage or are rejected for some reason, contact the Industrial Commission of Arizona for information on the Assigned Risk Pool.

Workers’ compensation coverage is serious.  If you do not provide coverage, your business could be shut down.  You open yourself up to lawsuits with no damage ceilings.  The Industrial Commission of Arizona’s Special Fund Division will cover valid employee claims, then will seek full reimbursement, plus 10%…from YOU.  There are additional potential fines.  And you may be charged with a Class 6 felony.

So….unless you want to meet some new friends in Tent City (I hear it’s nice & warm this time of year), make obtaining and maintaining a workers’ compensation policy a priority!

The Job Accommodation Network (JAN) has several suggestions for useful apps for disability accommodation, all at little or no cost (prices as of 3/30/12):

• Locabulary, iTunes, FREE!  This has a database of moods, foods, and assistance symbols.  It also has built in GPS enabled categories specific to the user’s current location.  For example, if the GPS sees that you are near a McDonald’s, it will add phrases such as “I would like a Big Mac”.
• TuneWiki, iTunes/Android Marketplace/Blackberry App World, FREE!  This app streams songs and videos with real-time lyrics on the screen.
• Glucose Buddy, iTunes, FREE!  Mainly used as a data storage device.  You can track exercise, insulin, carbohydrate consumption, and glucose numbers.
• A Special Phone, iTunes, $0.99.  This app makes the iPhone functional to those with vision impairments or fine motor limitations.  Instead of a standard keyboard, you can pre-program the phone to dial someone based on the number of shakes you give it.
• SoundAmp, iTunes, $4.99.  Turns your phone into a hearing aid with its amplification capabilities.  You can record real-time lectures and presentations and export them into your computer.  Useful for the hearing impaired as well as those with learning disabilities and motor impairments.
• iSign, iTunes, $4.99.  This is a reference, tutorial program that has over 800 American Sign Language gestures.  This may help break down communication barriers between those who primarily sign and those who do not.
• iConverse, iTunes, $9.99.  This is a simple app useful for people with speech impairments and young children.  It is a simpler augmentative and alternative communication app (AAC) that comes with 6 basic everyday needs: Drink, Food, Bathroom, Sick, Break, and Help.  In addition, you can program your own symbolism, which can be used to verbally communicate your needs/wants.
• iCommunicate, iTunes, $49.99.  This app is very flexible in the way it can be personalized.  It has features that enable individuals with speech impairments to communicate through the database’s symbols or from photos on the user’s camera roll.  You can create story boards or visual cues that turn the text/symbols into audio output (which can also be personally recorded).
• Proloquo2Go, iTunes, $189.99.  Targeted for those with speech impairments, this is a full service AAC app.  It enables users to select from thousands of symbols to serve as a text-to-speech communication device.

JAN is one of several free services provided by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP).  JAN offers comprehensive assistance and guidance to employers, employees with disabilities and their families, representatives and service providers.  The organization helps people with disabilities enhance their employability, and shows employers how to capitalize on the value and talent that people with disabilities add to the workplace.  Information is available by phone and online at: www.askjan.org.

The new guidance includes information on how an employer’s use of an individual’s criminal history in making employment decisions could violate the prohibition against discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  The new guidance states that an employer’s use of criminal history must be “job related and consistent with business necessity”.

The document explains the two ways in which an employer’s use of criminal history information may violate Title VII – disparate treatment discrimination and disparate impact discrimination.

Disparate treatment discrimination occurs when an employer treats job applicants with the same criminal records differently because of their race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

Disparate impact discrimination occurs when an employer doesn’t show that an individual’s exclusion is job related and consistent with business necessity, which can disproportionately exclude people of a particular race or national origin.

The guidance advises employers to eliminate policies or practices that automatically exclude people from employment because of any criminal record.  It suggests that employers should “develop a narrowly tailored written policy and procedure for screening applicants and employees for criminal conduct”.  Employers should determine what offenses are unacceptable related to the job in question, and then include an individualized assessment in which the applicant or employee is informed that they may be excluded due to criminal conduct.  The employer should then give the person an opportunity to explain why the exclusion may not be “job related and consistent with business necessity”.

Excercise care and objectivity when addressing criminal history.  If you don’t, it could be considered…well…criminal.

If you’re an employer, you certainly have the right to stay digitally connected as often (or as seldom) as necessary, or whenever the spirit moves you.  Do you realize that if you have employees who routinely utilize email and texts for business use, you could be opening yourself up to legal issues?

Employees with 24/7 access to email on their cell phones or other electronic devices have the potential to cause serious legal issues for employers.  The FLSA requires non-exempt employees to be paid time and 1/2 for all hours worked over 40 in a work week, regardless of whether your company’s pay schedule is weekly, biweekly, or semimonthly.  Some states have additional overtime requirements based on hours worked in a day or consecutive days worked in a week.  Checking and responding to business related communications would be considered compensable time, and may bring employees over their allotted “regular” time and into overtime.  This is time that is not easily tracked or recorded, but that does not mean that you are not liable for paying overtime to any non-exempt employees.

Begin by classifying your employees correctly if they are going to be accessing work related communications around the clock.  Consider allowing 24/7 access to the company email system and providing company cell phones only to exempt employees.  It will prevent future problems from non-exempt employees claiming they are owed wages for all those minutes and hours they spent away from the office reading and responding to “urgent” communications.

Remember, even if employees work unauthorized overtime, they still must be paid in accordance with the law.  You don’t want to end up in court fighting a claim for back wages (and associated penalties).

Your company’s employee handbook is a great place to start when addressing digital communications.  Put a policy in writing and have employees sign to acknowledge that they have read, understand, and will comply with the policy.  ManageStaff is here to help you with that – just give your HR Rep a call.

If you prefer, you can always send an email.

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of worker fatalities.  Based on National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data, the risk of a crash or near-crash event for a driver who is texting is more than 23 times higher than that of an undistracted driver!

Lawmakers have taken action regarding distracted driving: In 2009, President Obama signed an executive order banning federal employees from texting while driving government-owned vehicles, using government-supplied electronic equipment, or when driving privately owned vehicles while on government business.  In January 2010, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration implemented regulations that prohibit commercial vehicle drivers from texting while driving.  Several states now have similar bans.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act), employers have a duty to provide a workplace free of serious recognized hazards.  On October 4, 2010, the Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA, Dr. David Michaels, issued an open letter to employers about work-related distracted driving.  The letter states that employers have a “responsibility and legal obligation” to have a “clear, unequivocal and enforced policy against the hazard of texting while driving.”  Employers violate the OSH Act “if, by policy or practice, they require texting while driving, or create incentives that encourage or condone it, or they structure work so that texting is a practical necessity for workers to carry out their job.”

April is National Distracted Driving Prevention Month.  If your company does not yet have a distracted driving policy, it’s time to adopt one.  It will not only keep your employees and the general public safer, it may limit your company’s liability exposure.  Put the policy in writing and have your employees sign to acknowledge that they have read and will comply with the policy.  Communicate it verbally, take it seriously, and insist that the policy is enforced by management.  Everyone will benefit.

• Expanded Form I-9 instructions and a revised layout
• New, optional data fields to collect the employee’s email address and telephone number
• New data fields to collect the foreign passport number and country of issuance.

A Right to Work law guarantees that no person can be compelled, as a condition of employment, to join or not to join, or to pay dues to a labor union.  In other words, if an employee works in a Right to Work state, and the employees form a union, the employee may not be fired if he/she decides not to join the union.  Likewise, if an employee is a member of a union in a Right to Work State, and decides to resign from the union, the employee may not be fired for that reason.

Railway and airline employees are not protected by state Right to Work laws.

Right to Work laws should not be confused with the concept of Employment at Will, which means that employment is voluntary for both employees and employers.

Most private sector workers in Arizona are “at will” employees.  Employment is not covered by a written contract or bargaining agreement, and the employment relationship may be terminated at any time by either the employee or the employer, with or without cause.  Employees can be terminated for any reason not prohibited by law or for no reason, and with or without notice.

Arizona law requires final wages for involuntary terminations to be paid within 3 working days or at the next pay day, whichever is sooner.  Be sure to contact your HR Representative whenever you terminate, or are planning terminations, to guarantee that the employees receive their final wages within the required time.

Unauthorized extensions of authorized breaks do not need to be counted as hours worked when the employer has expressly and unambiguously communicated to the employee that the authorized break may last only for a specific period of time, that any extension of the break is contrary to company policy, and any extension of the break will result in disciplinary action.

Meal periods (typically at least 30 minutes) serve a different purpose other than work breaks, so are not considered work time and not subject to compensation.

Breaks and meal periods are a decision of the individual employer, and should be addressed in the company’s employee handbook.  To order a customized employee handbook or amend your existing handbook, please contact your HR Representative.

The ruling comes from an “informal discussion letter” from the EEOC.  Discussion letters themselves don’t carry the weight of the law, but do indicate which way the agency might rule on an issue.  The letter states: …if an employer adopts a high school diploma requirement for a job, and that requirement “screens out” an individual who is unable to graduate because of a learning disability that meets the ADA’s definition of disability, the employer may not apply the standard unless it can demonstrate that the diploma requirement is job related and consistent with business necessity.  (The employer will not be able to make this showing, for example, if the functions in question can easily be performed by someone who does not have a diploma).

In other words, to list a high school diploma as a requirement, you must show that the requirement is job related, especially if an applicant has a learning disability.  It must be a prerequisite for performing “essential functions of the job”.

The letter does not mention how you might determine whether the applicant has a disability, unless the applicant tells you.  

Be careful if you list a high school diploma as a hiring requirement – it could be illegal.

An employee’s scheduled hours of work may be changed at any time.  The FLSA has no provisions regarding the scheduling of employees, with the exception of certain child labor provisions.  Therefore, an employer may change an employee’s work hours without giving prior notice or obtaining the employee’s consent (unless otherwise subject to a prior agreement between the employer and employee or the employee’s representative).  Keep in mind that non-exempt employees are entitled to overtime if they work over 40 hours in a work week, regardless of their schedule.  Some states have additional overtime requirements based on hours worked in a day, and/or number of consecutive days worked.

Flexible work schedules offer many benefits to both employers and employees.  A flexible schedule generally builds stronger rapport within a company, creating happier, more contented employees and decreasing the chances of voluntary resignations.  Employee burn-out is reduced and job satisfaction is increased.  Productivity is increased as well, because the company is able schedule more workers during peak hours.

If you have any questions regarding employee hours or flex time, be sure to contact your HR Representative.