Compliance: Does Federal Law Require Lunch Breaks?

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As a business owner, one of the most challenging issues you face is compliance with government regulations. From taxes to lunch breaks – the government lays out fairly stringent requirements for businesses to comply with. On one hand, this is great; many of them protect you as an employer. On the other hand, it requires quite a bit of time, energy and research to ensure you maintain compliance.

As a PEO broker, one of the most common questions we receive about compliance is regarding breaks and what the laws are surrounding them. The Department of Labor has very specific requirements regarding breaks, times and what is considered as compensable and work time.

Federal Law does not require breaks, for time or meals to be provided however the Fair Labor and Standards Act does classify what is considered compensable time. According to the dol.gov website:

Rest and Meal Periods: Rest periods of short duration, usually 20 minutes or less, are common in industry (and promote the efficiency of the employee) and are customarily paid for as working time. These short periods must be counted as hours worked. Unauthorized extensions of authorized work breaks need not be counted as hours worked when the employer has expressly and unambiguously communicated to the employee that the authorized break may only last for a specific length of time, that any extension of the break is contrary to the employer’s rules, and any extension of the break will be punished. Bona fide meal periods (typically 30 minutes or more) generally need not be compensated as work time. The employee must be completely relieved from duty for the purpose of eating regular meals. The employee is not relieved if he/she is required to perform any duties, whether active or inactive, while eating.

We understand that the vague nature of these regulations can pose a lot of confusion for employers and employees alike. Navigating the compliance scene is something that can easily be transferred to a PEO who specializes in this area.

Contact Employer Solutions Plus to find out how you can streamline your business processes!

ADA Standards for Design

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At Employer Solutions Plus we find that one of the most challenging things for our clients is navigating regulatory compliance. Whether it is with taxes or building designs, ensuring that you are not in violation of the requirements can be very daunting and time consuming.

One of the most recent changes in regulatory compliance is with new construction specific to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). For those unfamiliar, the ADA was put in place in 1990 to ensure that individuals with disabilities are not discriminated against in all facets of employment, from wages to workplaces. This act applies to any employer with more than 15 employees.

The ADA Standards for Accessible Design are applied to public and commercial facilities, including businesses and apply to standards for both employees and customers. The requirements outlined within this document are enforceable by law and all businesses must be compliant.

While our team at Employer Solutions Plus is unable to help you design your building, we can help you address disability regulatory compliance, and so can your PEO if you are already working with one.

To request a consultation, contact us today!

I-9 Audits on Restaurants

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It’s no secret that the hospitality industry experiences high turnover. Restaurants don’t often keep waiters or waitresses on staff for long periods of time (in comparison to other industries), because fact of the matter is that for many employees it’s just a part time job, a transitional period of their life, or a way to temporarily make a little extra money on the weekends.

It is for this reason among a few others that the hospitality industry has become an easy target for I-9 audits. With employees coming and going all of the time, keeping up with the paperwork can be a fulltime job in itself. Every restaurant owner knows that the I9 form needs to be completed (ensuring that their new employee is eligible to work in the US), but they may not be completing this form in a timely manner, or they may be waiting a few weeks to see if a particular employee will stick around.

This is a BIG mistake! Avoiding a minor administrative headache today or placing this task on the backburner can result in a big compliance violation in the event that you’re audited by the government. If your business is randomly selected for an audit, you could have as little as three days’ notice before documents have to be surrendered. If your restaurant is in violation, hefty (and sometimes debilitating) fines will follow.

So, what can you do? The first option is to always ensure your restaurant is operating in compliance. Although, for busy business owners, sometimes mistakes are entirely innocent and unavoidable; we make them by accident or we’re just not educated enough within one particular area of employee management.

The alternative chosen by many restaurant owners is to work with a PEO. If you visit the “HR Solutions for the Restaurant Industry” section of our blog you’ll see that PEOs come with many benefits beyond their help and expertise surrounding compliance and new hire paperwork. They’re able to bundle nearly all HR and compliance responsibilities under one cost effective umbrella to ensure that your business is run as effectively and efficiently as possible.

To learn more about PEOs operating within the restaurant industry, click here. If you have any specific questions, feel free to contact us at Employer Solutions Plus: 727-698-6207.

5 Reminders for Avoiding Wrongful Termination

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Terminating an employee can be an awkward (and stressful) task. But, as a business owner you’ve got more important things to worry about: compliance.

As if the need to terminate someone wasn’t a difficult enough situation in itself, a wrongful termination claim can quickly take things from bad to worse…a lot worse!

We remind all employers to run down the following checklist before pursuing termination:

  1. Documentation: Do you have the proper documentation to support your credibility and the need for termination? All past incidents, behavioral issues, and performance issues should be documented within the employee’s file.
  2. Warnings: So, you’ve documented incidents – does your employee know that these incidents were documented? Were they given a verbal or written warning prior to termination? Even if it was a verbal warning, the details of the verbal warning need to be documented.
  3. Private Room: The termination meeting should be scheduled in a room or private area separate from other employees. This will help avoid drawing the attention of other employees and will reduce the likelihood of interruption, but more importantly it will not risk creating a situation where the employee leaves feeling ashamed, mistreated, or embarrassed in front of co-workers. In addition to securing a private location, scheduling a termination meeting at the end of the day will ensure that the employee does not need to pack up their things and exit in front of others.
  4. Witness: Never terminate someone on your own. Always have another person from HR or management accompany you. This will eliminate any issues that may arise concerning his or her word against yours.
  5. Consistency: Have you fired someone in the past for this particular reason? Have you been consistent in enforcing the “rules” outlined within your employee handbook? You cannot fire one employee and keep another one on staff that has violated the same rule(s).

For more information on hiring and firing, visit our hiring and firing section within this blog. If you have any questions, contact us directly at Employer Solutions Plus!

 

How Many Employment Laws and Regulations Are There?

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BLBA, CCPA, CWHSSA, DBRA, EPPA, ERISA, FLSA, SCA, OSH, WARN… The list goes on and on. Looks a little bit like alphabet soup, doesn’t it?

To those of us that practice employment law and are licensed professionals, we thrive off this stuff! For those of us (employers) that are just short of an employment law degree, keeping up with these ever-changing rules and regulations is an absolute nightmare!

The Department of Labor (DOL) administers and enforces more than 180 federal laws – and then each of these laws breaks into sub-sections of specific rules and regulations. That’s not even counting state-specific employer/employee regulations!

These federal mandates and the regulations that implement them cover workplace activities for about 10 million employers and 125 million workers. “Activities” include wage and hour practices, discrimination, harassment of all forms, workers compensation, workplace safety and health, benefits, workers unions, and much more.

Many employers choose to protect themselves through a co-employment relationship with a PEO. PEOs are familiar with all state and federal employment laws and can navigate this complex landscape much more effectively and efficiently than the average business owner.

With a better understanding of each law, your business can be better positioned to avoid unsafe or unfair practices. And, through the co-employment relationship, the liability is shared – this is very important for businesses that may face an unexpected lawsuit in the future!

Want to learn more? Contact Employer Solutions Plus!

How Does a PEO Reduce Employer Liability?

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Small business owners have a lot to worry about when it comes to liability. Not all of us turn a large enough profit to easily settle lawsuits and claims should a workplace problem arise.

Through the co-employment business model, PEOs reduce an employer’s liability in the following ways:

Payroll: There are hundreds of regulations surrounding payroll, all of which businesses must comply. Learning all of them can be extremely tedious and confusing. With a PEO managing your payroll, you can rest assured knowing it’s handled by the experts. In a co-employment relationship, your PEO assumes liability for payroll activities, which is important if there is fine or lawsuit surrounding payroll.

Workers Compensation: Many PEOs provide workers compensation insurance as well, which takes another form of liability off your plate.

Risk Management: In addition to providing insurance, some PEOs will provide risk assessments for your workplace and even safety training for employees to limit the overall risk of your workplace.

EPLI: Employment Practices Litigation Insurance (EPLI) protects employers from employees or former employees who wish to sue them. Many PEOs offer EPLI through the co-employment relationship.

To limit your Company’s liability and simultaneously improve your company’s overall cash flow position, contact Employer Solutions Plus.

Compliance-Smart Time Tracking Systems

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It’s no secret that staying in compliance is a real headache. You may be the world’s best boss or business owner, but you probably don’t have an employment law degree. After all, compliance is a full time job!

So, what’s available to help ease the burden of compliance? For starters, good technology. Are you still recording employee hours in an excel file? Having employees sign in and out at the front desk during each lunch break? Here are some common wage and hour compliance concerns for business owners: calculating accurate overtime pay, ensuring employees take their breaks, abiding by minimum wage laws, and payroll record keeping.

Time tracking systems play a critical role in helping to comply with wage and hour laws, and can even help in reducing compensation claims! Imagine this: You’re a retail store with 15 workers on the floor. By your particular state’s law, all workers are required to take at least one break during their shift. If one employee forgets to take their break, or skips it, you’ll immediately get a notification. Are some employees staying overnight to organize new inventory? No problem – These systems are compliance smart and will not only let you know if your employees are eligible for overtime, but will also calculate it for you.

Now, these systems do require a manager’s manual review for accuracy, and you should be familiar with your state’s laws. For example, when “off the clock” tasks, communication, or assignments might be compensable.

There’s no doubt in our minds that technology can be a lifesaver, but we can’t all afford these “extra-smart” programs, complete with tablets, touch screens, card swipe systems, text messaging, mobile applications, cloud-based systems and extensive reporting features… which is where a PEO comes in.

PEOs offer extremely robust HRIS’s (Human Resource Information Systems) and can often afford today’s most effective and efficient systems – the ones that are upward of a $300,000 investment and just out of reach for the small to medium sized business owner. Through the co-employment relationship, PEOs deliver big company perks and benefits to the smaller guys, like us!

For more information on PEO benefits, including compliance and technology, contact us.

Compliance Concerns for Medical Practices

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It’s every business owner’s favorite topic: compliance. When you’ve got a profitable and busy business to run, compliance issues sometimes get put on the backburner… exactly where they don’t belong. Because you specialize in healthcare services and not necessarily government regulations, taking the time to review healthcare-specific laws and policies often take much longer than planned. Unfortunately the Department of Labor (DOL) doesn’t often wait around to administer and enforce its 180 federal laws.

Here are just 3 concerns that medical practices have:

  1. HIPAA: The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act protects the privacy of individually identifiable health information. HIPAA also comprises of the HIPAA Security Rule, which sets national standards for the security of electronic protected health information and confidentiality provisions of the Patient Safety Rule, which protects identifiable information being used to analyze patient safety events and improve patient safety. In an earlier post, we addressed how important it is for medical practice owners or employees who are delegated to manage compliance to be fully aware of the HIPAA policy and procedures. A single violation of compliance can result in fines capable of crippling your cash flow.
  2. RACs: Recovery Audit Contractors (RACs) have been auditing claims for the Medicare program nationwide since 2010, which subject health facilities to additional administrative burden and costly payment denials.
  3. Compliance Programs: A compliance program is required as of March 2013 by any healthcare provider, including dental, that bills Medicare, Medicaid, and/or programs funded by federal or state governments. Eligible compliance programs include guidance on billing, coding, and contracts which are now required under the Affordable Care Act. There are nearly 40 policies that include the screening of all employees monthly against state and federal exclusion databases…. Do you have the time?

Many medical practice owners choose to engage a PEO for the sole purpose of eliminating headaches and ensuring employer compliance. In addition to the many other benefits PEOs provide, PEOs protect – against costly lawsuits, against compliance failure, and against preventable workplace mistakes/accidents.

To learn more about PEO solutions, contact us.

Who is Eligible for FMLA leave?

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Background: FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act) is enforced by the US Department of Labor. This act was established to help employees better balance their work and family responsibilities. It provides certain employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year. FMLA also requires that the person’s health benefits be maintained the entire time of their leave.

Does FMLA apply to your company? FMLA only applies to companies with 50 or more employees, as well as all public and private elementary and secondary schools, and public agencies. If you are classified as one of the aforementioned, read on!

Only employees that have worked for their employer at least 12 months, or at least 1250 hours over the past 12 months are eligible for FMLA. As an employer, this is just one of the many reasons it’s important to have accurate payroll and employee data. An eligible employee must also work at a location where the company employs 50 or more employees within 75 miles.

Employees requesting to leave work for the following reasons are covered under FMLA. Employers must provide 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave (and a continuation of benefits) to those leaving:

  • for the birth and care of the newborn child of an employee
  • for placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care
  • to care for an immediate family member (spouse, child, or parent) with a serious health condition
  • to take medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition

*Source: US Department of Labor

Did you know that in addition to Professional Employer Organization options, Employer Solutions Plus offers human resource management services for FMLA, ERISA, COBRA, HIPPA, ADA and more?

If you’re having trouble sorting through countless compliance issues, employment laws, and regulations, or have a specific question regarding FMLA, please contact us.

Is Your Workforce Properly Classified (IC or Employee?)

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Do you currently employ a handful of independent contractors? Hiring independent contractors is a great way for business owners to decrease costs and tax liability. You utilize help when and where you need it, and don’t have the burden or a fulltime or part-time salary when business slows down.

But, it is critical that business owners take the time to correctly determine whether the individuals providing services for their companies are really independent contractors, or whether they should be classified as employees.

If they are supposed to be employees and a tax audit reveals that they are misclassified, you will likely be held responsible for paying income taxes, Social Security and Medicare taxes, and unemployment taxes on all wages paid to that employee.

How do I determine whether the worker is an employee or IC? Evaluate your relationship.

If you answer “YES” to the majority of these questions, the individual should likely be documented as an employee, not an IC.

  • Does your Company control the worker’s hours?
  • Does your Company control where the worker performs his/her tasks?
  • Do you pay for the worker’s supplies, equipment, tools, and resources necessary to accomplish his/her job function?
  • Do you offer the worker benefits?
  • Do you offer the worker vacation time?
  • Is the relationship ongoing versus temporary or seasonal?
  • Is the work performed by the worker a core service or product offering within your Company?

BE CAREFUL! As we mentioned above, the consequences of treating an employee as an IC can result in being held liable for all employment taxes for that worker (as well as any other misclassified workers). The IRS provides many valuable resources, forms, and answers to common questions. To access their information surrounding ICs and Employees, click here.

For additional information on human resource management, including wage and hour compliance, tax classification and more, contact Employer Solutions Plus.