Relocation Taxes, LLC sponsors Tax, Legal and Payroll Seminar

Relocation Taxes LLC, a sponsor of our CRP review seminar, is hosting a 2-day seminar to explore the latest tax, legal and payroll seminar which will carry continuing education credits for renewal of your CRP designation. The semin ar will be held October 4th and 5th at the Airport Marriott Hotel in San Francisco, CA. For more information contact Relocation Taxes LLC at http://www.relotax.com

Posted via email from hrstrategist@Net-Speed

Americans with Disabilities Act Clarification

According to an update from the Littler Mendolsohn PC law Firm the federal courts have handed downa ruling involving vacant positions and accommodations. In the ruling the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit  considered whether positions filled by temporary contract workers are "vacant" for purposes of reassignment as a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In Duvall v. Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products, L.P., No. 08-7096 (June 9, 2010), the court held that, because similarly situated nondisabled employees could not apply for or obtain positions filled by temporary contract employees, the employer was not obligated to reassign a disabled employee to such nonvacant positions.

Posted via email from hrstrategist@Net-Speed

Training Advice

The U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Education have sent a letter to colleges and universities about the use of electronic book readers that are not accessible to students who are blind or have low vision. The letter points out a serious problem with some of these devices that do not have an accessible text-to-speech function. Requiring use of an emerging technology in a classroom environment when that technology is inaccessible to an entire population of individuals with disabilities--individuals with visual disabilities--may constitute discrimination prohibited by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504).

I understand that you are not an institution of higher learning but if DOJ is concerned about the use of these devices, be careful as to how you use them in your training programs. However int he rush to keep up with the ever expanding training medium, it is the urge to start to utilize the Kindles and Nook's of the world but you need to be aware of the possibility of a request for accommodations from disabled employees who are unable to use the new devices. It is cost effective for you to make the accommodations instead of risking a visit from OFFCP and the EEOC because you insisted on using the new devices.

Posted via email from hrstrategist@Net-Speed

ADA in Action

A U.S. District Court in Jacksonville has ruled that the state of Florida must provide Michele Haddad with services that will let her stay in her home.  Haddad, who has quadriplegia from a motorcycle accident with a drunk driver in 2007, has successfully resided in the community since the accident, but is at risk of having to go to a nursing home due to changes in her caregiver situation. Haddad has been on the waiting list for Medicaid community-based waiver services for two years, and she told the state of her increased need for services.  She was informed that community services would only be available if she was willing to enter a nursing home for 60 days. The court ordered the state to provide community-based services as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act's (ADA) integration mandate as set forth in Olmstead v. L.C. (Taken from Disability.gov)

Are you looking toward the future?

This week the US Supreme Court handed down it's ruling in Ontario v. Quon which stated that employees have no expectation of privacy for computer use of employer owned equipment. It would be prudent for every Human Resource Manager to undertake one of two actions fairly promptly:

Option 1: Review your current social media policy to ensure that your employees understand that what they post in regards to your organization is fully available for you to review and take action on.

Option 2: Create a social media policy and disseminate to your entire staff. If you are creating a policy insure that you lay out specific guidelines on what employees can and cannot do when posting on social media sites. This should include the caveat that at no time without prior permission should employees create any perception that they represent your organization.

Need some ideas of policy components contact us for some ideas collected from other organizations who have already created their policies.

 

Supreme Court weighs in on question of arbitration

Many corporations today have included in their employee policies that in case of a dispute over contract terms it must be sent to arbitration. Yesterday the US Supreme Court ruled that the requirement that the arbitrator has full responsibility for the solution is enforceable. This means that the requirement for a court to decide if it is enforceable is no longer the rule of the land. It would be prudent on your part to investigate the wording on your arbitration clauses to determine whether the wording is in line with the supreme court ruling.

Bureau of Labor Statistics releases March Cost of Employment Figures

On June 9 the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the March 2010 cost of Employment figures. The results indicated that the cost of benefits were worth 30.4% of the total compensation, The link to the entire report can be found at http://bls.gov/news.release/ecec.toc.htm

Supreme Court details right to privacy

CNN reports that the US Supreme Court has determined that Public employees who send personal messages on their state-issued communication devices do not enjoy a "reasonable expectation" of privacy, The justices unanimously concluded that state officials had the right to review the review the records of a California police officer who exchanged hundreds of personal messages - some of a "sexually explicit" nature - on his department text pager. "Because the search was motivated by a legitimate work-related purpose, and because it was not excessive in scope, the search was reasonable," Justice Anthony Kennedy noted in the court's decision. The question can be asked if this could also apply to social media postings by employees on corporate owned equipment. Time will tell.

Supreme Court potentially overturns 600 NLRB decisions

Earlier today the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in NEW PROCESS STEEL, L. P. v. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD determining that the National Labor Relations Board operated without a legal quorum for a 27 month period. As a result over 600 NLRB decisions maybe in jeopardy. These decisions included  those dealing with  concerns about representation petitions and unfair labor practice proceedings. A number of labor attorneys have suggested that employers covered by the NLRB should review their programs based on this decision.

Relocation Announcement

NERC President and CEO Gerry Cauley announced plans today to move NERC’s headquarters from Princeton, NJ to Atlanta to attract high-quality employees and to be more accessible to its stakeholders. To encourage extensive interaction between NERC and key governmental and regulatory authorities, NERC will also be expanding its DC office.

Health and Human Services releases new rules for health care

Here’s how the new rule will work:

• Starting with health plan or policy years beginning on or after September 23, Americans with private health insurance plans will get some new consumer protections.  For example, insurance companies will be prohibited from putting lifetime limits on your coverage.  And they’ll no longer be able to cancel your insurance when you get sick just by finding an error in your paperwork.
• Health coverage that was in effect when the Affordable Care Act was enacted will be exempt from some provisions in the Act if they remain “grandfathered” under a provision in the law.  Under the rule issued today, employers or issuers offering such coverage will have the flexibility of making reasonable changes without losing their “grandfathered” status.  For example, employers will be able to make some changes to the benefits their plans offer, raise premiums or change employee cost-sharing to keep pace with health costs within some limits, and continue to enroll new employees and their families.
• However, if health plans significantly raise co-payments or deductibles, or if they significantly reduce benefits – for example, if they stop covering treatment for a disease like HIV/AIDS or cystic fibrosis – they’ll lose their grandfathered status and their customers will get the same full set of consumer protections as new plans.

The bottom line is that under the Affordable Care Act, if you like your doctor and plan, you can keep them.  But if you aren’t satisfied with your insurance options today, the Affordable Care Act provides for better, more affordable health care choices through new consumer protections.  And beginning in 2014, it creates health insurance exchanges that will offer individuals and small businesses better, more affordable choices.

New perspective on social media

I have recently subscribed to a website called Writing on the Web and the author published an interesting question, so much so I want to pass it on to you:

Experience blindness – A simple screen reader experience for the sighted (Part 1)

May 18, 2010 by Reuben Jacob

Ever wondered how a person with a visual impairment uses a computer? Surf the web? Read a book or an article? I know many people who shy away from asking these questions. The important thing is to realise that there’s no harm in asking these questions. The real harm is in not bothering to find the answers to these questions. A request to our visually impaired readers: please pass this article on to all your sighted friends. And dear sighted readers, walk with me through this simple simulation of the experience of a visually impaired person.
The most popular, specialized software program used by people with visual impairments to consume electronic content - documents, web pages and other computer programs is a type of computer software known as a screen reader. The screen reader has two major functions – Navigation and Text-to-Speech (TTS).
A screen reader aids in navigation by guiding the user in moving from one page to the other, from one paragraph to the other and so on. It aids in TTS by converting electronic text to sound – basically it reads out text. The biggest stumbling block for screen reader software are programs and content that is difficult for navigation.

A large majority of computer programs and electronic content that are used by the visually impaired, are created by sighted people – programmers, content writers, editors etc. If you happen to fall into this category of very powerful people, and if you are unfamiliar with screen readers, I would definitely encourage you to try this little experiment. Now, if you don’t, you might still want to do it – because it can open your eyes a little bit into an unfamiliar world. All you need is a computer, working eyes and an old newspaper.
Here you go:

1. Turn on your computer
2. Browse to Google news or your favorite online haunt OR open a large word document
3. Now get an old newspaper – take one full sheet and open it up
4. Make a rectangular incision 3 inches long and half inch wide at the center of the paper
5. With both hands, hold this newspaper against and in front of your computer display, so that you can see the screen through the rectangular hole
6. Now start reading through the hole. Move the paper to the right to continue reading
7. Try to jump to sections that you are interested in by moving the paper around
8. Read the whole page
9. Rinse and repeat with familiar and unfamiliar pages
10. That’s it.

What are you doing to be inclusive?

Relocation Announcement

Medline is closing its Clearwater, FL plant and the jobs are being shifted to Mexico and Waukegan, IL by the end of 2010. Displaced employees will have the opportunity to apply for positions in other facilities within the company.

A disservice to the economy

I received an email this morning from a trusted source which indicated that a growing trend among some employers is to state in the ad for an open position " the unemployed will not be considered." Corporate America is faced with the real possibility of a labor shortage in some areas whether you believe it or not.  From the Huffington post was this note:

n a current job posting on The People Place, a job recruiting website for the telecommunications, aerospace/defense and engineering industries, an anonymous electronics company in Angleton, Texas, advertises for a "Quality Engineer." Qualifications for the job are the usual: computer skills, oral and written communication skills, light to moderate lifting. But red print at the bottom of the ad says, "Client will not consider/review anyone NOT currently employed regardless of the reason."

In a nearly identical job posting for the same position on the Benchmark Electronics website, the red print is missing. But a human resources representative for the company confirmed to HuffPost that the The People Place ad accurately reflects the company's recruitment policies.

"It's our preference that they currently be employed," he said. "We typically go after people that are happy where they are and then tell them about the opportunities here. We do get a lot of applications blindly from people who are currently unemployed -- with the economy being what it is, we've had a lot of people contact us that don't have the skill sets we want, so we try to minimize the amount of time we spent on that and try to rifle-shoot the folks we're interested in."

The goal of any talent management effort is to  find the right person for the right position at the right time, and by stating that the unemployed will not be considered you may very well eliminate the very source to solve our problem.

 Many organizations have made the decision for "economic reasons" to let go some of the best talent in the country. When we need to stay competitive with the rest of the world, this is not the time for any employer to set out to decide that because someone got caught in the downturn they are no longer valuable talent to the organization.

Manpower releases new survey data on job market

Employers provided a seasonally adjusted Outlook of +6%, up from -2% during the same period last year. Ninety-eight percent of U.S. states have a positive hiring Outlook and 95 of the nation's 100 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas have a positive Outlook for Quarter 3 2010.

"We have been waiting for the labor market to show signs of a sustained recovery," said Jeff Joerres, Manpower Inc. Chairman and CEO. "The survey results for the third quarter are indicating a trend of hiring intention that has historically proven to be the positive inflection point of accelerated job growth."

Of the more than 18,000 employers surveyed, 18% anticipate an increase in staff levels in their Quarter 3 2010 hiring plans, while 8% expect a decrease in payrolls, resulting in a Net Employment Outlook of +10%. When seasonally adjusted, the Net Employment Outlook becomes +6%. Seventy percent of employers expect no change in their hiring plans. The final 4% of employers indicate they are undecided about their hiring intentions.

"Manpower's survey results show a positive trend in employers' hiring plans," said Jonas Prising, Manpower president of the Americas. "Although we are still facing a difficult labor market, more employers indicate confidence about the direction of their businesses, and with that comes an intention to increase their workforces. We are in the early stages of the jobs recovery, and although we have a long way to go, the job market will continue to improve from here."

Employers in 11 of the 13 industry sectors surveyed have a positive Outlook for Quarter 3 2010: Leisure & Hospitality (+20%), Mining (+17%), Professional & Business Services (+15%), Wholesale & Retail Trade (+15%), Nondurable Goods Manufacturing (+12%), Financial Activities (+11%), Information (+10), Durable Goods Manufacturing (+9%), Transportation & Utilities (+9%), Construction (+8%) and Other Services (+8%). The July - September Outlook is -2% for two of the surveyed industry sectors: Education & Health Services and Government.