Category: Archive

Issue: An employee comes to you after being turned down by his supervisor for leave to go to his son’s junior high school orientation meeting. The employee insists that the law requires that your company allow him time off to participate in his children’s school activities and that he has not used any school activity leave in the past 12 months. He states that just as he’s entitled to leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), he is entitled to school visitation leave. Is the employee correct?

Answer: Although there is legislation pending in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, no federal law currently requires that employers grant employees leave to participate in the school activities of their children. However, a growing number of states do provide some type of leave for employees to attend school functions.

Note that in one Senate bill addressing leave for school activities, the leave would come out of the time allowed for Family and Medical Leave, rather than being in addition to FMLA leave. The bill would permit employees 24 hours of unpaid leave per year to participate in their children’s educational activities—to attend parent-teacher conferences, participate in classroom activities and research new schools. The 24-hour period for these activities would be deducted from the 12 weeks already available under the FMLA.

In those states that have enacted school visitation provisions (Arkansas, California, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas and Vermont), the number of hours that may be taken and the leave requirements vary.

The following summaries outline the current state school visitation leave requirements [note that Arkansas’ program has expired and Oklahoma and Oregon’s programs are not mandatory]:

Arkansas:
In Arkansas, a pilot school visitation leave program was established for the 1997-1998 school year for state employees. Under the pilot program, all state agencies had to provide their full-time employees who are parents and have children enrolled in Arkansas public schools unpaid leave to attend parent/teacher conferences or school performances of their children.

School visitation leave could only be taken twice during the 1997-1998 school year and each of the two leave periods could not exceed three hours. However, the requirements of the pilot program did not prevent an agency from allowing employees to use annual leave for parent/teacher conferences or school performances of their children.

No state agency could retaliate against an employee who used school visitation leave (Ark SB 673, Laws 1997).

California:
No one employing 25 or more workers at the same location may discriminate against an employee who is a parent, guardian or custodial grandparent of one or more children who are in kindergarten, in grades one through 12 or attending a licensed child day care facility for taking up to 40 hours each school year (but not exceeding eight hours in any calendar month of the school year) to participate in the school activities of the employee’s child, ward or custodial grandchild. Before taking time off, the employee must give reasonable notice to the employer of the planned absence.

If both parents are employed by the same employer at the same work site, only the parent that gives notice to the employer first is entitled to school visitation leave. In most cases, an employee must use existing vacation, personal leave or compensatory time off for school visitation leave. An employee may also use time off without pay, to the extent made available by the employer. Different rules apply if there is a collective bargaining agreement.

If requested by an employer, an employee must provide documentation from the school as proof that the employee participated in school activities on a specified date and at a particular time.

No employer may discriminate against an employee who is the parent or guardian of a pupil for taking time off to go to school when the pupil has been suspended; however, the employee must give reasonable notice to the employer before taking the time off (Cal LaborCode, Secs 230.7 and 230.8).

Illinois:
An employer must grant an employee up to eight hours total leave during any school year (no more than four of which may be taken on any given day) to attend school conferences or classroom activities related to the employee’s child, if the conference or classroom activities cannot be scheduled during non-work hours.

No school visitation leave may be taken unless the employee has exhausted all accrued vacation leave, personal leave, compensatory leave and any other leave that may be granted to the employee, except for sick leave and disability leave. School visitation leave must be scheduled so as not to unduly disrupt the employer’s operations.

An employee who uses school visitation leave may make up the time taken on a different day or shift as directed by the employer. An employee who takes school visitation leave must not be required to make up the time taken, but if the employee does not make up the time, the employee will not be compensated for the leave. Employees who do make up the time taken for school visitation leave must be paid at the same rate as they are paid for normal working time. Employers must make a good faith effort to permit employees to make up the time taken for school visitation.

No employer is required to grant school visitation leave to an employee if granting leave would result in more than 5% of the employer’s work force or of a particular shift taking school visitation leave at the same time (820 ILCS 147/10, /15, /20, /30, /40 and /49).

Louisiana:
An employer may grant employees leave from work of up to a total of 16 hours during any 12-month period to attend, observe or participate in conferences or classroom activities at a school or day care center related to the employee’s dependent children for whom the employee is the legal guardian. This applies only if the conferences or classroom activities cannot reasonably be scheduled during the employee’s non-work hours. An employee who requests school visitation leave must provide reasonable notice to the employer prior to the leave and make a reasonable effort to schedule the leave so as not to unduly disrupt the employer’s operations.

An employer is not required to pay an employee for any time taken as school visitation leave, but an employee may substitute any accrued vacation time or other appropriate paid leave for school visitation leave (La RevStatAnn, Sec 23:1015.2).

Massachusetts:
Eligible employees in Massachusetts are entitled to a total of 24 hours of family obligation leave during any 12-month period, in addition to leave available under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA).

Family obligation leave is available, among other reasons, to participate in school activities directly related to the educational advancement of a son or daughter of the employee, such as parent-teacher conferences or interviewing for a new school (public or private elementary or secondary schools, Head Start programs assisted under the Head Start Act and licensed children’s day care facilities).

The terms of the FMLA apply to state family obligation leave. If the need for family obligation leave is foreseeable, the employee must provide the employer with not less than seven days’ notice before the date the leave is to begin. If the need for family obligation leave is not foreseeable, the employee must provide as much notice as is practical.

An employer may require that a request for family obligation leave be supported by a certification of the need for leave (Mass GenL, Ch 149, Sec 52).

Minnesota:
An employer must grant an employee leave of up to a total of 16 hours during any 12-month period to attend school conferences or school activities related to the employee’s child (regardless of the employee’s time on the job), if the conferences or school-related activities cannot be scheduled during non-work hours.

If the employee’s child is in day care or attends a pre-kindergarten, regular or special education program, the employee may use school conference and activities leave time to attend a conference or activity related to the employee’s child, or to observe and monitor the services or program, if the conference, activity or observation cannot be scheduled during non-work hours. When leave cannot be scheduled during non-work hours and the need for leave is foreseeable, the employee must provide reasonable prior notice of the leave and make a reasonable effort to schedule leave so as not to unduly disrupt the employer’s operations.

School conference and activities leave need not be paid leave, but an employee may substitute any accrued paid vacation leave or other appropriate paid leave for any part of school conference and activities leave (Minn Stat, Sec 181.9412).

Nevada:
It is unlawful for an employer to:

1. terminate the employment of a person who, as the parent, guardian or custodian of a child, appears at a conference requested by the administrator of the school the child attends, or is notified during the person’s work by a school employee of an emergency regarding the child; or
2. assert to the person that the person’s appearance or prospective appearance at a conference or receiving notification during work will result in termination of employment (Nev RevStat, Sec 392.490).

North Carolina:
Employers must grant four hours leave per year to any employee who is a parent, guardian or person standing in the place of a parent of a school-aged child so that the employee may attend or otherwise be involved at that child’s school. The leave must be at a mutually agreed-upon time between the employer and the employee. The employer may require that the employee provide a written request for leave at least 48 hours in advance, and may require that the employee furnish written verification from the school that the employee attended or was otherwise involved at the school during the leave time. Leave need not be paid (NC GenStat, Sec 95-28.3).

Oklahoma:
The Oklahoma Board of Education will establish a program for encouraging private employers to give employees who have children in preschool programs, kindergarten or school programs time off to visit the schools for parent-teacher conferences at least once each semester (Okla Stat, Sec 10-105.2).

Oregon:
It is recommended, but not required, that employers recognize the need for parents, guardians and members of the community to participate in the education process not only for their own children but for the educational system. Employers are encouraged to extend appropriate leave to parents and guardians to allow greater participation in the education process of their children and wards during school hours (Ore RevStat, Sec 329.125).

Rhode Island:
Rhode Island provides for School Involvement Leave for employees. An employee who has been employed by the same employer for 12 consecutive months is entitled to a total of 10 hours of leave during any 12-month period to attend school conferences or other school-related activities for the employee’s child, foster child or a child for whom the employee is the guardian. Employees must provide notice 24 hours prior to the leave time and make reasonable efforts to schedule leave so as not to unduly disrupt the employer’s operations. Leave need not be paid leave, but an employee may substitute any accrued paid leave or other appropriate paid leave for any part of School Involvement Leave (RI GenLaws, Sec 28-48-12).

Texas:
State employees who are the parents of a child who is a student in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, may use up to eight hours of sick leave each calendar year to attend parent-teacher conferences for their children. Before taking leave, an employee must give reasonable advance notice of the intention to use sick leave to attend parent-teacher conferences. Parents include persons standing in a parental relation to a child (Ted GovtCode, Sec 661.151).

Vermont:
In addition to family leave, employees are entitled to take unpaid leave not to exceed four hours in any 30-day period and not to exceed 24 hours in any 12-month period. An employer may require that leave be taken in a minimum of two-hour segments. This additional short-term family leave may be taken, among other reasons, to participate in preschool or school activities directly related to the academic educational advancement of the employee’s child, stepchild, foster child or ward who lives with the employee, such as a parent-teacher conference.

Employees must make reasonable attempts to schedule appointments for which short-term family leave may be taken outside of regular work hours.

In order to take short-term family leave, employees must provide the employer with the earliest possible notice, but in no case less than seven days before leave is to be taken, except in the case of an emergency—circumstances where the required seven-day notice could have a significant adverse impact on the family member of the employee and the employee had no way of knowing in advance. At an employee’s discretion, accrued paid leave, including vacation and personal leave, may be used during short-term family leave (21 VSA 471, 472 and 472a).

Source: CCH Incorporated is a leading provider of information and software for human resources, legal, accounting, health care and small business professionals. CCH offers human resource management, payroll, employment, benefits, and worker safety products and publications in print, CD, online and via the Internet. For more information and other updates on the latest HR news, check our Web site at http://hr.cch.com.

A benefits Web site may strengthen benefits communication and reduce certain administrative burdens.

What are the advantages of a benefits Web site for employees?
Communicating benefits information via a Web site provides advantages for employees over other methods of communication. Information is immediately accessible at the employee’s convenience, possibly even at home. Sensitive information can be obtained confidentially, and all the benefits information remains organized in a place where it cannot get lost. Finally, the average employee will require little or no training to learn how to navigate the Web site.

What are the advantages for employers and plan administrators?
Using a benefits Web site can reduce costs for employers and plan administrators. For example, the self-service nature of the Web site allows employees to find the answers to their basic questions without having to ask an administrator or employer representative. This should free up time for HR personnel in employers’ offices who typically deal with employees’ benefit questions. Plan administrators also benefit by having more free time to work on other issues.

In addition, the process of disseminating information via a Web site is more efficient and more cost effective. Also, Web site “hits” can be used for quantitative and qualitative analysis.

Cite: Alan Cohen, president of Online Benefits, Inc., speaking at the June 7, 1999 joint meeting of the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans’ (IFEBP’s) Benefits Communication and Benefits Technology Institutes in Chicago.

Source: CCH Incorporated is a leading provider of information and software for human resources, legal, accounting, health care and small business professionals. CCH offers human resource management, payroll, employment, benefits, and worker safety products and publications in print, CD, online and via the Internet. For more information and other updates on the latest HR news, check our Web site at http://hr.cch.com.

Some things to keep in mind when communicating a change initiative to employees:

• People need to understand why the organization is changing and need to be sold on the benefits.


• You should decide beforehand on the communication vehicles. Communication should be frequent and ongoing.


• Training should be provided, if necessary.


• If people will lose their jobs, this needs to be communicated to them openly and honestly.


• Rather than slashing jobs, you may want to work with top employees to reengineer their jobs.

SOURCE: Randa A. Wilbur, Dechert-Hame & Company.

You manage payroll for a company that wants to require a large group of non-exempt employees to be “on-call” during their half-hour lunch break. The employees will not be allowed to leave their workstation and will likely be interrupted at least a few times a week to perform work duties. You’ve been asked to determine whether (a) your company can require the employees to be on call during their lunch break; (b) whether they must be paid for their time; and (c) whether the company can provide a meal to the employees in lieu of wages.

Can your company require the employees to be on call during their lunch break?
The FLSA does not require employers to give workers a meal period. However, many states have laws or wage orders that require employers to give workers a meal period and possibly additional rest periods during the work day. With respect to meal periods, the requirements usually specify a 30-minute or one-hour meal break somewhere in the middle of the shift. The standards may also declare that requiring or permitting an employee to work during a meal period will lead to counting the time as hours worked. If your state has such a law, your company may be prohibited from requiring the employees to be on-call during lunch.

Must the employees be paid?
Unless the following three conditions are satisfied, the non-exempt employees’ meal periods must be counted as hours worked:

1. The meal period usually must be at least 30 minutes, but shorter periods may be justified in special cases; however, coffee and snack breaks cannot be treated as shorter, noncompensable meal periods.
2. The employee must be completely relieved of all duties, even inactive duties.
3. The employee must be free to leave the duty post, although confining the employee to the plant premises is permissible.

The mere possibility that emergency work may have to be performed during lunch periods if machinery breaks down does not give pay rights to employees who choose to remain on the plant premises during those periods. However, “on-call” status during meal times is compensable, as are meal periods taken by night watchmen. Similarly, employees not allowed to leave the business location during the break period must be compensated.

Because your non-exempt employees will be required to remain at their workstations, and will be called on to perform duties, their lunch break must be paid.

Can the company provide a meal in lieu of wages?
Your company must pay its employees at the regular rate of pay or provide them with in-kind compensation (such as a meal) equal to or greater than minimum wage. If the value of the meal is less, your employer could face substantial liability.

Another issue may be whether the employees must be given the choice between wages or a meal credit. A Department of Labor regulation concerning acceptance by employees of “facilities” has been interpreted by the Department to mean that employees for whom a meal credit is available must be given the option of choosing whether or not their meals will count toward wages.

However, some federal courts of appeals have disagreed. For example, the Eleventh Circuit has allowed a restaurant employer to take a credit on the cash component of its minimum wage obligation for meals regularly provided, even if employees are not given the continuing option of taking cash instead. In a similar ruling, the Sixth Circuit noted that the FLSA is silent as to whether employees must be given a choice of whether to accept a meal in lieu of a portion of their minimum wage. The court held that a restaurant’s practice of deducting all employees’ wages for the average cost of meals offered through its meal credit plan (based upon the number of hours they work) does not violate the minimum wage provisions of the FLSA—regardless of whether employees actually accept the offered meals.

Cite: 29 CFR §531.30; 29 CFR 785.19; Herman v. Collis Foods, Inc (6thCir 1999) 138 LC 33,872, 176 F3d 912; Davis Brothers, Inc v. Donovan (11thCir 1983) 96 LC 34,346, 700 F2d 1368.

Source: CCH Incorporated is a leading provider of information and software for human resources, legal, accounting, health care and small business professionals. CCH offers human resource management, payroll, employment, benefits, and worker safety products and publications in print, CD, online and via the Internet. For more information and other updates on the latest HR news, check our Web site at http://hr.cch.com.

The information contained in this article is intended to provide useful information on the topic covered, but should not be construed as legal advice or a legal opinion.

Here are some questions to determine if your company or non-profit is ready for a large-scale change initiative:

• Have the folks at the top bought off on it?


• Are senior managers willing to continually convey the change message?


• Are they willing to support the change through their own behavior?


• Below senior management, who are the operational leaders who need to be sold and take an active role in driving the change in their departments?


• Are current organizational policies, practices, accountability, feedback mechanisms, etc. in line with the change? If not, they could kill the effort.


• What barriers are in the way? Are there plans to overcome those barriers?


• Are you being realistic about how long the change process will take?

SOURCE: Randa A. Wilbur, Dechert-Hame & Company.

Here are a few tips for employees on how to give proper feedback to your boss. (These are also helpful suggestions for you to pass on to your employees!).

• Change your thought process from just complaining to giving productive and practical solutions. If you were smart enough to get the job, you must be smart enough to help improve it.

• If you encounter an extremely irritating situation, take five minutes and think about how to prevent it from happening again. Always take that critical five minutes to think before running to the boss.

• Keep your voice low and stay calm when bringing your complaint (productive solution) to the boss. An irrational or emotional person is probably not going to be heard or respected for their opinion.

• If you have a complaint about a co-worker, try talking to them first. You will find that most co-worker problems go away without needing to involve the boss. Just be sure to talk calmly and constructively. Try to sleep on it and then approach them the next day. You should also be prepared for some criticism about yourself. A natural reaction to finger pointing is to point back.

SOURCE: Matthew C. Hollingsworth, Techemployment.com, Cincinnati.

Cash balance plans have recently become a hot topic in the press. Critics say that such plans violate pension law by taking away benefits from older workers. This view appeared to receive some support recently with the release of a confidential memo in which the director of an Internal Revenue Service key district office indicated that a cash balance plan may be in violation of the law.

What is a cash balance plan?
Traditional pension plans calculate an employee’s benefits by using the number of years of an employee’s service and the employee’s final average pay. Thus, most of the benefits build up at the end of an employee’s career. Under cash balance plans, an employee’s benefits grow at a steady pace. Thus, such plans offer better benefits to younger, more mobile workers, but offer less, often substantially less, benefits to older workers with many years at one company. Employers can save money by converting traditional pension plans to cash balance plans, and many of them have been doing so.

What does Congress say?
Cash balance plans are the subject of legislative proposals in Congress. One proposal would require such plans to comply with more stringent notice requirements to participants affected by a conversion of a traditional pension plan to a cash balance plan. Some members of Congress have gone further, urging a ban on new cash balance plans. Recently, a congressional opponent of cash balance plans, Rep. Bernard Sanders of Vermont, leaked a confidential IRS memo written in 1998 in which the director of the IRS key district office in Cincinnati expressed the view that a cash balance plan may fail to qualify for tax purposes because the plan’s benefit accruals decrease as a participant ages.

What is the IRS position?
The release of the memo was picked up by the major media and fueled speculation that the IRS was now weighing in against all cash balance plans. However, the IRS has said that the memo was a request from the field office for technical advice from the IRS National Office regarding a specific case and does not reflect the general position of the IRS. In a related matter, the IRS recently took a formal position against a cash balance plan in pending litigation before the U.S. Tax Court and cited grounds for disqualifying the plan. However, this cash balance plan is viewed as “atypical” and not representative of the majority of these types of plans.

The bottom line.
To date, the IRS has made no specific statements indicating that cash balance plans as a whole violate the law. The memo and case referred to above involve specific and unique fact situations. Pending a change in the law coming from Congress or general guidance from the IRS, cash balance plans are likely to continue.

Source: CCH Incorporated is a leading provider of information and software for human resources, legal, accounting, health care and small business professionals. CCH offers human resource management, payroll, employment, benefits, and worker safety products and publications in print, CD, online and via the Internet. For more information and other updates on the latest HR news, check our Web site at http://hr.cch.com.

Any contractor who receives a contract from the federal government for $25,000 or more, or any subcontractor who receives a contract from a covered contractor for $25,000 or more, is required to take affirmative action to hire and promote qualified special disabled veterans, veterans of the Vietnam-era, and any veterans who served on active duty during a war or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized. These contractors and subcontractors must file a VETS-100 Report on an annual basis.

The annual VETS-100 report is due on September 30, 1999. The report shows the number of targeted veterans in the contractor’s work force by job category, hiring location and number of new hires, including targeted veterans hired during the reporting period and the maximum number and minimum number of employees of the contractor during the period covered by the report.

New reporting requirements.
Two of the reporting requirements mentioned above are new this year. The newly added reporting requirements are:

1. “other eligible veterans,” which means veterans who served on active duty during a war or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized; and
2. the maximum number and minimum number of employees of the contractor or subcontractor during the period covered by the report.

These new reporting requirements were added by the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act, signed by President Clinton in October 1998. Since the Department of Labor’s Regulations are currently under revision to reflect these changes, and since some companies may incur an undue burden if required to report these items with little advance notice, the reporting of these items is optional for the VETS-100 Report due on September 30, 1999. However, this information will be required for the VETS-100 report in the year 2000.

Reports should be submitted to:

U.S. Department of Labor
VETS-100 Reporting
6101 Stevenson Avenue
Alexandria, VA 22304-3540

Electronic filing available.
An Internet web site (http://vets100.cudenver.edu) is available for electronic filing of VETS-100 Reports. This form of electronic reporting is most appropriate for those employers who otherwise would submit a small number of manually completed VETS-100 Report forms. Use of this web site for reporting is completely optional.

Contractors and subcontractors who are not in the VETS-100 database or who have questions should call the VETS-100 help-line at (703) 461-2460. When calling, the VETS-100 staff requests that you leave your company name, your company number (if known) and your telephone number. Questions can also be sent via e-mail to helpdesk@vets100.com. Please include your company name, your company number (if known), and your telephone number in the e-mail message.

Source: CCH Incorporated is a leading provider of information and software for human resources, legal, accounting, health care and small business professionals. CCH offers human resource management, payroll, employment, benefits, and worker safety products and publications in print, CD, online and via the Internet. For more information and other updates on the latest HR news, check our Web site at http://hr.cch.com.

Ever asked employees what incentive would most motivate them?

According to one recent study, 40% of employees said they wanted a trip to a destination of their choice. Twenty-three percent preferred a shopping spree. Another 19% chose home improvement items; 10% said season tickets to some sort of entertainment, and 4% chose electronics.

What’s the lesson for employers? That we should all start buying package deals at the local travel agency?

Probably not. If you re-read the results, you find that at least 56% of employees did not choose the vacation. The best reward (at least according to this survey) is probably either one that your employees have chosen together as a group, or one tailored to fit the needs and desires of individual employees.

SOURCE: Survey by American Express Incentive Services L.L.C. (AEIS), June 1999.