It’s Not Too Late for New Year’s Resolutions

1. is underway and its about time you cleaned out your in-box and checked everything off your 2010 to-do list. Here are a few places you should pay particular attention:

1) Have you updated your employee manual to make sure your FMLA policy includes military caregiver and qualifying exigency leave? Department of Labor regulations require that your policies identify all types of leave available under FMLA, so make sure these have been incorporated into your handbook. 2) The cases involving social media and its relationship to privacy rights, discrimination claims, labor law requirements, and legitimate discipline and discharge policies make this much very clear: consider your policies carefully and communicate them to your employees in writing. 3) With unemployment benefits available for up to 86 weeks, review your internal policies on introductory or try-out periods and make sure they are 30 days or less. If an employer terminates an employee before he completes 30 days of work, the employer is not responsible for any unemployment compensation. and 4) The Department of Labor will be ramping up enforcement efforts to catch employers who misclassify employees as exempt. Be proactive and audit your classifications. –David J. Sullivan