Category Archives: Best Practices

E.E.O.C. Updates Guidance on Hearing Impairments in the Workplace

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on January 24, 2023, announced an updated guidance document addressing hearing impairments in the workplace through the perspective of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The update is intended to assist employers and other interested persons navigate the A.D.A. as it applies specifically to hearing impairments on the job.

The updated guidance includes information about workplace hearing issues generally; about an employer’s acquiring and using medical information about an applicant or employee; about maintaining the confidentiality of medical information; about accommodating hearing impairments of applicants or employees; about safety concerns; about harassment; and about retaliation.

Other E.E.O.C. resources relating to disabilities in the workplace are linked here.

Planning for Coronavirus

We don’t know how disruptive the novel coronavirus will be, but there are reasons to believe that the virus, officially named Covid-19, will infect many people. Few workplaces will escape having to manage problems related to staffing and mission execution. Even if—or because—we can’t predict the scope of harm, it is necessary to prepare now. Adequate preparation is likely to be the only path to limiting the spread of the virus in the workplace and to preserving the viability of the organization.

The following is from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Updates to the information can be found here.

Interim Guidance for Businesses and Employers to Plan and Respond to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), February 2020

This interim guidance is based on what is currently known about the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will update this interim guidance as needed and as additional information becomes available.

CDC is working across the Department of Health and Human Services and across the U.S. government in the public health response to COVID-19. Much is unknown about how the virus that causes COVID-19 spreads. Current knowledge is largely based on what is known about similar coronaviruses.

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that are common in humans and many different species of animals, including camels, cattle, cats, and bats. Rarely, animal coronaviruses can infect people and then spread between people, such as with MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV. The virus that causes COVID-19 is spreading from person-to-person in China and some limited person-to-person transmission has been reported in countries outside China, including the United States. However, respiratory illnesses like seasonal influenza, are currently widespread in many US communities.

The following interim guidance may help prevent workplace exposures to acute respiratory illnesses, including COVID-19, in non-healthcare settings. The guidance also provides planning considerations if there are more widespread, community outbreaks of COVID-19.

To prevent stigma and discrimination in the workplace, use only the guidance described below to determine risk of COVID-19. Do not make determinations of risk based on race or country of origin, and be sure to maintain confidentiality of people with confirmed COVID-29. There is much more to learn about the transmissibility, severity, and other features of COVID-19 and investigations are ongoing. Updates are available on CDC’s web page at www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/covid19.

Recommended Strategies for Employers

Actively encourage sick employees to stay home:

  • Employees who have symptoms of acute respiratory illness are recommended to stay home and not come to work until they are free of fever (100.4° F [37.8° C] or greater using an oral thermometer), signs of a fever, and any other symptoms for at least 24 hours, without the use of fever-reducing or other symptom-altering medicines (e.g. cough suppressants). Employees should notify their supervisor and stay home if they are sick.
  • Ensure that your sick leave policies are flexible and consistent with public health guidance and that employees are aware of these policies.
  • Talk with companies that provide your business with contract or temporary employees about the importance of sick employees staying home and encourage them to develop non-punitive leave policies.
  • Do not require a healthcare provider’s note for employees who are sick with acute respiratory illness to validate their illness or to return to work, as healthcare provider offices and medical facilities may be extremely busy and not able to provide such documentation in a timely way.
  • Employers should maintain flexible policies that permit employees to stay home to care for a sick family member. Employers should be aware that more employees may need to stay at home to care for sick children or other sick family members than is usual.

Separate sick employees:

  • CDC recommends that employees who appear to have acute respiratory illness symptoms (i.e. cough, shortness of breath) upon arrival to work or become sick during the day should be separated from other employees and be sent home immediately. Sick employees should cover their noses and mouths with a tissue when coughing or sneezing (or an elbow or shoulder if no tissue is available).

Emphasize staying home when sick, respiratory etiquette, and hand hygiene by all employee:

  • Place posters that encourage staying home when sick, cough and sneeze etiquette, and hand hygiene at the entrance to your workplace and in other workplace areas where they are likely to be seen.
  • Provide tissues and no-touch disposal receptacles for use by employees.
  • Instruct employees to clean their hands often with an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60-95% alcohol, or wash their hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Soap and water should be used preferentially if hands are visibly dirty.
  • Provide soap and water and alcohol-based hand rubs in the workplace. Ensure that adequate supplies are maintained. Place hand rubs in multiple locations or in conference rooms to encourage hand hygiene.
  • Visit the coughing and sneezing etiquette and clean hands webpage for more information.

Perform routine environmental cleaning:

  • Routinely clean all frequently touched surfaces in the workplace, such as workstations, countertops, and doorknobs. Use the cleaning agents that are usually used in these areas and follow the directions on the label.
  • No additional disinfection beyond routine cleaning is recommended at this time.
  • Provide disposable wipes so that commonly used surfaces (for example, doorknobs, keyboards, remote controls, desks) can be wiped down by employees before each use.

Advise employees before traveling to take certain steps:

  • Check the CDC’s Traveler’s Health Notices for the latest guidance and recommendations for each country to which you will travel. Specific travel information for travelers going to and returning from China, and information for aircrew, can be found at on the CDC website.
  • Advise employees to check themselves for symptoms of acute respiratory illness before starting travel and notify their supervisor and stay home if they are sick.
  • Ensure employees who become sick while traveling or on temporary assignment understand that they should notify their supervisor and should promptly call a healthcare provider for advice if needed.
  • If outside the United States, sick employees should follow your company’s policy for obtaining medical care or contact a healthcare provider or overseas medical assistance company to assist them with finding an appropriate healthcare provider in that country. A U.S. consular officer can help locate healthcare services. However, U.S. embassies, consulates, and military facilities do not have the legal authority, capability, and resources to evacuate or give medicines, vaccines, or medical care to private U.S. citizens overseas.

Additional Measures in Response to Currently Occurring Sporadic Importations of the COVID-19

  • Employees who are well but who have a sick family member at home with COVID-19 should notify their supervisor and refer to CDC guidance for how to conduct a risk assessment of their potential exposure.
  • If an employee is confirmed to have COVID-19, employers should inform fellow employees of their possible exposure to COVID-19 in the workplace but maintain confidentiality as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Employees exposed to a co-worker with confirmed COVID-19 should refer to CDC guidance for how to conduct a risk assessment of their potential exposure.

Planning for a Possible COVID-19 Outbreak in the US

The severity of illness or how many people will fall ill from COVID-19 is unknown at this time. If there is evidence of a COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S., employers should plan to be able to respond in a flexible way to varying levels of severity and be prepared to refine their business response plans as needed. For the general American public, such as workers in non-healthcare settings and where it is unlikely that work tasks create an increased risk of exposures to COVID-19, the immediate health risk from COVID-19 is considered low. The CDC and its partners will continue to monitor national and international data on the severity of illness caused by COVID-19, will disseminate the results of these ongoing surveillance assessments, and will make additional recommendations as needed.

Planning Considerations

All employers need to consider how best to decrease the spread of acute respiratory illness and lower the impact of COVID-19 in their workplace in the event of an outbreak in the US. They should identify and communicate their objectives, which may include one or more of the following: (a) reducing transmission among staff, (b) protecting people who are at higher risk for adverse health complications, (c) maintaining business operations, and (d) minimizing adverse effects on other entities in their supply chains. Some of the key considerations when making decisions on appropriate responses are:

  • Disease severity (i.e., number of people who are sick, hospitalization and death rates) in the community where the business is located;
  • Impact of disease on employees that are vulnerable and may be at higher risk for COVID-19 adverse health complications. Inform employees that some people may be at higher risk for severe illness, such as older adults and those with chronic medical conditions.
  • Prepare for possible increased numbers of employee absences due to illness in employees and their family members, dismissals of early childhood programs and K-12 schools due to high levels of absenteeism or illness:
    • Employers should plan to monitor and respond to absenteeism at the workplace. Implement plans to continue your essential business functions in case you experience higher than usual absenteeism.
    • Cross-train personnel to perform essential functions so that the workplace is able to operate even if key staff members are absent.
    • Assess your essential functions and the reliance that others and the community have on your services or products. Be prepared to change your business practices if needed to maintain critical operations (e.g., identify alternative suppliers, prioritize customers, or temporarily suspend some of your operations if needed).
  • Employers with more than one business location are encouraged to provide local managers with the authority to take appropriate actions outlined in their business infectious disease outbreak response plan based on the condition in each locality.
  • Coordination with state and local health officials is strongly encouraged for all businesses so that timely and accurate information can guide appropriate responses in each location where their operations reside. Since the intensity of an outbreak may differ according to geographic location, local health officials will be issuing guidance specific to their communities.

Important Considerations for Creating an Infectious Disease Outbreak Response Plan

All employers should be ready to implement strategies to protect their workforce from COVID-19 while ensuring continuity of operations. During a COVID-19 outbreak, all sick employees should stay home and away from the workplace, respiratory etiquette and hand hygiene should be encouraged, and routine cleaning of commonly touched surfaces should be performed regularly.

Employers should:

  • Ensure the plan is flexible and involve your employees in developing and reviewing your plan.
  • Conduct a focused discussion or exercise using your plan, to find out ahead of time whether the plan has gaps or problems that need to be corrected.
  • Share your plan with employees and explain what human resources policies, workplace and leave flexibilities, and pay and benefits will be available to them.
  • Share best practices with other businesses in your communities (especially those in your supply chain), chambers of commerce, and associations to improve community response efforts.

Recommendations for an Infectious Disease Outbreak Response Plan:

  • Identify possible work-related exposure and health risks to your employees. OSHA has more information on how to protect workers from potential exposures to COVID-19.
  • Review human resources policies to make sure that policies and practices are consistent with public health recommendations and are consistent with existing state and federal workplace laws (for more information on employer responsibilities, visit the Department of Labor’sexternal icon and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’sexternal icon websites).
  • Explore whether you can establish policies and practices, such as flexible worksites (e.g., telecommuting) and flexible work hours (e.g., staggered shifts), to increase the physical distance among employees and between employees and others if state and local health authorities recommend the use of social distancing strategies. For employees who are able to telework, supervisors should encourage employees to telework instead of coming into the workplace until symptoms are completely resolved. Ensure that you have the information technology and infrastructure needed to support multiple employees who may be able to work from home.
  • Identify essential business functions, essential jobs or roles, and critical elements within your supply chains (e.g., raw materials, suppliers, subcontractor services/products, and logistics) required to maintain business operations. Plan for how your business will operate if there is increasing absenteeism or these supply chains are interrupted.
  • Set up authorities, triggers, and procedures for activating and terminating the company’s infectious disease outbreak response plan, altering business operations (e.g., possibly changing or closing operations in affected areas), and transferring business knowledge to key employees. Work closely with your local health officials to identify these triggers.
  • Plan to minimize exposure between employees and also between employees and the public, if public health officials call for social distancing.
  • Establish a process to communicate information to employees and business partners on your infectious disease outbreak response plans and latest COVID-19 information. Anticipate employee fear, anxiety, rumors, and misinformation, and plan communications accordingly.
  • In some communities, early childhood programs and K-12 schools may be dismissed, particularly if COVID-19 worsens. Determine how you will operate if absenteeism spikes from increases in sick employees, those who stay home to care for sick family members, and those who must stay home to watch their children if dismissed from school. Businesses and other employers should prepare to institute flexible workplace and leave policies for these employees.
  • Local conditions will influence the decisions that public health officials make regarding community-level strategies; employers should take the time now to learn about plans in place in each community where they have a business.
  • If there is evidence of a COVID-19 outbreak in the US, consider canceling non-essential business travel to additional countries per travel guidance on the CDC website.
    • Travel restrictions may be enacted by other countries which may limit the ability of employees to return home if they become sick while on travel status.
    • Consider cancelling large work-related meetings or events.

Resources for More Information

CDC Guidance

Other Federal Agencies and Partners

 

Go Beyond Compliance To Minimize Claims

Joe Nierenberg recently presented at the 2017 Minnesota Society for Human Resource Professionals state conference. The title of the presentation was, “Two (Relatively) Simple Ways to Reduce Risk.” The slide deck is presented here. Speaker notes are provided for each slide that has a comment icon in the upper left corner; just hover your cursor over the icon. (Note that the comments layer may not be visible on mobile browsers.)

Although there are notes, this was an hour-long presentation, and the discussion and robust Q&A session were not recorded. If your organization would like to host or attend a presentation on this subject, please contact us.

Using the Uber Report
To Improve Your Organization

There is probably no plaque hanging in the headquarters of Uber Technologies Inc. with P.T. Barnum’s adage, “There’s no such thing as bad publicity.”  The upstart ride sharing service has come into its own share of disruption following allegations of law avoidance software, a culture of sexual harassment, wage-related lawsuits, and regulatory scrutiny of its core business model. Recent allegations about its frat-house culture resulted in its Board of Directors hiring former Attorney-General Eric Holder to engage in a sweeping review of its workplace culture and complaint-handling systems. 

The Uber Report

Holder’s full report is not publicly available as of this writing, but Uber has released a twelve page set of recommendations. Although they derive from interviews and focus groups with the company’s employees, the recommendations follow best practices for organizational effectiveness, respectful workplaces, and a diverse workforce.

Some of the recommendations refer to particular circumstances within Uber, but most of them are nevertheless applicable to all other organizations. Even those portions of the recommendations that are most specific to Uber, such as recommended changes to its senior leadership, include core principles that should be considered by other organizations, such as holding senior leaders accountable with “metrics that are tied to improving diversity, responsiveness to employee complaints, employee satisfaction, and compliance.”

In addition to the section on senior leadership, there are multipart sections on Board oversight, internal controls, review of cultural values, training, improvements to the HR and complaint-handling process, diversity and inclusivity enhancements, changes in employee policies and practices, review of employee retention factors, and review of compensation practices.

Using Their Recommendations as Your Checklist

These areas should be viewed as a checklist by other organizations: areas to review in a deliberative way to ensure regulatory compliance, market relevance, and employee engagement. Organizations, whether public or private, large or small, can achieve sharper focus and manage their employment-related risks by having organizational values that are consistent and modeled by leadership; holding persons accountable for achieving, or failing to achieve, value-based objectives; designing effective systems for reaching organizational goals, and supporting them with sufficient skills and resources; and developing practices that promote and fulfill a sense of fairness.

The Holder-Uber recommendations provide a window into some of the granular steps necessary to accomplish those goals. We recommend that executive leadership review the report and assess their organization’s related strengths and deficiencies.

We are here to assist the effort. We have engaged in workplace climate assessments and strategic discussions around the same issues addressed in the report. If you would like to discuss your options, please call or contact us.

Still Using Old F.M.L.A. Forms?

Many employers covered by the federal Family and Medical Leave Act are still using forms from the U.S. Department of Labor that expired in 2012. Newer forms, which are good through May 31, 2018, are available from Labor’s web site.

There are several reasons to use the current forms. Perhaps the most important reason is that the current F.M.L.A.-related forms include “safe harbor” text to avoid inadvertently violating the Genetic Information Nondisclosure Act (“GINA”). That law prohibits an employer’s discriminating against an employee “because of genetic information with respect to the employee….” The safe harbor text, incorporated into the newer F.M.L.A. forms, precludes liability under GINA from an employer’s unintential receipt of an employee’s genetic information during the interactive process or other F.M.L.A.-related activities.

If you’re not already using the current Department of Labor forms or other forms revised to include the GINA safe harbor provided at 29 C.F.R. §1635.8(b)(1)(i)(B), it would be prudent to update soon.

Guidance on Implementing the New Overtime Salary Threshold

When a new development arises in employment or labor law, our clients often learn about it from their newsletter subscriptions. Then they come to us for guidance on implementation: the implications of various options, managing conflicts with other policies or procedures, harmonious drafting, etc. That pattern does not appear to be working for the recent change in federal overtime regulations.

While the newsletters did a good job of announcing the change, our clients and others have been left asking many questions. Fortunately, those questions have answers.

How Should the Rule Change Be Implemented?

One of the questions concerns the fundamental issue of how to implement the change for currently exempt employees whose compensation is below the new threshold. In Minnesota there are four ways to manage this, when increasing the worker’s salary to retain the exemption is not practical. Some states do not allow all of these options.

The simplest way is to compute the person’s average hourly wage based on their current schedule and compensation; work backward to determine what the hourly rate should be, given the specific frequency of overtime hours; pay them as nonexempt, including overtime at the 1.5 rate. This approach, which would work in most situations, entails the least disruption.

A second way is to continue paying them a fixed salary, which would compensate them for a workweek of fluctuating hours. This approach still requires that overtime be paid, but at the reduced rate of 0.5 their regular rate. Again, there should be a preliminary computation of the current average hourly rate, factor in the frequency of overtime, and calculate a new weekly salary. The regular rate in these cases must be recalculated weekly, and there are several preconditions necessary for this approach to be lawful.

The third approach is still to pay a fixed salary for a fluctuating workweek, but the salary includes all overtime (up to an aggregate of sixty hours worked per workweek). This third approach requires more preconditions in place than the second approach, and therefore applies to the fewest situations.

Finally, the only approach which does not involve overtime is to reduce the affected employee’s hours to forty per week, and to hire or assign a different person to work the balance of hours necessary to accomplish the job’s requirements. This approach is the most disruptive, because it reduces the affected employee’s compensation, inserts an additional person into the mix, and risks increasing the employer’s non-wage benefit costs.

Selecting which approach to use in restructuring an affected employee’s compensation depends on several factors, including the requirements of the specific jobs; the employer’s budget, in terms of both dollars and flexibility; the terms of any applicable contracts; retention issues; and the employer’s objectives. Implementing the first and fourth approaches may not require an attorney’s assistance. The second and third approaches should be undertaken only after consulting with a knowledgeable attorney or other specialist in wage and hour law.

What Effect Will the Rule Change Have On Labor Costs?

Another concern being voiced frequently is how to fit the rule change into an existing personnel cost structure. The budget is one of the drivers in selecting one of the four options above. If the appropriate preconditions exist, implementing the rule change could be cost-neutral; otherwise, there will be a change to the labor cost. Selecting an implementation option, therefore, involves understanding the alternatives, defining the relevant factors noted above, and ranking them.

How Can These Changes Be Communicated With Least Disruption?

Another question heard frequently is how to communicate these changes. The first step in addressing this issue is to determine whether the possible problem is one of prestige or money. Some employees may bristle at no longer being considered exempt. Most employees would bristle at a decrease in compensation, particularly if their overtime hours and associated wages will be given to a different person. Changes in label from exempt to nonexempt are easier to manage, although the emotional aspect of a classification change should not be underestimated. Communicating financial changes is more difficult. In those cases, it is often advisable to explain the problem with the affected employee and to solicit ideas; again, the emotional piece is important.

Additional issues are discussed in another article on this site. See “Trade Secrets, Overtime, and Other Priority Developments.”

Do you have questions or solutions not discussed above? We’re interested to hear them. You can add a Comment or send us an e-mail. And, of course, we’re available to answer questions and to assist with the transition.

Trade Secrets, Overtime, and Other Priority Developments

It’s been a busy time in the world of employment law. A few recent developments have particular priority for human resources managers and general business lawyers. This post concerns three of those developments: trade secrets, overtime exemptions, and changes to the E.E.O.-1 form.

New Trade Secret Protections and Requirements

One development concerns proprietary and confidential information. A new law offers the first federal protections for trade secrets. It’s an important law. Part of it authorizes the seizure of things that were used in the process of allegedly diverting trade secrets, such as computers and storage media. That’s an important contingency that should be considered when provisioning critical hardware, proprietary software, and network access.

Another part of the law requires the supplementation of all agreements with employees and contractors which addresses confidential information or trade secrets. Those materials must now contain a notice to employees (or reference to a separate, available document) to the effect that trade secrets may be used in a limited fashion to engage in whistleblowing activity or in employment litigation alleging whistleblower retaliation.

In light of the Defend Trade Secrets Act, employee agreements, handbook policies, and other materials which contain provisions on trade secrets should be reviewed and supplemented with appropriate text as soon as possible. (And, of course, this is a good opportunity to be sure that other developments from the past few years are properly implemented, such as Minnesota’s Women’s Economic Security Act and the N.L.R.B.’s application of Section 7 to handbook and other employee policies.)

New Overtime Eligibility Rule, Pay Equity, and the E.E.O.-1

Most employers by now have received multiple announcements of the final rule issued last month by the U.S. Department of Labor concerning the increased salary threshold required to be exempt from overtime. Organizations should review their options on classifying and compensating affected employees. There are several ways to proceed in compliance with the regulation, depending on employer objectives.

Just complying with the new rule, though, could leave an organization vulnerable to adverse assessments in the near future, assuming that the categories of data required for the E.E.O.-1 form expand as planned. Here’s why, and what to do:

All organizations with 100 employees and many smaller organizations must file an E.E.O.-1 annually with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The form includes information on current employees by job category, ethnicity, and sex. If the current rulemaking proceeds as planned, the form will also include twelve compensation bands. Now hold that thought….

There’s been a resumption in the discussions among some circles about comparable worth analyses. The comparable worth approach seeks to close the gender-based pay gap by comparing compensation by gender within “comparable,” but not “equal,” jobs. Minnesota and California have long required comparable pay assessments in the public sector. Minnesota now also requires comparable pay for private and third sector employers with at least forty employees having government contracts of at least a half-million dollars. There is an increased focus, and in some areas also legislative activity, around employee protections for discussing compensation issues. Add in the increase in data collection, analysis, and dissemination that current technologies and vendors are providing, and it seems likely that there will be an increase in lawsuits attempting to prove sex discrimination through a deep analysis of how employers have arrived at gender disparities in the compensation of comparable, but not equal, jobs. Let’s go back to those E.E.O.-1 changes.

The new form will funnel multiple jobs and job categories into a dozen compensation-based bands for employers (and sufficiently related employer groups) having 100 employees. By doing so, the information will help the government to assess the distribution of jobs by compensation level as well as by the various other attributes entered into the form.

The information should also help employers to smooth out gender- (and other non-job-) based inequities, whether derived from bias, history, or other sources. Smoothing out those arguable inequities would minimize exposure to a range of problems based on a comparable worth analysis, including investor inquiries, government contract compliance, and even discrimination claims, which have generally been unsuccessful but are showing signs of making a comeback. And what might happen if the EEO-1 shows inequities that are not self-remedied? In litigation, the information would likely become available (from the employer, not the government) to plaintiffs challenging job bias.

Now let’s go back to that new F.L.S.A. regulation. Employers should review the overtime classifications of currently exempt workers who make less than the new salary threshold. They could take this opportunity to review, as well, their other employees’ overtime classifications. But any adjustments employers make—e.g., to classification, compensation levels, compensation mechanisms, reporting lines—should anticipate the forthcoming E.E.O.-1 requirements. This is a good time to rationalize classifications and compensation, and to develop a plan to squeeze out any vestige of bias in the way that employees are compensated and assigned. More guidance on ways to implement the new rule will appear in a later post.

A comprehensive approach to these issues also answers one of the common questions raised by the new F.L.S.A. regulation: “How do I communicate the effects of the rule change to my workforce?” Communicating a systematic review of compensation to make the process more transparent and more equitable can increase an employee’s perception of fairness; and research indicates that increased perceptions of fairness result in a decreased litigation risk. (Other elements to communicate in the course of implementing the regulation depend on employer objectives and choices, but the message to employees need not be negative and the effect on employer budgets need not be extreme.) More information on the subject of communication will appear in a later post.

Note that employers are likely to have an obligation to bargain over one or more aspects of compensation adjustments for unionized employees. The scope of the bargaining duty will depend on the specific collective bargaining relationship, including both contract language and past practice.

A careful implementation of the new overtime salary rule could be an affordable opportunity to improve morale, enhance recruiting and retention, minimize bias-related exposure to liability, and promote regulatory compliance. Let us know if we can help.

Workplace Speech: What is Permitted, and What is Prohibited

Employee speech is a complex and developing area. The rules are scattered among otherwise unrelated laws, enforcement guidelines, and employer policies. The reputational, morale, and financial consequences of noncompliance can be significant.

Employers are expected to comply with laws affecting speech in the workplace, but they have few helpful resources. The professional and lay resources that are available tend to focus on single areas such as free speech rights for public employees or protected concerted action in the context of social media. In contrast, the laws governing speech in the workplace derive from many sources, including constitutional and statutory restrictions on a government’s use or disclosure of data; Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (N.L.R.A.), which applies to many nonunion as well as unionized workplaces; the Privacy and Security Rules of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA); Title VII (of the Civil Rights Act of 1964); Title IX (of the Education Amendments of 1972); and many other sources.

Assisting employers to navigate these waters, Joe Nierenberg delivered a presentation on the topic to the 2015 Minnesota conference of the Society of Human Resources Managers (MN SHRM). The session addressed the types of employee speech that an employer must allow and the types of speech that an employer can restrict. Attendees learned the general principles that apply, and discussed specific policies that had been ruled lawful or unlawful. The presentation wove together the most common rules on workplace speech, and assessed them under four principles: what speech is prohibited; what speech is permitted; when the allowance or proscription is mandatory; and when the allowance or proscription depends on context. The session objectives included more compliant and confident management of policies, procedures, training, and discipline.

Presentation slides never tell the whole story of a live training program with audience discussion, but here’s the deck that was part of the session. Please note that all rights are reserved to Nierenberg Employment Law; that, because viewing alone is an incomplete experience, the slides alone should not be relied upon as legal advice; and that the slides are current only as of October 13, 2015.

You can view or download the slides here.

If you are interested in training your executives or managers to comply with workplace speech rules, or wish to discuss other available topics, please contact us.

Preparing for the Flu

The influenza season approaches. This year the several seasonal virus varieties are joined by a new strain that requires planning and preparation. Previously called “swine flu” and now sometimes known as Pandemic H1N1, the new strain combines the familiar symptoms and dangers of influenza with the concerning prospect of mutation into more severe forms that could spread quickly.

Summary

Employers of all sizes in all industries should prepare now for Pandemic H1N1 influenza outbreaks in their communities. Some preparations are common to all grades of potential outbreak, from mild to severe, and require some thought but limited advance planning. Other preparations, more appropriate for a severe outbreak, require advance planning. The time to develop those plans is now.

Prepare for increased absences. Sending sick workers home and keeping them there until they are better will control the spread of the disease and limit operational interruptions. Family-related leave policies should be reviewed and, if necessary, modified in order to accommodate the likely prospect of schools’ dismissing students and child care programs’ closing.

Encourage relevant hygiene. Post notices about covering coughing mouths and sneezing noses. Ensure availability of soap and tissue. Increase the frequency of surface cleaning.

Plan now for steps that will become necessary if an outbreak becomes more severe. Work environments and processes may need modification to increase distances between workers. Health screening that complies with state and federal law may be advisable in some circumstances.

From the Centers for Disease Control:

Actions Employers Should Take Now

* Review or establish a flexible influenza pandemic plan and involve your employees in developing and reviewing your plan;

* Conduct a focused discussion or exercise using your plan, to find out ahead of time whether the plan has gaps or problems that need to be corrected before flu season;

* Have an understanding of your organization’s normal seasonal absenteeism rates and know how to monitor your personnel for any unusual increases in absenteeism through the fall and winter.

* Engage state and local health department to confirm channels of communication and methods for dissemination of local outbreak information;

* Allow sick workers to stay home without fear of losing their jobs;

* Develop other flexible leave policies to allow workers to stay home to care for sick family members or for children if schools dismiss students or child care programs close;

* Share your influenza pandemic plan with employees and explain what human resources policies, workplace and leave flexibilities, and pay and benefits will be available to them;

* Share best practices with other businesses in your communities (especially those in your supply chain), chambers of commerce, and associations to improve community response efforts; and

* Add a “widget” or “button” to your company Web page or employee Web sites so employees can access the latest information on influenza: www.cdc.gov/widgets/ and www.cdc.gov/SocialMedia/Campaigns/H1N1/buttons.html

Important Components of an Influenza Pandemic Plan

* Be prepared to implement multiple measures to protect workers and ensure business continuity. A layered approach will likely work better than using just one measure.

* Identify possible work-related exposure and health risks to your employees. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has developed tools to determine if your employees are at risk of work-related exposures and, if so, how to respond (see www.osha.gov/dsg/topics/pandemicflu/index.html).

* Review human resources policies to make sure that policies and practices are consistent with public health recommendations and are consistent with existing state and federal workplace laws (for more information on employer responsibilities, employers should visit the Department of Labor’s and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s websites at www.dol.gov and www.eeoc.gov).

* Allow employees to stay home if they are ill, have to care for ill family members, or must watch their children if schools or childcare facilities close.

* Explore whether you can establish policies and practices, such as flexible worksites (e.g., telecommuting) and flexible work hours (e.g., staggered shifts), when possible, to increased the physical distance among employees and between employees and others if local public health authorities recommend the use of social distancing strategies. Ensure that you have the information technology and infrastructure needed to support multiple workers who may be able to work from home.

* Identify essential business functions, essential jobs or roles, and critical elements within your supply chains (e.g., raw materials, suppliers, subcontractor services/products, and logistics) required to maintain business operations. Plan for how your business will operate if there is increasing absenteeism or these supply chains are interrupted.

* Set up authorities, triggers, and procedures for activating and terminating the company’s response plan, altering business operations (e.g., possibly changing or closing operations in affected areas), and transferring business knowledge to key employees. Work closely with your local health officials to identify these triggers.

* Plan to minimize exposure to fellow employees or the public if public health officials call for social distancing.

* Establish a process to communicate information to workers and business partners on your 2009 H1N1 influenza response plans and latest 2009 H1N1 influenza information. Anticipate employee fear, anxiety, rumors, and misinformation, and plan communications accordingly.

Resources

The following bulletins should be distributed to managers with relevant responsibilities:

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