Snow Days and Compliance FMLA Changes

Snow Days In Georgia-Are You in Violation? It doesn't happen often, but when it does, business leaders have to make a decision about closing the business due to weather.  It is critical that you are prepared before the snow comes.  Being prepared includes the following: Have a policy outlining the guidelines, pay, make up work,  reporting in, etc. Have a communication plan on how to communicate to employees about coming in late, or not at all  Make sure you are not in violation of FLSA. Non-exempt and exempt employees are treated differently.  You need to have in your policy if you will pay for an office closing, do you have a cap for the number of times you will pay and is there a way for non-exempt employees to make up the time they are out. Non-exempt: The employer might, for example, provide a fixed number of paid inclement weather days.  Often times employees will assume that if the business is closed, that they will automatically get paid.  Some businesses cannot afford to pay their team if they are not open. Other employers may be able to pay for a day or two, but are truly limited on what they can afford.  In these cases, a company has to be clear.  Employers typically are not in the business of paying employees for time not worked. If such time is paid, it is not working time and not counted toward hours worked for purposes of overtime calculations. Exempt: As for exempt employees, “the application of weather-related absences is more complicated. In the case where an employer is open for business but an exempt employee chooses to stay home, that employee is not entitled to pay for that day because he/she chose to remove himself from the workplace for personal reasons. If the employer has a PTO policy and the employee has accrued time, he can use the PTO to cover his absence. In the event there is no accrued PTO available, the employer can reduce the employee’s pay for the absence—in full-day increments—without violating the salary-basis” test of the FLSA. “However, when the employer decides to close for weather-related reasons, the employee’s full salary must be paid for the week even though he may not have worked the full workweek. In this scenario, the employee is available for work but it is the employer who has made the work unavailable to the employee.” Our team can assist you with developing a policy and a plan that will help ease this issue for you. Call at 770- 248-0401 for the guidelines and to learn more.  Holidays for 2015 - How do you compare? A recent SHRM survey of 492 HR professionals selected from the SHRM membership found that a majority of employers (94-97%) plan to observe New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas in 2015. Because Independence Day falls on a Saturday, 60% of organizations will be closed on Friday, July 3, the day before Independence Day. Few organizations plan to close their doors on religious holidays other than Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The top holidays that most organizations will observe in 2015 are: Christmas Day (97 percent) Thanksgiving Day (97 percent) New Year's Day (95 percent) Labor Day (95 percent) Memorial Day (94 percent) Independence Day, Saturday, July 4 (76 percent of businesses that open on Saturdays) Day after Thanksgiving (76 percent) Day before Independence Day (60 percent) Additionally, some employers (36 percent) offer floating holidays, which typically include one or two days of paid time off for holidays and events not observed by the organization.  DOL Revises FMLA Regulations  Definition of 'Spouse'  The U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL's) Feb. 25, 2015, revision to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) regulations' definition of "spouse" may be a surprise to business owners and managers, who need to be trained on the regulatory change.  The revision extends FMLA rights to eligible workers in same-sex marriages.  These changes take effect March 27, 2015. "This is what we were expecting after the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in United States v. Windsor, 133 S. Ct. 2675 (2013), which rendered unconstitutional Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act's definition of marriage under federal law as the union of a man and woman. Federal agencies were directed to review relevant federal regulations to implement the Windsor decision..  “The DOL reacted to Windsor by revising its guidance fact sheet as well as its field operations handbook to provide that for purposes of taking FMLA leave to care for a spouse, the term ‘spouse’ would be interpreted to mean ‘a husband or wife as defined or recognized under state law for purposes of marriage in the state where the employee resides, including common law marriage and same-sex marriage,’” Hollinshead said. “Then, this past June, the DOL issued a notice of proposed rule making (NPRM) and this final rule adopts the NPRM’s ‘place of celebration’ standard for determining the definition of spouse, as opposed to defining spouse based on the law of the state in which an employee resides.” Under the place of celebration standard, if an employee was married in New York but now resides in Tennessee, the employee will enjoy FMLA rights to care for his or her spouse since New York recognizes same-sex marriage. (Tennessee does not.) The revised definition of spouse encompasses individuals in a same-sex marriage that took place outside of the United States as long as the marriage was valid where it took place and could have been entered into in at least one state of the United States. The DOL noted in its fact sheet on the final rule that the definitional change means that eligible employees, regardless of where they live, will be able to take: FMLA leave to care for their lawfully married same-sex spouse with a serious health condition. Qualifying emergency leave due to their lawfully married same-sex spouse’s covered military service. Military caregiver leave for their lawfully married same-sex spouse. The change entitles eligible employees to take FMLA leave to care for a stepchild regardless of whether the in loco parents (in the place of parents) requirement of providing day-to-day care or financial support for the child is met, the DOL also noted. And the change entitles eligible employees to take FMLA leave to care for a stepparent who is a same-sex spouse of the employee’s parent, regardless of whether the stepparent ever stood in loco parents to the employee. DOL Revises FMLA Regulati ons’ Definiti on of ‘Spouse’ Civil Unions and Domes c Partners “Employers should be mindful that this new regulation covers individuals who enter into a same-sex marriage,” Nowak observed. “However, the FMLA does not protect civil unions or domestic partners, so employers are well-advised to determine whether one or the other applies in any particular situation. That said, employers should determine whether any state law may protect civil unions or domes(c partners.” He added, “Employers should be aware that this new regulation does not impact the in loco parents standard on which the DOL previously has opined. As the DOL notes in its FAQs to the new rule, the agency has consistently recognized that eligible employees may take leave to care for the child of the employee’s same -sex partner—married or unmarried—or the child of the employee's unmarried opposite-sex partner, provided that the employee meets the in loco parents requirement of providing day-to-day care or financial support for the child.” And employers can go beyond the FMLA requirement and offer other types of leave for couples in civil unions. “In addition, eligible employees in civil unions can take FMLA leave for their own serious health condition, for the birth of a child or the placement of a child for adoption or foster care and for bonding, to care for their child or parent with a serious health condition, and for qualifying military family leave reasons,” the DOL notes in its FAQs. Documenta tion “There are no changes to the manner in which an employer obtains documentation to confirm the spousal relationship,” Nowak said. “An employee can satisfy the requirement either by providing documentation such as a marriage license or a court document or by providing a simple statement asserting that the requisite family relationship exists. Employers should keep in mind that it is the employee’s choice whether to provide a simple statement or another type of document.”  Checklist: 15 questions to ask employees in their first 60 days Make it a point to meet with new hires within the first 60 days. Your goal: Discover their likes/dislikes about the job and environment, see if the job meets their expectations and nip potential problems in the bud.  Then, ask some of the following questions, adapting them to your own needs:Click here to view checklist. HR Partners, Inc. | 770-248-0401 | http://www.my-hrteam.com 3105 Medlock Bridge Road Norcross, GA 30071