Bring a Dog to Work Day

Want your office to go to the dogs the way some industry titans like Google and Amazon have?  It is estimated that roughly 1.4 million dog owners bring about 2.3 million of their pets to work with them daily. Pet-friendly work environments are becoming increasingly more popular and proving to have a significant impact on companies’ bottom lines.

There are many rewards for a company to become dog-friendly.

- WARM FUZZIES:

o Improved Quality of Life for Employees

o Increases Overall Office Morale

o Produces Team Bonding

o Relieves Stress

o Greater Employee Happiness and Satisfaction

- Employees who bring their dogs to work typically work longer hours, since they don’t have to worry about getting home to their pets.

- Productivity and Efficiency are greatly increased among employees who bring their dogs into the office with them.

- Workplace distinction that will separate you from your competition.

Moving towards a dog-friendly workplace may not be embraced by all employees. Some people do not like dogs, may have an allergy and/or are afraid of animals. It will be your responsibility as the employer to accommodate these people, too. This could be as simple as having a “dog-free” area of the office to installing a top of the line filtration system to diminish the effects dander and pet hair.

If you are going to create a dog-friendly workplace, there are a few things to keep in mind.

- Some industries may be prevented from having dogs by state law and/or local regulations.

- Make sure that your building will allow dogs inside.

- Obtain proper insurance to protect your company in case of injuries or damages.

- Create workplace rules regarding dogs, put them in writing as part of your Employee Handbook.

- Will you require proof of recently vaccinations? Free of fleas? Pet training?

- Will you permit all dogs in the office or those under a certain weight?

- Will the dogs be allowed in every part of the office?

- Where and how will dogs be kept if an employee needs to leave the office during the day?

- How will you deal with an aggressive dog?

- Create rules regarding cleaning up after the dogs.

If you are interested in becoming a dog-friendly workplace environment, start with a trial run. Invite your employees to bring their dogs on a certain day every week for a set period of time. See how it goes and affects your company. For more information, please contact Lowden & Associates, Inc. at 770-248-0401.

OSHA Annual Summary Posting by February 1, 2013

ATTENTION: OSHA expanded their scope and increased the amount of citations concerning the standards of recordkeeping. Employers who maintain the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s 300 Logs for workplace injuries and illnesses must post their 2012 annual summary by February 1, 2013. Forms can be found on the OSHA website.

All logs must be certified by an approved company executive who is considered to be:

1)      Company Owner

2)      An Officer of the corporation

3)      The highest-ranking company official working at the establishment

4)      The immediate supervisor of the highest-ranking company official working at the establishment.

The annual summary report requires that employers include a calculation of the annual average number of employees covered by the Log. Also required are the total hours worked by all covered employees. The requirement allows employers to compare the frequency of a significant occupational injury and illness at their workplace compared to other companies.

OSHA Logs must be posted for three consecutive months from February 1^st to April 30^th, even at companies that have no recordable injuries or illnesses. Employers have the responsibility to ensure that the posted annual summary is not altered, defaced or obscured at all during the entire posting period.

In 2013, OSHA will stay with a focus on recordkeeping in its National Emphasis Program (NEP) and enforcement focus. Employers should take time to carefully review the forms for technical errors and review all other materials to confirm all recordable incidents have been included properly.

For more information, contact Lowden & Associates, Inc. at 770-248-0401.

Court Strikes Down NLRB Due to Unconstitutional Appointees

The short-term fate of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is in real jeopardy as of Friday, January 25, 2013. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued a major blow against the NLRB in Noel Canning v. NLRB.

Led by Chief Judge David Santelle, the opinion was decided on purely constitutional grounds. They ruled that President Barack Obama’s three ‘recess appointments’ of NLRB Board Members in January of 2012 were not constitutionally permitted. The court ruled that the appointments were made when the Senate was not in recess and for “vacancies that did not ‘happen during the Recess of the Senate’ as required by Article II of the Constitution.” In the decision, the court cited the decision from the U.S. Supreme Court in the 2010 case New Process Steel v. NLRB, that without a proper quorum “the order under review is void ab initio (from the beginning).”

This case will most likely end up in the U.S. Supreme Court and if they side with the Court of Appeals, the judicial ruling could void every decision the NLRB has made since the last proper quorum. As of now, things look rather desolate for this government agency.

Board Chairman Mark Pearce (a non-affected appointee) released a defiant statement after the court’s decision vowing the board would “continue to perform our statutory duties and issue decisions.” If the ruling stands, this would put the NLRB in an even greater hole, creating even more cases that a future board will have to re-decide.

Lowden & Associates will stay on the developments of the NLRB’s fate and keep you posted. Stay tuned.