EMPLOYMENT

“Overtime Pay For Christmas” Since 1975, the share of employees who qualify for overtime pay has plummeted from 62% to 7% according to the Department of Labor. The solution? Under new rules announced by the Obama administration, 4.2 million American workers will become eligible for overtime pay effective December 1, 2016. Your new regulation double the current salary threshold for salaried employees who are guaranteed overtime pay from $23,660 ($455 per week) to $47,476 ($913 per week). Moreover, that threshold will increase over the next succeeding three years to ensure that it keeps up with inflation. As a Business People… Read More »OVERTIME PAY FOR CHRISTMAS

ORGANIZING WITHOUT UNIONIZING Did you know that your employees can organize, without “unionizing”, to get protection under federal labor laws? The National Labor Relations Act provides this alternative as a way to give employees more clout on the job by permitting workplace committees engaged in “protected concerted activity” to negotiate with an employer over wages and other terms and conditions of employment. The Act – enacted under President Franklin Roosevelt in 1935 – prohibit employers from retaliating against workers who join together to improve their working conditions. Employers typically think of the Act as a means of formal union organizing.… Read More »ORGANIZING WITHOUT UNIONIZING

For many small to mid-size companies, a personal problem or lawsuit can have a catastrophic effect upon the viability of the business. My Legal and Disaster Planning Audit will examine a wide range of issues. The topics that must be addressed are: Disaster Preparation and Planning: If all of your computers are stolen, do you have their serial numbers and the ability to recreate the data? If you have a heart attack tonight, is there a plan for the business to work without you? If you were unable to come into the office, could anyone find anything on your desk?… Read More »WHY YOU NEED A LEGAL DOCUMENT REVIEW

This is part of a “hands on guide” to assist you in the legal discipline and discharge of employees as presented by Fort Wayne Business Attorney Loren Allison, covering the following topics & more! Download your copy by clicking here (PDF) MINIMIZING THE RISK OF LITIGATION AFTER TERMINATION Just because a person has been terminated does not mean the company will not receive some mail from or about that person. For example, you may get: (1) a letter from the employee; (2) a letter from an attorney and, if the employee does not immediately get a job; (3) a request… Read More »EMPLOYEE DISCIPLINARY PROCESS (PART 6) – Practical Considerations Series

This is part of a “hands on guide” to assist you in the legal discipline and discharge of employees as presented by Fort Wayne Business Attorney Loren Allison, covering the following topics & more! Download your copy by clicking here (PDF) POST-TERMINATION EMPLOYEE BENEFITS The employee benefits law is a complex and highly regulated subject, encompassing such matter as wages, vacation pay, bonuses, sales commissions, qualified retirement plans, employer-provided insurance, and other fringe benefits. An employer who is not alert to the employee benefit implication of termination of employment can be exposed to considerable liability. For purposes of our discussion,… Read More »EMPLOYEE DISCIPLINARY PROCESS (PART 5) – Practical Considerations Series

This is part of a “hands on guide” to assist you in the legal discipline and discharge of employees as presented by Fort Wayne Business Attorney Loren Allison, covering the following topics & more! Download your copy by clicking here (PDF) TERMINATION OR RESIGNATION? 1. Resignation In order to make a legal difference, it is imperative that an employee voluntarily resigned. An employee who is told that unless he/ she resigns he/ she will be discharged, has not voluntarily resigned. If the resignation is involuntary, the former employee has precisely the same legal recourse he/ she would have had if… Read More »EMPLOYEE DISCIPLINARY PROCESS (PART 4) – Practical Considerations Series

This is part of a “hands on guide” to assist you in the legal discipline and discharge of employees as presented by Fort Wayne Business Attorney Loren Allison, covering the following topics & more! Download your copy by clicking here (PDF) THE MEETING—METHOD OF TERMINATION Make it confidential; Get to the point. If you are about to fire an employee, then there is no need to make small talk. The meeting will probably be tense anyway, and attempts to make it appear casual will serve only to increase the tension. By focusing on the individual and the circumstances that have… Read More »EMPLOYEE DISCIPLINARY PROCESS (PART 3) – Practical Considerations Series

This is part of a “hands on guide” to assist you in the legal discipline and discharge of employees as presented by Fort Wayne Business Attorney Loren Allison, covering the following topics & more! Download your copy by clicking here (PDF) REVIEW & INVESTIGATION PROCEDURE The possibility of an employee being “fired on the spot” for any offense should not even be a possibility. The maximum authority any supervisor should have is to suspend an employee pending further investigation. Immediate supervisors should be given the right to recommend termination but should not be permitted to fire an employee. Frequently, the… Read More »EMPLOYEE DISCIPLINARY PROCESS (PART 2) – Practical Considerations Series

This is part of a “hands on guide” to assist you in the legal discipline and discharge of employees as presented by Fort Wayne Business Attorney Loren Allison, covering the following topics & more! Download your copy by clicking here (PDF) CONSISTENCY Discipline must be meted out on a consistent basis. Two questions that employers should ask before deciding upon what discipline to mete out is: (1) “What actions have we taken in the past under similar circumstances?”; and (2) “Are there any circumstances that would justify departure from the practice?” Inconsistency in the application of discipline is a serious… Read More »EMPLOYEE DISCIPLINARY PROCESS (PART 1) – Practical Considerations Series

Although you probably do not have a union, Mark Pearce, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) Chairman, recently ruled that federal law has long protected the rights of employees to discuss work-related matters, as “protected concerted activity”, i.e. workers can discuss work conditions freely and without fear of retribution, whether the discussion takes place at the office or on Facebook. In addition to ordering the reinstatement of various workers employed by giants such as General Motors, Target, and Costco, the federal agency has pushed such companies to reinstatement workers fired from their posts on social networks, in a series of… Read More »SOCIAL NET SPEAK IS PROTECTED