March 2014 Newsletter

Welcome to the Four Point HR Newsletter

What Does Reasonable Accommodation Mean With Regard To Religion?

One of the many things that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits is Discrimination based on religious beliefs.   This same act requires that employers make a “reasonable accommodation” of “sincerely held religious beliefs” when requested by an employee.

A few definitions may help to better understand this particular part of the law:

  • A Religious Belief under Title VII is defined as “all aspects of religious observance and practice”.  Examples include:
    • Theistic beliefs (and Non-Theistic moral or ethical beliefs which are sincerely held)
    • Ultimate ideas about life purpose and death
    • All Beliefs, Observances and Practices are protected
  • Sincerely Held Factors that Employers may consider — when making an accommodation:
    • Does the employee behave in a manner consistent with professed beliefs?
    • Is the accommodation sought for secular reasons only?
    • Is the timing of the request in question?

Most employees bring reasonable requests to their employers, and employers grant the time or request as long as the employee meets the above basic parameters.

Please remember:  Religious Harassment is also a violation of Title VII and occurs when employees are:

  • Required or coerced to abandon, alter, or adopt a religious practice as a condition of employment or
  • Subjected to a hostile work environment based on the employee’s religion.

I am sure that all clients are aware that, an Employer is liable for any kind of Harassment if it resulted in any tangible employee action, or if anyone is made to feel “uncomfortable in the workplace”.  (Tangible employee actions are those that may materially impact the employee.)

The Employer may avoid liability if:

  • It can be shown that the Employer exercised reasonable care to prevent and promptly correct any harassing behavior OR,
  • It can be shown that the employee failed to take advantage of any preventative or corrective opportunities.

Finally, Employers can also be held liable for co-workers’ conduct if he/she knew, or should have known about the harassment, but failed to take prompt and appropriate action to correct the situation.  (Any time managers have direct control over an employee population, they need to be aware of any type of harassing behavior that may be occurring in their work units.)

This is a very broad subject, so I welcome questions from our clients on any part of this topic at any time.  Please contact Kathryn Schene, Director of Human Resources, FPHR at 727-504-9796.

The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act (PPACA)
Part 2 – The Employer Responsibility

Since 2010 and the initial enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), there have been thousands of articles, explanations (pro and con) outlining the plan’s contents and the effect that it has on both employers and employees.

The goal of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was to help decrease the number of Americans who do not have health insurance, as well as to help reduce the overall cost of health care in the United States.  The PPACA also put in place many regulations to help to protect the benefit and level of service individuals receive from their health care providers.

If you currently offer a major medical plan, the new regulations will have little impact on you and your employees.  However, it is imperative that your plan is compliant with the new law.  To be compliant with the PPACA provisions, the plan will have to offer coverage to 95% of employees is affordable and meets minimum value.

  • Coverage is “affordable” if the employee pays no more than 9.5% of household income toward the cost of coverage.  This means less than 9.5% of the employee’s W-2 income for single coverage.
  • “Minimum value” means that the policy or plan provides 60% or more of the cost of average expected medical costs in the year.  However, if your plan offers coverage to 95% of employees, but the coverage is not “affordable” for all employees or does not provide “minimum value”, then the employer must pay a penalty.

The annual employer mandate fee (officially called an Employer Shared Responsibility Payment or “pay or play”) is a per employee fee for employers with over 50 full-time equivalent employees (FTEs), not just full-time employees.  The full-time equivalent calculation includes part-time and seasonal employees to determine the threshold number of 50 workers.  The employer can use any 6-month measurement period to determine the number of FTEs.  The annual fee is $2,000 per employee if insurance isn’t offered (the first 30 full-time employees are exempt).  If at least one full-time employee receives a premium tax credit because coverage is either unaffordable or does not cover 60% of total costs, the employer must pay the lesser of $3,000 for each of those employees receiving a credit or $750 for each of their full-time employees total.

  • For employers who employ fewer than 50 full-time employees (including full-time equivalents) in the prior calendar year are not subject to the Employer Shared Responsibility provisions.  However by providing coverage, you may qualify for a tax credit of up to 35% to offset the cost of your insurance.  To be eligible, you must cover at least 50% of the cost of single (not family) health care coverage for each of your employees.  You must also have fewer than 25 full-time equivalent employees (FTEs).  Those employees must have average wages of less than $50,000 per year.  Remember, insurance must be purchased through the SHOP Marketplace to qualify.  The credit is designed to encourage small employers to offer health insurance coverage for the first time or maintain existing coverage that you may already have.  In essence, the credit is available to small employers that pay at least half the cost of single coverage for their employees.
  • For employers with the 50 to 99 full-time employees – the employer mandate will not take effect until 2016.  [According to the Treasury Department, the mandatory employer mandate has been delayed for an additional year.] 
  • For employers with 100+ full-time employees offering coverage to 70% of their full-time employees will be counted as fulfilling the employer mandate in 2015.  This is a temporary measure because as of 2016, large employers will have to provide coverage to 95% of employees as well.

The delay in implementing the mandate will allow you time to get ahead of the compliance regulations.  You can use this time to do the following:

  • If you have not been providing insurance, investigate your options.  If you have 50 or more FTEs, you may have to pay a fee if you don’t provide adequate affordable insurance; and
  • If you do provide insurance, make sure your health plan meets these requirements:
  • Is adequate and affordable;
  • Does not exclude people with pre-existing medical conditions;
  • Does not put an annual or lifetime limit on coverage;
  • Does not make new employees wait more than 90-days for coverage;
  • Provides coverage for employee’s adult children up to age 26;
  • Provides essential benefits (i.e., check-ups, immunizations, etc.)

The rules are complex and apparently are still changing.  We will continue to advise you of those changes as they occur.

How Has Social Media Changed Hiring Practices?

Use of Social Media platforms have experienced exponential growth over the past few years within the business world. Many people associate Public Relations and Marketing campaigns with Social Media, but how has this evolving plethora of platforms affected the Human Resources aspect of business? Social Media can be seen as a double-edged sword in the hiring field.

Candidate Recruiting

According to the Society for Human Resource Management, 76% of companies utilize or plan on utilizing Social Media for Candidate Recruitment. Recruitment can be a hefty expense for companies both monetarily as well as the time involved. The jobs section of the classifieds is now available anytime anywhere through social media. Companies can receive applications and resumes 24/7. There is no wait time for copy to be printed and delivered. Employers can also learn more about candidates before they interview by reading their FaceBook, LinkedIn, or Twitter pages.

There is also little if no cost when posting to certain social media sites versus purchasing spots in traditional print outlets.  HR departments are also being used as an extension of marketing, Candidates can learn a lot about your company through the platform where they became interested in the job. Employers are able to connect with potential hires rather than it being a one-way driven process.  It can be seen as a way to brand you as an Employer. What can you offer them? Why should they want to work at your Company? Every job position has a specific target audience just like products have specific consumers. Social Media allows companies to target specific skill sets.

Current Employees

As the popularity of social media has grown it has created the need for policy and procedure in business, that’s where HR comes in. Where is the line between monitoring activity and respect for privacy? This is the challenge given to many HR professionals when developing policies. The most top of mind example is use during work hours.  There needs to be proper respect on both sides: not micromanaging but also not abusing the freedom you have. Also employees can be reminded that proprietary or confidential information about the company should not be posted. The NLRB, National Labor Relations Board, has ruled that some handbook policies be struck down in regards to what individuals post, companies must make sure that their policies are not a violation of rights. For employees using a company social media account, a few things to remember:

  • Include a link back to website
  • Divulge their identity or association with company
  • Promote only the given brand.

These are just a scratch on the surface of how Social Media has affected HR, but they are some of the most important things to remember.

Importance Of Direct Deposit

Approximately 4 million paychecks are misplaced or stolen every year.  Employees who receive live checks and don’t take advantage of direct deposit spend about 24 hours of every year standing in line to cash their check.  Weather, traffic, and human error can play a part in delaying shipments of live checks. And, the money is in the account and available, even if the employee is sick or out of town. One thing is for sure, direct deposit is convenient, reliable, and it saves time.

Direct deposit can be set up in many ways. It can be deposited into multiple or single accounts – checking, savings, and/or money market accounts. Depending on the rules of the banking institution, employees may have their deposits post as soon as midnight or 6 AM of a pay date. Direct deposit is not limited to just a traditional banking institutions either. There similar solutions such as the MoneyCard by Walmart or payroll card providers such as TFG Solutions, Inc.

Encourage your employees to set up direct deposit and save your employees and yourself time. Our clients can speak with their payroll specialist for more information.

Go Green For Nutrition

In honor of National Nutrition Month, let’s talk about making informed meal choices.  It is the best time to spring into clean eating. Our weather is warmer, so we are outside just a tad bit more. Farmer’s Markets are re-opening. This is also the time of year where some of our New Year resolutions to lose weight or maintain a healthy diet lose their heat; henceforth, what a better way to stay motivated than establishing healthy programs in the work place.

It can be difficult to keep up with your employees’ diets and habits. A great way to introduce clean eating and healthy habits would be by creating Biggest Loser type contest. It takes about 3 weeks to form a habit; therefore, a 3 month long contest would fit into that category easily.  Bring in healthy snacks and water to have around the office. Try a vegetarian potluck lunch.

Another great program in helping to establish or stabilize healthy lifestyle could be to have a support program for smoking cessation.

Establishing these kinds of programs will help your employees stay healthy, add energy to their day, and create incentives in the workplace. A healthy environment is more efficient and fruitful.  Join us and participate in National Nutrition Month and let’s make our workplace a stable homeostasis.

For Our Clients

We have recently upgraded our Client Service Portal to improve the ease of use and the usefulness of this portal for our clients. In addition to being able to directly access forms, clients will now be able to upload files directly to their individual secure portal, rather than emailing or faxing the information. Importantly, the site has a new security certificate so sensitive information will be safely transmitted. The upgrade will save time, provide security, and allow two-way document sharing between our clients and Four Point HR over a secure network. All clients will receive an instruction sheet along with a user name and password from their payroll specialist.

Free April Webinars – For Clients
After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the training.

Harassment and Sexual Harassment Prevention for Managers
Wednesday, April 16, 2014 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EDT:

Harassment and Sexual Harassment Prevention for Assisted Living Community Managers
Wednesday, April 23, 2014 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EDT: