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Family and Medical Leave Policy
An FMLA Leave Policy is required for all FMLA-covered organizations currently employing personnel eligible for FMLA leave. Best practice maintains that certain elements of an employer's FMLA policy are represented in the employee handbook.

How to Handle a Request for FMLA Leave
It is an employer's responsibility to properly assess whether an employee's request for leave falls under the FMLA. Once FMLA leave is granted, the employer is further required to provide the employee with specific notice and information regarding the employee's eligibility, rights and responsibilities under the FMLA.

HR Self-Audit - Checklist
HR self-audits help safeguard employers against costly employment claims, adverse regulatory findings and other legal implications. A standardized checklist assists in ensuring an employer has performed a detailed audit of all HR's many jurisdictions.

New on XpertHR

New on XpertHR This Week - 8/27/2012
This week, we've included data from our XpertHR FLSA survey, state and federal news on extended protection under the USERRA, immigration/employee verification, new paid sick leave laws and a new state law that will provide eligible employers with a pretty favorable tax credit, as well as a new OSH Act compliance tool.


New Last Week
See what was added to XpertHR last week...


International Guide Updates
Updates to XpertHR's international guides this month include:
  • Spain: More detail on hours of work; fixed-term workers; probationary periods; training contracts; dismissal on objective grounds; and collective redundancies.
  • Ireland: Updated foreign nationals section.
  • Hong Kong: Updated rates for pension contributions and compensation for injury or illness.
Coming Soon

New Progressive Discipline Workflow, New Guide on Transgender Employees and More...
Check out what we'll be adding to XpertHR in the near future, including a new workflow on Progressive Discipline in our Liveflo tool, a new guide to Creating an Inclusive Workplace for Transgender Employees in our Best Practice Manual, and three more international guides.

Contributor Spotlight

Paula Barran, a founding partner at Barran Liebman in Portland, Oregon, has been practicing labor and employment law since 1980. Ms. Barran has written extensively on management law and is a national speaker and trainer. In addition to providing employer advice, she handles employment litigation in state and federal courts, labor disputes and employment arbitrations...
Read more...


State Highlights


New Health Care Law in Massachusetts
On August 6, 2012, the Governor of Massachusetts signed into law Senate Bill 2400, the Massachusetts Health Care Cost Bill. The new law is aimed at improving the quality of health care and reducing costs through increased transparency, efficiency and innovation.


Seattle's New Paid Leave Law Effective September 1, 2012
Seattle's paid sick and safe leave law applies to employers who have at least five full time equivalent employees and have at least one employee working in Seattle.


New State Distracted Driving Laws Could Impact Employee Driving Policies
With the rise of texting-related accidents, many states have already created laws banning the activity for drivers. In the past month, three states - Ohio, Alabama, and California - have created, implemented or updated their distracted driving laws regarding this topic.



Can an employer discipline an employee with a gambling problem?


An employer may discipline an employee with a gambling problem if the employee violates a workplace rule related to gambling on the premises, personal phone calls or use of the internet, attendance issues, etc. Employers may discipline employees for violations of work rules even if the underlying cause is a gambling addiction. Read more...
Federal Highlights

Plaintiffs' Bar, DOL May Test HR Professionals' Confidence in Their FLSA Classifications
A new survey shows HR professionals are confident of their abilities to properly classify employees as exempt or nonexempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Some may find out whether their confidence is justified, due to the high volume of FLSA litigation.



Employers Should Continue to Use Current Version of the Form I-9
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that until further notice employers should continue to use the current version of the Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9 which is due to expire on August 31, 2012.


Requests for Deferred Action Are Now Being Considered
On August 15, 2012, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services began accepting requests for consideration of deferred action for childhood arrivals. The program applies to young individuals brought into the United States as children and who meet certain criteria in order to be considered for relief from removal from the United States or from entering into removal proceedings.


New Law Requires the TSA to Comply With the Mandates of USERRA
On August 16, 2012, President Obama signed into law H.R. 3670, which amends the Aviation and Transportation Security Act and expands the Uniformed Servicemembers Employment and Reemployment Rights Act coverage to include protection for the Transportation Security Administration officers who are called to active duty.



Did you know you can stay abreast of all new XpertHR state articles by using the State Search Map?


As XpertHR continues to grow, we want to offer our subscribers easy access to all of our newest content. The interactive State Search Map allows users the ability to collect every article written on a single jurisdiction on one easy-to-view page. Simply select your state of interest by clicking directly on the State Search Map to view that state's content. Once redirected, use the left hand "Refine Results" box to select the tool, date or topic you're most interested in. Visit our continuously updated State Search Map here.
Editor's Message

Friday's haunting Empire State Building tragedy, instigated by 58-year old Jeffrey Johnson, who shot and killed his former co-worker and which ultimately resulted in his own death, hits particularly close to home for those in the human resources profession.

So many HR challenges are wrapped into this one horrible event - a testament to the complexity and interrelated challenges of this profession. Johnson, a disgruntled former employee, had been laid off about a year ago. Prior to his having been laid off, and subsequent to the termination, he had argued with, and actually engaged in physical pushing and shoving with, the victim. Apparently Johnson blamed the victim, Steve Ercolino, for the lack of success of his t-shirt line. Each had apparently filed harassment allegations on the other and Ercolino feared for his life.

The 9 injured pedestrians were apparently the unfortunate victims of the police, who shot Johnson upon Johnson's quick draw of his gun on the police officers. Both officers were 15-year veterans and the police union is now involved in the internal police investigation.

HR does everything in its power to avoid such tragedies, and to respond when they happen. Hopefully you won't have to face anything like this in your workplace. Of course, the best way to avoid them is to put the effort in on compliance, consistency and being an employer of choice. XpertHR provides you numerous tools to help you prevent AND respond to the myriad of workplace challenges you face every day. Use these tools and be safe!

Peggy Carter-Ward
Head of Content

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