B/P Impressions

Are all employers required to have an employee handbook? If you answered "no" to this question, you are technically correct. There are no federal or state laws that specifically require companies to create and maintain employee handbooks. HOWEVER, we strongly suggest doing so since, regardless of your company's size, having an employee handbook is a good business practice. There are many laws requiring employers to notify employees of workplace rights (e.g. EEO, sexual harassment, ADA, FMLA), and this document can help with that. In fact, a well-crafted employee handbook helps protect both employer and employees. Following are five specific reasons why having a handbook might be a good idea for your organization.

Raise your hand if you have been “taking care of business” by updating your company's employee handbook within the last year? For those of you with your hands down - and we're guessing that's the majority - how many dread this task and wish you could just implement policies like the ones that follow?

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a final ruling today for overtime pay when employees work more than 40 hours in a week. Employees who make less than $35,568 will be eligible for overtime effective January 1, 2020. This is expected to affect approximately 1.3 million American workers.

As an HR professional or manager, employee terminations are something that will need to be addressed, whether frequently or infrequently - and we all hope it end up being less frequent. However often it happens, the resulting turnover can end up being a very costly expense to organizations. A look inside the numbers illustrates how important retention really is.

“At-Will” Employment State

Oregon, along with most of the U.S. (with the exception of Montana), is an at-will employment state. At-will employment means employers can terminate employees at any time without reason, explanation, or warning (except for wrongful termination reasons, like race, religion, and disability). It also means an employee can quit at any time for any reason...or no reason at all. Typical exceptions to this include the following: Employment Contracts, Implied Contracts, Good Faith and Fair Dealing (i.e. employers terminating employees to avoid their duties like paying for healthcare, retirement, or commission-based work), and Public Policy.

I was talking to a friend the other day about our September HR topic, which is all about the correct approach to employee terminations. I knew this person's job history was quite extensive and varied, and I asked if they would summarize it for me. Following is what I heard:

People quickly and understandably become very confused when it comes to reviewing Workers' Compensation policies and rates from insurance carriers. At its most basic, the following formula is used to calculate Workers' Compensation premiums:

Payroll (per $100) X Class Code Rate X Experience Modifier (MOD) + State Fees/Surcharges = Premium

Let’s break down each of these elements and explain where the amounts come from.

In what year did Congress pass the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA), which is believed by many to be the start of the path to Workers’ Compensation?

A. 1959
B. 1970
C. 1908
D. 1942

It’s that time of year when the impact of the recent Oregon Legislation Session is starting to be realized by employers. Several new laws (and at least one that previously was implemented) are, or will be, affecting employers and employees. Following is a summary of just some of the changes on the horizon.