Human Resources

How You Can Support the Mental Health of Your Employees During COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on everyone’s mental health. People have experienced financial hardship, additional challenges with childcare and school cancellations, job loss, reduced hours, sickness, and grief. The future is uncertain, and the present is extra stressful. And to make matters worse,...

21 May, 2020

EEOC Releases Extensive COVID-19 Guidance

In early May, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission published extensive guidance for employers and employees on how various laws and regulations apply to the pandemic. Below are some highlights, but it's a good idea to review the entire page. Can an ADA-covered employer take the body...

19 May, 2020

Are employees required to provide documentation in support of leave taken under the FFCRA?

If you intend to claim a tax credit under the FFCRA for your payment of the sick leave or expanded family and medical leave wages, you should retain appropriate documentation in your records. A written request for leave from the employee should include the following (and...

13 May, 2020

New I-9 Policy Due to COVID-19

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a temporary policy to allow employers to accept expired List B documents when completing the Form I-9 beginning May 1. This policy is intended to account for the fact that many people are unable to renew their...

12 May, 2020

We are reopening after business closure due to COVID-19. Can we bring some employees back, but not others?

Yes. If you are recalling some positions, but not others, you should document the business reasons why only those positions were recalled. If you are recalling some employees in a certain position, but not everyone in that position, you should document the objective, job-related criteria you...

08 May, 2020

From the HR Support Center: How Do I Make a Telecommuting Policy?

Although some employers will be comfortable sending everyone home with their laptop and saying, go forth and be productive, most will want to be a little more specific. A good telecommuting policy will generally address productivity standards, hours of work, how and when employees should...

01 May, 2020

How To Deal With Stress During Quarantine

During this pandemic, coping with the disruption in your normal routine may be stressful. Isolation may leave you feeling like you have no control. You may feel cut off from the rest of the world and experience cabin fever, leading to irritability or emotional exhaustion. There...

30 April, 2020

The Difference Between a Furlough and a Layoff

The last thing employees and employers want is lost jobs. It means financial uncertainty for everyone involved, which is why most employers do everything they can to prevent downsizing or prolonged closures. However, reality sometimes forces the situation, as is the case with the coronavirus disease...

29 April, 2020

We are an essential business and an employee is refusing to work as they say it’s not safe. Can I discipline them?

We are an essential business where there's a shelter-in-place rule and an employee is refusing to work as they say it's not safe. Can I discipline them? This is certainly a difficult situation to be in. Extreme caution is recommended in disciplining or terminating an employee...

24 April, 2020

DOL Relaxes In-Person I-9 Inspection Requirements

The physical presence requirement of the Employment Eligibility Verification, Form I-9, requires that employers, or an authorized representative, physically examine, in the employee’s physical presence, the unexpired document(s) the employee presents from the Lists of Acceptable Documents to complete the Documents fields in Form I-9’s Section 2. On March 20,...

23 April, 2020