Author Archives: CorpStrat News

4 Best Labor Law Compliance Practices Your Business Should Adopt

Best Practices Labor Law Compliance

Last time, we explained the importance behind labor law compliance. To recap, employers have a legal responsibility to keep track of any labor law changes and update their posters accordingly. That being said, we understand that poster compliance can be tricky. To help you navigate poster compliance, here are four best practices you can adopt.

1. Stay up to date on labor law changes

Failure to post up-to-date labor law notices can result in hefty fines up to $33,486. Of course, to receive this maximum fine, your company would need to continually or knowingly be in violation of labor law poster compliance. But fines and penalties vary by agency and are determined on a case-by-case basis. So, we advise to make it a habit to research and stay to up to date on labor law changes.

2. Post compliance posters in Spanish, and in any other languages

The requirement for posters in Spanish vary depending on the percentage of workers as well as language fluency and literacy. Additionally, government agencies don’t always provide specifics about language requirements. Regardless, it is an employer’s responsibility to inform all employees of their rights under employment law, no matter what language. So, you should ensure best practice by posting notices in English and Spanish, or in any other dominant language, if you have a large non-English speaking workforce.

3. Display posters in a common area

Have you ever heard of the saying location, location, location? Location is important and poster location is no exception. If posters are not displayed in accordance with labor law poster guidelines, you can be penalized. But there is no need to freak out; all you need to follow are two simple rules:

  • Must be displayed in a common area frequently used by employees.
  • Positioned at eye-level with an unobstructed view.

We personally recommend displaying the posters in the break room, kitchen, or near a time clock for easy access.

4. Purchase employment law posters

With labor law posting requirements changing frequently, we understand that staying up to date is difficult and time-consuming. Since 2013, there has been an average of over 100 posting updates per year. Most businesses do not have the patience, resources or know-how to be compliant successfully each time.

To avoid hassle and save precious time, we advise companies to purchase employment law posters instead of obtaining them from the government. When you purchase posters, they come laminated and ready to be displayed. In addition, your posters will always be correct. There is no need to spend time researching, downloading, and laminating the correct posters when you can streamline the process by ordering from a trusted poster compliance provider, like CorpStrat.

As part of our comprehensive labor law solution, CorpStrat offers a pay-as-you-go labor law poster update service. You don’t have to waste energy looking for the correct posters when you can easily receive posters with our e-update service. So how does it work?

  1. Receive your all-in-one state and federal labor law poster.
  2. When a change occurs, we alert you with a call, and email you the updated posting.
  3. Print the updated poster.
  4. Display your updated posting in your favorite spot.
  5. Receive an updated all-in-one state on the anniversary of your subscription.

With these four best practices, you are guaranteed to have a worry-free compliance.

Interested in our pay-as-you-go labor law poster update service? Contact CorpStrat to learn more our comprehensive labor law compliance solution and how you can sign up.

Labor Law Compliant

Why You Should Be Labor Law Complaint

Labor Law Compliant

To ensure smooth business operations, all businesses must comply with federal, state, and local laws and regulations. This includes human resources, sexual harassment training, and ERISA. And labor law is no exception.

Proper labor law poster compliance is required by law. If your business has at least one paid employee, you are required to post city, county, state and federal labor law notices. Failure to post up-to-date labor law notices can result in lawsuits or hefty fines of up to $33,486.

You may be asking, why is labor law compliance so important for your business? The answer is three-fold.

Labor law posters are critical for an employer.

As an employer, making sure labor law posters are properly displayed in a common area and up to date are easy preventative measures. Proper posting can strengthen your legal defense, especially in the event of a lawsuit or employee dispute. In addition, labor law compliance can come to your aid when there is an accident in the workplace, an unannounced Occupational Safety and Health Administration audit, or a Labor Board/ Equal Employment Opportunity Commission inquiry.

Lawsuits and employee disputes are on the rise.

Since the #MeToo movement, lawsuits and disputes, especially surrounding workplace harassment, are on the rise. Discrimination, gender equity, wages, and working conditions are other popular topics in these proceedings. Again, communicating current employee laws and rights can strengthen your legal defense in the long run.

Federal budget for the enforcement of employment laws has been increased to $13.2 Billion.

An increase in budget is a sign of higher regulations, which come in the form of higher OSHA fines and more surprise workplace visits, citations, and labor law poster audits. To avoid fines and cruise through all visits and audits, ensure best practice and properly display your up to date labor law posters in a visible spot where all employees can access it.

Keep your business compliant with the help of HRIS platforms, such as CorpStrat. CorpStrat provides a fully comprehensive, year-round labor law posting solution that includes:

  • Laminated, up-to-date, attorney-approved All-In-One State and Federal Labor Law Posters.
  • QR codes and posting legends for simple compliance tracking.
  • Access to any city and county labor law notices that are required for your business location.
  • Automatic updates every time changes occur in city, county, state, or federal posting requirements.
  • A $25,000 Fine Guarantee.

Let’s talk about your poster compliance needs. Contact CorpStrat to learn more about our labor law poster solutions.

Sexual Harassment Training Compliance may be delayed, but it’s NOT what you think

As we know, California has enacted a series of laws that strengthen the state’s protections against workplace harassment. The deadline for sexual harassment training compliance has been updated to January 1, 2021, a year later than the initial date of January 1, 2020.

Even though companies have an extra year to fully comply with these new harassment laws, we recommend to not delay training. Companies must still provide training to all new employees within the first 6 months of hire. So, in order to ensure best practice, companies need to start implementing them as soon as possible.

We advise companies to use a learning platform, like CorpStrat, to keep employers on track and help with compliance. Employers will be able to easily upload their roster, push out trainings, track progress and secure completion certifications. With a platform, companies will be able to get started on compliance right away. Again, it is important to know that delaying is not best practice.

To recap, here are the new California laws that companies must implement:

  • Require employers with five or more employees in the state to provide sexual harassment prevention training to all employees;
  • Expand and clarify employer liability for workplace harassment; and
  • Prohibit employers from entering certain agreements related to sexual harassment and other unlawful acts in the workplace.

All California employers should become familiar with the new laws. Those with five or more employees should review the new training requirements and ensure that each of their employees receives the required training by the end of 2020.

  • Managers must complete 2 hours
  • Employees must complete 1 hour

The appropriate training must be completed by each employee within six months of assuming his or her job. Each employee must receive the appropriate training once every two years.

The deadline for initial compliance with these requirements is now January 1, 2021.

Contact CorpStrat to learn more about our learning platform ASAP! Don’t delay.

 

Amazon Opening Their Own Healthcare Clinics – Will Your Company Be Next?

The latest news in the health care industry comes in the form of Amazon Care, Amazon’s in-house health care service. Announced on September 24, 2019, this pilot telemedicine program is part of Amazon’s effort to cut rising health care costs and improve care for employees.

Amazon Care is a virtual health clinic created in partnership with Oasis Medical Group to service Amazon’s Seattle-based employees and their families. It will provide in-person services for employees at home or in the office as well as prescriptions for medications. An Amazon spokesperson says, “We’re currently piloting a health care benefit designed to help Amazon employees get fast access to health care without an appointment, at the convenience of their schedules, at their preferred location (home, office or virtual).”

Amazon Care 101

Covered employees will be able to access Amazon Care conveniently through a mobile app and connect with a provider within minutes. Services include Care Chat, an in-app text chatroom that connects to a nurse, and Video Care, a video call service employee can use to talk to doctors or nurses face-to-face.

If further examination is necessary, the provider can use Mobile Care, a service that sends a nurse to the employee’s location. Mobile Care can be used to collect samples, conduct lab tests or physical exams, and administer treatment. Prescriptions will also be delivered to employees within two hours or can be sent to a pharmacy for pickup.

The app will only be available on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., and on weekends from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Amazon Care will not provide emergency care services.

Amazon and Health Care

Amazon Care is Amazon’s latest move within the health care industry. In 2018, the company acquired online pharmacy PillPack, and teamed up with Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan to create a new health care company. Earlier this year, Amazon also partnered with health care organizations interested in developing Alexa, the cloud-based voice service, to handle patient information.

With these moves and the recent Amazon Care, Amazon is quietly disrupting the health care industry. They are not only Amazon’s latest efforts to address rising health care costs, but also a path for them to secure a foothold in a growing industry. In order to compete with Amazon’s growing presence, industry giants must adapt digital technologies that enable convenience-driven access to care and combat rising health care costs. Contact CorpStrat to learn how to do this for your company.

Good Benefits and Pay Aren’t Enough to Keep Your Employees

Is workplace culture important?

  • 90% of employees say “yes”
  • 79% of employers say “yes”

What is workplace culture?

Most organizations don’t really understand that culture in the workplace represents the deeper values and beliefs of the company. It’s not the stuff on the surface. It’s not the ping pong table, it’s not the margarita party, it’s not the cool benefits employees get. It’s really what is valued and how we behave and treat each other behind closed doors.

What we see most organizations doing is thinking about culture at the perk level. But, it’s really trying to get to the meaningful level of work, and it has a lot to do with how people are treated.

What kind of culture should employers strive for?

The kind where employees know that employers care about them. Organizations have to think about their intention around their culture. What we see is most organizations don’t even know what their own culture is. Employers may say on their website that they want to have a certain kind of culture, but employees may be laughing about that behind closed doors because they know the organization is nowhere close to achieving that idea.

What mistakes do employers make when it comes to workplace culture?

The most important thing to start with is the company understanding what they are aspiring to from a cultural perspective. They need to do the work around figuring out how they need to treat each other within the organization. What do managers need to do? What do leaders need to do? They need to articulate to everybody, so they are 100% clear on the standards and expectations. Most organizations completely skip that step and go right to putting a couple of cute things on their website.

Instead, make it really simple and say, “These are the standards and expectations we have for how we are with each other.” If you want your business to be successful, this is how you connect everybody’s individual behavior to the success of the business.

What specific tactics can employers take to improve workplace culture while also considering their benefit programs?

Be intentional. Think about being an architect of how people are with each other, within the organization.

If organizations had a culture department that had as much funding as a benefits department, where might we be? It’s almost odd that there are organizations that are focused on pet insurance, but they are not focused on being intentional about their culture. People are attracted to an organization, but they stay because of how the organization makes them feel.

Reach out to CorpStrat to learn how we help companies with strategies to attract, reward, and retain their most important assets – their people.