If you have employees who do not understand English, you have an obligation to provide safety training in a language that they can understand, David Michaels, assistant secretary for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), explained in an April 28, 2010, memorandum.
The memorandum reiterates the agency’s existing policy in this area and provides the following examples:
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If an employee does not speak or comprehend English, training must be provided in a language the employee does understand.
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In the case of an employee with a limited vocabulary, the training must account for that limitation.
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If an employee is not literate, an employer will not satisfy its training obligation by telling the employee to read training materials.
“As a general matter, employers are expected to realize that if they customarily need to communicate work instructions or other workplace information to employees at a certain vocabulary level or in a language other than English, they will also need to provide safety and health training to employees in the same manner.”
A new provision in the Fair Labor Standards Act requiring employers to provide reasonable unpaid breaks to nursing moms so they can express breast milk for their infants took effect March 23. A new fact sheet about this regulation from the U.S. Department of Labor is found at http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs73.htm#.
Under the new provision, employers must provide unpaid breaks to a nursing mother for one year after her child's birth. The breaks must consist of a "reasonable" amount of time for expressing milk and must be given "as frequently as needed by the nursing mother," DOL's fact sheet says.
As to the location of breaks, the new section 207(r) says employers must provide a space that is "shielded from view" and "free from intrusion" from coworkers and the public. "A bathroom, even if private," is not a permitted location, DOL's fact sheet clarifies.
Generally, only employees who are not exempt from the FLSA's overtime pay requirements are entitled to the breaks, according to DOL. But the new FLSA provision does not preempt state laws that provide greater protection to workers.
Employers with fewer than 50 employees are not subject to the break requirement if compliance would impose undue hardship, as determined by factors like the size and financial resources of the employer's operations, DOL notes.
Source: Thompson Publishing
Employers no longer have to worry about being the first to enroll in the new Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP), according to a recent government notice about how the $5 billion federal fund will be distributed.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently clarified some points about the ERRP, which began June 1, 2010, and is part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. It continues through Dec. 31, 2013 or until its funding runs out.
The update reflecting this changes is posted at http://www.hhs.gov/ociio/Documents/application_faq.html. Also, HHS says applications can be submitted through the U.S. Postal Service, and all questions about ERRP will be answered at the Website: http://www.hhs.gov/ociio/regulations.
"Initially, we thought the application had to be submitted on a first-come, first-serve basis, but HHS now says it's the actual claims requests that have to be in first," says Gary B. Kushner, SPHR, CBP, president and chief executive officer of Kushner & Company in Portage, MI.
Employers need to apply to be part of the program, but their applications will be accepted at any time during the program's lifespan.
"Once you're approved for the program there is a process where you submit eligible claims, and it's as you submit the claims -- not as you submit the application -- that it's based on first-come, first-served," Kushner says.
The HHS clarification on June 30, 2010, takes away some of the pressure for quickly applying to the program, but it's still advisable to make this a priority for the second half of 2010, Kushner says.
"We're telling clients to not drop everything to get the application in, but they also shouldn't wait too long," he says. "And as you have eligible claims, begin to submit them."
Source: Thompson Publishing
Fifty-seven percent of employers report that their organization offers telecommuting in some form, according to a recent survey of Telecommuting, Flextime and Dress Code practices by BLR. Of those companies, two-thirds have offered telecommuting for 3 years or more.
The survey also found that flextime has been implemented at many more companies in the past 4 years. BLR’s current survey results show that 88% of responding companies allow some form of flextime to exempt employees, a significant increase over the 64% of respondents who had such a policy in our survey conducted in late 2006. For nonexempt employees, 66% offer a form of flextime, as compared to 58% in 2006.
Fifty-nine percent of companies reported having a relaxed or very relaxed dress code for exempt employees. This is surprisingly slightly less than the 65% of organizations who indicated that they had relaxed dress codes in 2006.
The survey, which included approximately 1,200 responses, was conducted by BLR's HR Daily Advisor in June and July of 2010.
Source: BLR