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benefits that they offer to other
wedded people. More than 20
states have gone on to expand
their anti-discrimination
protections to include
transgender individuals, while the
Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission (EEOC) has
established that gender identity
is included within protections
covered by Title VII of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964.
To demonstrate their
compliance to this evolving area,
employers need to revisit their
benefit policies to reflect the new
definition of “spouse,” and they
should consider altering their
non-discrimination and non-
harassment policies to include
marital status, sexual orientation
and sexual identity.
3
Retaliation.
The most
common charge brought
by the U.S. Equal
Employment Opportunity
Commission (EEOC) is
retaliation against employees
for making a complaint or
because they filed a charge
of discrimination against
their employer. It is critical to
remember that how you handle
a complaint can create as much
of a liability for your company as
the complaint itself.
Employers are wise to make
sure their handbook states that
the process for evaluating a claim
of harassment, discrimination
or any other claim will be fair
for both the person making the
claim and for the individual
who is being accused, and that
the company prohibits acts of
retaliation against employees for
making a charge or claim.
Q&AWith
Claudia St. John
Send your human resources-related questions for
Claudia St. John to
ppb@ppai.org. Select questions
will be answered in future issues.
Q
Is it a good idea to
use exit interviews to assess
why people are leaving
the organization?
A
While the exit interview
is a good tool to assess the
reasons why employees are
exiting the organization, it
is often too late to affect the
exiting employee’s decision.
You want to solicit the
information
before
employees
even consider leaving the
organization. Exit interviews are
becoming passé; the new HR
buzzword is “stay interviews.”
You want to find out why people
stay, why they come to work
every day and, based on that
feedback, continue to do more
of what is working. You need
to keep a frequent pulse on
your employee engagement
level to ensure they are content
and committed. Exit interviews
do little to keep the employee
from leaving as they are often
a day late and a dollar short of
influencing someone’s decision.
Consider using a pro-active
management tool such as the
“stay interview.”
Q
There was a lot of buzz
last year about the Obama
Administration increasing
overtime pay. I haven’t heard
anything about that in a
while. Has that gone away?
A
Changes to the Fair
Labor Standards Act’s
overtime rules, announced
by the Obama Administration
in 2015, are set to go into
effect December 1, 2016.
The minimum salary that is
exempt from the overtime
provision of the FLSA will
increase from $455 to an
estimated $913 per week.
Employers will need to make
the necessary changes by
either re-classifying employees
as non-exempt or increasing
their salaries accordingly. Start
working now on a strategy to
handle this significant change.
Q
We want to hire a new
customer service representative
and need to put together an
offer letter. What should be in
an offer letter and do I really
need one?
A
An offer letter is a good
practice as it provides all
of the critical information
related to the employee’s new
job. You should be sure to
include language that states
that the offer is “at will”
and that nothing in the offer
letter should be construed
as a contractual employment
agreement. In addition to
this language, your offer letter
should include:
• Start Date
• Position title and description
• Wage/salary and pay cycle
information
• General benefit and vacation
information (specific
information should be provided
at a later date)
• Non-compete, non-solicitation
and confidentiality language
Finally, you should recognize
that this offer is a legal document
and, as a best practice, have it
reviewed by legal counsel.
Q
July 4 fell on Monday
this year and, because we are
open all weekend, many of
our employees already have
Monday off. When a holiday
falls on a Monday, do we have
to pay employees for that time
off? And, if so, if they exceed
40 hours that week when we
include the holiday pay, do we
need to pay them overtime?
A
There is no federal or state
law that requires employers to
provide paid holidays. Instead,
what guides this decision is
what you have in your employee
handbook or holiday policy. So
the answer is in your own policy
language. Typically, employers
will give workers a different paid
day off, say the Friday before
the holiday, so that employees
do not earn more than they
would in a typical week, thereby
avoiding the overtime concern.
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