Smallbiz Brainiac

Ban the box laws and fair chance hiring legislation is sweeping the nation and pretty soon, you’ll be told who you’ll hire. Think I’m crazy? I am….but I’m not wrong. If you are going to do background checks despite the risks, you’d better know the best practices so you don’t get sued! What is “Ban the…

Use of a criminal history in making employment decisions, might violate the prohibition against employment discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 In the last episode we talked about reasons why you should, and some reasons why you shouldn’t, conduct background checks. On this episode we look at the different types and what the government…

Once you decide to go into business, your rights are restricted and your responsibilities are rife. Background checks can be a valuable tool in the hiring process. Unfortunately, they can also lead to you unwittingly discriminating and thereby violating any one of the many, many federal laws designed to protect individuals who’ve had some type…

“How do you know your employees even understood that training?” Scott is co-founder of Safety Management Services, Inc., or SMS, an international provider of risk management services to a wide range of commercial clients and government agencies. This episode is part 2 (the final part) of my interview with Scott Genta. SMS Highlights: Recap from part…

Scott goes beyond the low hanging auditor fruit when he conducts a site audit. Scott is co-founder of Safety Management Services, Inc., or SMS, an international provider of risk management services to a wide range of commercial clients and government agencies. Scott recently spent over 2 years in Australia on a special project related to the…

Household debt is a major reason why so many Americans are in the financial ditch. It’s no secret that the majority of your employees live paycheck to paycheck, and not surprising that they’d suffer a significant financial setback if they missed just one payday. MarketWatch says most Americans have less than $1,000 in savings and…

Keeping track of actual time worked is crucial to compliance One of the hidden costs of employment is keeping track of who showed up, where they are, when they arrived, and how much time they spent working. Aside from the administrative expense of it, you’re also faced with costly unintentional errors and employee fraud, like…

Your best option, as a small employer, is to join a Professional Employer Organization. Do you know how much your “all-in” cost is to employ someone? It’s much more than you think. The obvious costs are wages, payroll taxes and insurance premiums. What’s not so obvious are your administrative expenses. Even before you hire someone…

The NLRB and DOL are battling franchisors over joint-employer status. I’ve been on this subject now for the past two episodes and I’m not ready to move on yet. The more I dig, the more I find. And what I’ve found is the National Labor Relations Board, or NLRB, is on a witch hunt to…

The NLRB has paved the way for other federal agencies to apply this joint-employer standard to the laws they regulate and enforce. Welcome to episode 61. Today, you’ll learn how the National Labor Relations Board (the “NLRB”) has expanded their interpretation of the pre-existing joint-employer definition to hold both temporary staffing firms and their clients, responsible for…

“Our basic mission at Wage and Hour is pretty simple: making sure people get a fair day’s wage for a hard day’s work.” The U.S. Department of Labor, or DOL, is responsible for administering the U.S. labor laws. This includes creating rules and regulations and enforcing them. The DOL states their mission as follows: “The Department…

You can be held liable to others when your employee is injured on the job. On the last episode we learned about the elements of your workers’ compensation and employers’ liability insurance policy, and in episode 11 we took a high level look at the benefits paid by the workers’ compensation coverage. Today we’ll learn what the…

Are you familiar with the elements of your workers’ compensation insurance policy? The first show I did on work comp insurance was episode 11, which was a 100,000 foot overview. I covered what it pays for, talked about how benefits vary by state, and explained that it’s compulsory insurance. In other words, you’re required to have it…

A safe workplace is critical to employee job satisfaction and productivity.  In the last episode we learned about guns in the workplace and I reminded you about your duty to maintain a safe workplace, one that’s free from serious recognized hazards. As part of fulfilling your duties you’ll need a Workplace Anti-Violence policy and many of…

You have the right to deny all weapons on your company property, except where a parking lot storage law applies. In episodes 42, 43 and 44 we learned about workplace safety, why it’s important, and how to create a safety program. And even though there’s no federal law requiring you as an employer to PREVENT…

You may be sued within 3 years of the last payment of wages which were in violation of the law. In the last episode we learned about Massachusetts Act to Establish Pay Equity.  We compared it to the long standing federal Equal Pay Act and saw how it broadens the scope thereby qualifying more situations…

We simply can’t have free people negotiating their own voluntary relationships. Just when I think it’s time to move off this subject and on to the next, Massachusetts Governor signed a newly passed pay equality law this past Monday, August 1, 2016. Even if you don’t have employees in Massachusetts you need to understand their law because it’s a sign of…

Its been illegal to pay women less than men for substantially equal work under similar working conditions since 1963.  In the last episode we learned a wee bit about equal pay for women. I briefly presented the case that we don’t have an epidemic that needs fixing with more laws, as the politicians and the…

Do we really have an equal pay for women issue in the U.S. that requires fixing with more laws or is this just another political sacred cow? The Republican National Committee conference speech by Ivanka Trump surprised a lot of people. The idea of equal pay for women and mothers and affordable child care isn’t something I remember…

“Government Is Not Reason, It Is Not Eloquence — It Is Force” Employers often overlook the area of records retention compliance, which can result in civil penalties. But what’s more impactful is that you won’t be able to defend yourself against certain employee accusations or government action if you discard these records too early. How hard could it…