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Human Resources Basics

September 29, 2023

Tiffany Hentschel, SPHR, SHRM-SCP

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Objectives

  • Basic understanding of employment law
  • Learn approaches to handling employee performance or conduct concerns
  • Discuss Board/Director relationship and a sample method for both keeping the Board informed and documenting Director performance

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Employment Law

Federal and State Laws

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Employment Laws

  • Civil Rights Act of 1964
  • Age Discrimination Employment Act of 1967
  • Americans with Disability Act, as Amended
  • Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978
  • Immigration and Control Act of 1986
  • Equal Pay Act of 1963
  • Affordable Care Act
  • Family and Medical Leave Act
  • Fair Labor Standards Act
  • Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act (GINA)
  • Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Right Act
  • Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1986 (COBRA)
  • Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, 2023 2023
  • The PUMP Act, 2023
  • Worker’s Compensation
  • Fair Credit Reporting Act
  • State Laws

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Protected Statuses

    • Race or color
    • National origin or citizenship status
    • Religion
    • Sex/Gender
    • Age
    • Pregnancy

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    • Disability
    • Genetic Information
    • Military Status

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Title VII

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

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Protections

  • Applicants and Employees
  • Employment
  • Promotions/Transfers
  • Training
  • Shift Assignments
  • Apprenticeships

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IRCA

Immigration Reform and Control Act

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IRCA

  • Passed in 1986
  • required employers to attest to their employees' immigration status;
  • made it illegal to hire or recruit illegal immigrants knowingly;
  • legalized certain seasonal agricultural illegal immigrants, and;
  • legalized illegal immigrants who entered the United States before January 1, 1982 and had resided there continuously with the penalty of a fine, back taxes due, and admission of guilt; candidates were required to prove that they were not guilty of crimes, that they were in the country before January 1, 1982, and that they possessed minimal knowledge about U.S. history, government, and the English language.
  • New form effective August 1, 2023, REQUIRED November 1, 2023

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FLSA

Fair Labor Standards Act

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What is the FLSA?

  • The FLSA is a 1938 Federal law, which sets several key standards of work:
    • Minimum wage
    • Overtime pay
    • Recordkeeping
    • Child labor standards

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Supervisory Responsibilities

  • Classification regarding exempt and non-exempt employees are accurate
  • Number of hours worked by employees are documented
  • Overtime pay and compensatory time are provided
  • Records are maintained
  • Child Labor Provisions are followed

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Exempt and Non-Exempt

  • Exempt - An employee that is exempt from the minimum wage and overtime provisions (recordkeeping still applies)
  • Non-exempt - all FLSA provisions apply

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“Employee” does not include elected officials, independent contractors, volunteers or trainees

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Salary Requirements for Exemptions

  • Must be compensated a predetermined amount within a regular time period
  • Amount cannot vary by hours worked or work quality
  • Prohibited Deductions, absent an employer policy
    • Absences less than a whole day
    • Absences caused by the employer
    • Jury duty, witness, or military leave

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Salary Requirements for Exemptions

  • Permitted deductions
    • Absence for one or more days for personal reasons other than sickness or accident
    • Absences for one or more days caused by sickness, disability, or work accident if the deduction is made under the policy for paid sick leave
    • Disciplinary reasons - Employee violates safety rules of major significance or other organizational policies

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Salary Requirement for Exemptions

  • Regardless of other duties, you must earn $684 per week to qualify for any exemption
  • The DOL has proposed a significant increase to the exempt salary threshold from $684 to $1059 per week

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Executive Exemption

  • Primary duty is management
  • Customarily and regularly directs the work of two or more other employees; AND
  • Authority to hire or fire other employees or recommendations as to the hiring, firing, promotion or any other status change are given particular weight

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Administrative Exemption

  • Primary duty is the performance of work directly related to the management or general business operations
  • Primary duty includes the exercise of discretion and independent judgment with respect to matters of significance

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Professional Exemption

  • Primary duty is the performance of work requiring knowledge of an advanced type in a field of science or learning customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction
  • Primary duty is the performance of work requiring invention, imagination, originality or talent in a recognized field of artistic or creative endeavor

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Determining Hours Worked

  • Supervisors must ensure that employee time is documented
  • FLSA does NOT require that employees work a 40 hour week
  • Workweek must be defined
  • Employees must be paid for all compensable time
  • Unauthorized work does not have to be paid – but proceed cautiously

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Determining Hours Worked

  • Lunch/Meal breaks generally not paid
  • Rest breaks are paid but not required
  • Training is generally paid
  • “Wait time” is compensable
  • Travel is tricky

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Recordkeeping

  • There is not a required format
  • Must keep certain information:
    • Name
    • Social Security Number
    • Gender
    • Occupation

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Timekeeping and Retention

A variety of methods acceptable

Time clock

Timesheet

Fixed schedule - document exceptions – NOT recommended

Retention

Payroll records - three years

Wage computations - two years

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Overtime and Compensatory Time

EMPLOYEES ARE PAID 1.5 TIMES REGULAR WAGE FOR “OVERTIME” HOURS

PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS CAN PROVIDE COMPENSATORY TIME

COMPENSATORY TIME IS PROVIDED AT A RATE OF 1.5 TIMES

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Child Labor Provisions

  • 16 years old for non-farm jobs
  • 18 years old for hazardous jobs
  • 14 or 15 may work in non-hazardous jobs, but are limited to:
    • 3 hours (school day) 18 hours per week
    • 8 hours (non-school day) 40 hours per week
    • 7:00 am - 7:00 pm on days preceding a school day

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The PUMP Act�Nursing Mothers Breaks

Reasonable break time for an employee (both exempt and non-exempt) to express breast milk for her nursing child for one year after the child's birth each time such employee has need to express the milk.

Provide a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public, which may be used by an employee to express breast milk. 

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Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

Reasonable accommodations for qualified employees with temporary physical or mental limitations due to pregnancy, childbirth, or related conditions

Individuals remain qualified even if they cannot perform the essential functions for a temporary period of time

Requires good faith discussions (interactive process) to determine what accommodation(s) are needed

Retaliation prohibited

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Americans with Disabilities Act

  • Prohibits job discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities
  • Requires reasonable accommodations unless it causes an undue hardship
  • Requires an interactive process to determine what accommodation(s) are needed
  • Retaliation is prohibited
  • The entire point of the law is something extra!

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Managing Employee Performance and Conduct

Performance vs. Conduct

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Performance

  • Knowledge, skills and abilities
  • Generally handled through Performance Improvement Plan
  • 30 – 90 days recommended
  • Look for cycles in performance

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Conduct

  • Incident based, employee choice
  • Misconduct
  • Generally handled through a disciplinary process
  • Do NOT recommend progressive discipline policy
  • Action taken determined by severity of the event

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Director Performance

Updates monthly to Board

Financials

General Library

Personnel and Staff Development

Library statistics

Programming

Combination of goals and basic management recommended

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What questions do you have?

Thank you for your time and participation. Please feel free to contact me at any time at tiffanyhentschel@gmail.com. Take Care, Tif