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In our March newsletter, we published an article about things to think about if you’re considering allowing employees to work remotely on a permanent basis.  In this article we take the discussion one step further and discuss considerations if your company receives a request from a permanently remote employee to relocate to another state.

Article shared with permission from Cook Brown, LLP.

In light of the tight labor market, many employers are offering employees the opportunity to increase their income with commission-based pay. There is no fixed formula on commission pay. It can be based upon a percentage of a sale, a dollar amount for each sale or a commission based upon quarterly or annual performance. While commission-based pay plans can help recruiting efforts, implementing these plans requires a systematic approach. California laws govern every aspect of these plans – from the initial agreement to final termination pay. 

We are going to test you on cannabis (compliance that is). Are you able to answer all of our questions for California employers?

• Are employers allowed to have a zero tolerance policy on cannabis in the workplace?
• Do employers have to reasonably accommodate medical marijuana usage?
• When are you permitted to test for cannabis?
• If you learn an employee or applicant uses cannabis in their personal time, can you fire or decide not to hire that person?
• What are the additional compliance requirements for cannabis-industry employers operating in California?

The world of wage and hour is ever changing in California. Between case law and local ordinances, there have been some big developments lately! For a few quick updates, keep reading.

At the beginning of the year I read several business articles that discussed 2023 salary budgets and indications reflected that employers were planning to give higher than typical levels of increases.  Several credible sources were predicting salary increases (merit, promotions and special adjustments) to be in the 4-5% range for the second year in a row.  More recently, however, I’ve been reading that pay increases are slowing dramatically and taking an abrupt U-turn from 2022 salary and wage increase trends. The collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank has only increased everyone’s concern about the state of the economy.  

Daylight savings begins on Sunday, March12th at 2:00am!  That means it’s time to “spring forward” and turn your clocks ahead 1 hour before your head hits the pillow Saturday night!

It’s also time to audit your HR practices to ensure you’re company is compliant with all required training for your employees.  If your company has five (5) or more employees, there are two key training requirements to be aware of: Mandated Reporter and Harassment Prevention.

Friday, March 3, 2023 is Employee Appreciation Day — a day when companies make the extra effort to recognize and appreciate their employees' great work and contributions!  Showing appreciation to your employees doesn’t have to break the bank. 

Whether you hand out gifts or not, the idea is to stop and take a moment to recognize and thank an employee for a job well done. The key is to be specific and authentic in your praise and do it in real-time — don't wait until a performance review.

Because the labor market is still relatively tight and employers are concerned about keeping their “A” players, many are now considering allowing their employees to work remotely on a permanent basis.

While this may sound pretty straight-forward (the employee has a laptop and phone, so what’s the harm in allowing them to work from wherever they want?), there are several things to consider first, including the fact that this decision could actually increase your travel expenses, before determining if permanent remote work is a prudent move for your company.

We hear about work culture every day and why having a healthy work culture is so important. A positive workplace culture is one that is created with a business’s mission and core values in mind, and is sustained by employee feedback, shifting priorities, diversity, equity and inclusion.

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, it’s a good time for employers to review workplace dating policies. Everything is great with an office romance, until it isn’t. Many business owners have learned the hard way that office relationships can negatively impact the workplace in a number of ways, including favoritism concerns, conflicts of interest, as well as sexual harassment and retaliation complaints. Employers should absolutely “get involved” in all office romances and set boundaries in the workplace to prevent harassment and retaliation complaints.

While many COVID workplace rules are here to stay for 2023, employers can celebrate fewer administrative and financial burdens! On February 3, 2023, Cal/OSHA’s Non-Emergency COVID Regulation went into effect, meaning exclusion pay obligations have ended for employers.

The beginning of the year is a time for employers in California to focus on updates. Changes in legislation mean potential updates to handbooks and new posters are the norm for the New Year. Another important deadline at the beginning of the year has to do with work-related injuries for the previous year.

For those employers still working on creating pay scales, the California Labor Commissioner has now published FAQs to assist with the new pay disclosure law. 

As a reminder, starting January 1, 2023, SB1162 requires all employers to provide any current employees the pay scale for their position, upon request.  And, if you are an employer with 15 or more employees, you must now include pay scales in your job postings.

The Internal Revenue Service has announced that Monday, January 23, 2023, is the beginning of the nation's 2023 tax season and the agency will begin accepting and processing 2022 tax year returns.

More than 168 million individual tax returns are expected to be filed, with the vast majority of those coming before the April 18 tax deadline. People have three extra days to file this year due to the calendar.

The IRS gave employees who drive for company business a New Years’ Day present on January 1, 2023, by raising the standard mileage rate!

California employers with five or more employees, will likely need to update the bereavement policy in their employee handbook for 2023. That’s because a new law took effect on January 1, 2023 (AB 1949) which allows employees to take up to five days of unpaid bereavement leave upon the death of a family member. A family member is defined as a spouse, domestic partner, child, parent, parent-in-law, sibling, grandparent or grandchild.

With everything on your “to-do” list for the New Year, don’t forget about local minimum wage increases effective January 1! While California’s state minimum wage is increasing to $15.50/hour for 2023, there are many local minimum wage ordinances that will be requiring even higher minimum wages in their geographical boundaries.

On December 15, 2022, the Cal/OSHA Standards Board voted to adopt a new Permanent COVID Standard! The next step in the process is a review by the Office of Administrative Law (OAL), which may take up to 30 working days. If approved by OAL, the new regulations will last for two years and the new standard will mark the end of exclusion pay obligations, which is a welcome change for many businesses.

Things were a bit quiet over the past two years because California’s primary legislative focus was on the pandemic, but 2023 brings with it lots of employment law changes for employers.  Read below for our “cliff notes” version of the new laws and join us for a deeper dive, at one of our Labor Law Update trainings, online or onsite, or listen to CEA on the Paylocity Podcast to learn more about the 2023 new employment laws!

It’s the time of year when holidays and traditions are observed and celebrated with family, and friends, or solo.  It’s also the time of year where organizations feel a bit of stress not knowing how to get through this time of year without offending anyone.  Are seasons greetings such as “Happy Thanksgiving” and Merry Christmas” offensive? In this blog I hope to offer some thought on how your organization might navigate through the season with joy.

For the past decade, the law has permitted employers to round time entries (e.g., to the nearest five minutes, quarter hour, etc.) so long as the rounding policy is neutral and does not disadvantage employees over time.

Often called “total rewards” or “total benefits statements,” Total Compensation Statements include both direct and indirect benefits, received by an employee from their employer. The intention behind these statements is to give an employee a complete view of the annual value of their pay and benefits. For example, an employee may earn $22/hour, but with all of the wages and benefits they receive, their total compensation in a year may actually be $57,760 and that certainly has more impact! 

California employers know that we must post required federal and California posters somewhere conspicuous at the worksite, and provide the posters to fully remote workers. And, each year, as new employment laws pass, it is almost a certainty that there will be poster updates. 2023 will be no different, based on minimum wage increases and changes to the California Family Rights Act and paid sick leave law, and we anticipate additional updates to more of the posters this year.

Joining states like Colorado, Nevada and Washington, California will soon require most employers to disclose pay scale information in job postings. In an effort to close the gender wage gap, Governor Newsom signed SB 1162 on September 27th, making significant changes to pay disclosure rules. The new law will go into effect January 1, 2023.

We’re in the last quarter of the year, and CEA advisors are receiving an increase in calls with questions regarding holiday, vacation and sick time pay. In some cases, our members are making sure their current policies comply with state law, while others are looking ahead and planning changes to their policies for 2023. Here are a few things to keep in mind as time off requests begin to trickle in.

The million-dollar question for the better part of 24 (plus!) months has been: how do employers retain current employees and attract new talent? The trending solution has been centered on wage increases and bonuses, and rightly so. Not only have employers been challenged with a tight labor market, but they are competing with employees’ elevated pay expectations with an added complexity of rising inflation rates. The U.S. Department of Labor reported on July 13th the annual U.S. inflation rate hit 9.1 percent in June, the highest in 41 years. But at the end of the day, is it all about the money after all? Perhaps that is where employers have fallen short.

Office parties can boost morale and lighten the mood. They can help connect people in different departments and at different levels in the organization. But Halloween office parties come with their potential frights! How can your company have fun without the scary ghouls from HR coming to spirit you away? 

The pandemic has created new opportunities such as remote and hybrid work for some, while “Essential Workers” had to deal with increased uncertainty, staff shortages and increased pressure. This has caused many employees to look to labor unions as a way to improve their situation. 

On September 29, Governor Newsom signed AB 152, which extends employer COVID sick pay obligations—known as 2022 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave (SPSL)—through December 31, 2022. California employers can also expect COVID workplace regulations to continue well into 2023. The Governor also signed AB 2693 (revising and extending COVID reporting requirements) and AB 1751 (extending COVID workers’ compensation presumptions).

Hispanic Heritage Month runs from September 15 to October 15 each year as a way to recognize, honor and celebrate Hispanic cultures, histories and contributions. Here are six suggestions for virtual celebrations and recognition of Hispanic Heritage Month.