Wage and hour claims continue to dominate the headlines . . .
Fastenal Pays $10 Million
Fastenal Co., a construction supply distributor, agreed to settle overtime claims for $10 million. Employees in California, Oregon and Pennsylvania alleged that the company improperly classified assistant managers as exempt, failed to pay overtime and violated meal period laws. The company denied any wrongdoing and said it entered into the settlement to avoid legal fees and the uncertainty/distraction of a trial.
Interwall Pays $1.7 Million
The California Attorney General reached a settlement with Interwall, a Southern California drywall company, for alleged overtime, meal-period and record-keeping violations. The company agreed to pay $1.4 million in damages, $200,000 in fines, $131,000 in back payroll taxes and nearly $100,000 in attorneys' fees and other costs.
Among other things, the company allegedly shifted employees among various corporate entities to avoid overtime as part of an effort to cut costs and underbid competitors. The company denied any wrongdoing.
The Lessons
Once again, one of the best ways to avoid big-ticket liability is to ensure that your company fully complies with all wage and hour laws. This is especially critical with exempt/non-exempt classifications, meal/rest period laws and record-keeping requirements. Courts (and plaintiffs' attorneys) continue to be very hard on employers where there's even a hint of impropriety.
As a starting point, check out our Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) Cheat Sheet here or under the "Tools & Tips" section of the Blawg.
Article by Mark Toth, Chief Legal Officer of Manpower's North American operations, and courtesy of Manpower Employment Blawg. Mark also serve as Chief Compliance Officer and Vice President of Franchise Relations and serve on our Global Leadership Team, North American Lead Team, Executive Diversity Steering Committee and Sarbanes-Oxley Steering Committee.
Posted by Candice Arnold on September 6, 2008 at 3:02 PM | Leave a Comment (0)
Chad Johnson, wide receiver for the NFL's Cincinatti Bengals has officially changed his last name to "Ocho Cinco". Why did he do this? There are so many issues we could dig through to get to the bottom of this, but let's just deal with the surface. Johnson (I mean Ocho Cinco) is known by his attention grabbing antics. A couple years ago, he began referring to himself as "Ocho Cinco" to pay homage to . . . himself. His jersey number was 85. He was fined by the NFL when he placed this name on the back of his jersey. Ergo, the name change.
Why can those who conduct background checks learn something from Ocho Cinco's antics? Well, because it gives us an opportunity to discuss how to conduct a thorough criminal background check. As you remember, the best practice is to conduct a criminal record search in all counties where an applicant has lived, worked or attended school over at least the last 7 to 10 years under each name used. So, if we were to conduct a Social Security Number Trace (Address History Search) on Mr. Ocho Cinco, we would find at least the following counties: Hamilton County, Ohio (Johnson's in-season hometown), Dade County, Florida (Johnson's off-season hometown) and Benton County, Oregon where Johnson attended Oregon State Univeristy. And now we know that we would find two names: "Chad Johnson" and "Chad Ocho Cinco".
Assuming that Chad was just your average job applicant, we wouldn't know that he had recently changed his last name. Therefore, the best practice would be to perform a county criminal record search in each of the aforementioned counties under each of the names.
Another celebrity who could really make us work to perform a thorough background check would be musician, Prince, who's also gone by Prince Rogers Nelson, The Artist Formerly Known as Price, The Artist and at one point just used a symbol as his name. Okay, who knows if those were all legal names? Just having fun after a long weekend.
Article by, Nick Fishman and courtesy of EmployeescreenIQ
Posted by Candice Arnold on September 5, 2008 at 2:29 PM | Leave a Comment (0)
California Assembly Bill 2918 which seeks to limit state employer' ability to review credit reports for employment screening purposes has been described as "dangerously close to becoming a critical issue".
According to the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS), "This bill would prohibit the use of a consumer credit report, with the exception of certain financial institutions, from containing a consumer credit report for employment purposes unless the information is 1) substantially job related, meaning that the information in the consumer credit report relates to the position for which the person who is the subject of the report is being evaluated because the position is a highly compensated or managerial one, or 2) required by law to be disclosed to or obtained by the user of the report."
The original bill didn't seem to present a problem until the following points were removed:
Anyway, we recommend that all California employers who are concerned about this proposed legislation contact their state representatives immediately before its too late.
Article by, Nick Fishman and courtesy of EmployeescreenIQ
Posted by Candice Arnold on September 5, 2008 at 2:09 PM | Leave a Comment (0)
Employing both online and traditional methodologies, especially in these uncertain times, works best says online recruiter, WallStJobs.com.
With a large number of people feeling vulnerable in their jobs, it is wise to embrace all avenues available to increase your chances of finding a position. "There is a great deal of job insecurity in the marketplace right now," said Robert Graber, founder of WallStJobs.com. "An informal, online survey of visitors to our site revealed that 36% of respondents felt 'somewhat insecure' about their continued employment." The survey was eye-opening.
Visitors to the WallStJobs.com site were asked, "How secure do you feel in your current position?"
The results:
- 36% Somewhat insecure
- 27% Somewhat secure
- 18% I might be laid off tomorrow
- 9% I have total job security
- 10% Not sure
"While this not scientific, it is still probably safe to say that our visitors, who are mostly financial service professionals are career-nervous," noted Graber. The survey was online at WallStJobs.com from August 25th thru August 30th and had 490 respondents.
"With this level of angst out there, it makes sense to use a hybrid approach to any job search you might be thinking about," counseled Graber. "Use your laptop and your printer to make both three dimensional and online inquiries."
Graber suggested that a hybrid job search include:
- Registering with online boards and making face to face contact with search firms and recruiters.
- Having access to your resume via your Blackberry or iPhone for email forwarding and having a personal business card to give to any interested party at anytime with your contact information.
- Joining trade groups online to keep up with developments in your field as well as 'who's in the news' stories and attending their meetings with business cards and a few resumes.
- Emailing people in your network with news of interest to them and calling them from time to time to just chat or arrange a breakfast or lunch.
"Even if you are currently employed, it makes good sense to keep yourself visible to your supervisors," advised Graber. "Use a hybrid approach here as well. For example, clip trade publications that have mentioned you and attach a "FYI" note to it and mail it to your supervisor. Then follow it up with an email a few days later describing the response you may have gotten to the mention."
"Using the efficacy of the internet coupled with the personal touch makes for a powerful career hybrid," Graber said.
Article courtesy of WallStJobs.com, the premier recruiting source exclusively for financial service professionals, and a member of the Jobosaurus family of uniquely specialized recruiting sites.
Posted by Candice Arnold on September 5, 2008 at 1:07 PM | Leave a Comment (0)
Suzanne Robitaille writing in the Wall Street Journal (July 22) reminded us that the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed 16 years ago. She also offered a great deal more about the challenges faced by the nation's working-age disabled - only 38% of whom have a job. (Could be the perfect example of an undervalued applicant pool.) Great strides have been made and the article documented several laudable efforts by companies who make a difference. Two examples mentioned in the article:
One bright light is the growing affinity network of people with disabilities. The article singles out networks at KPMG, Eastman Kodak, IBM and Pepsi. Our own review of corporate websites is still somewhat disappointing with regard to welcoming people with disabilities. Few photos of employees on company staffing pages show individuals with visible disabilities. Clearly marked accommodations for people trying to navigate staffing pages (visual, auditory or motor) are few and far between.
Several years ago we studied the challenges of graduating seniors from Rochester Institute of Technology's National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) under a grant they received from IBM. Our final report was included in a WSJ article and we received a great deal of response - including one email from a young man who had recently graduated from NTID whose story is worth repeating.
He had graduated with a Computer Science degree near the top of his class and spent a frustrating six months applying to positions (after lots of initial response that quickly tailed off as recruiters learned that he required a TTY). He persisted however and was thrilled to have recently received an offer. He had a question though. A week earlier he had been online at a company's staffing pages reviewing an entry level programming job when he was offered an opportunity to enter a chat-room to talk with a recruiter - which he did. After getting a positive response from the recruiter he was given a code to an online test - which he passed with flying colors. Then he received the offer, conditional of course on a background check.
His question? "I start work next week," he said. "When should I tell them I'm deaf?" "Now, would be a good time" we responded.
We recently renewed our acquaintance with one of the NTID career services professionals at the National NACE conference. Despite improvements it is still telling how few firms seek top engineering and computer science graduates at RIT-NTID. It is about walking the talk so to speak. Our belief is that recruiters are a critical piece of the solution when it comes to hiring quality candidates who may also be disabled. Learning how to examine the candidate's ability and not be distracted by their disability is a part of it.
Ensuring a recruiter is trained to easily accommodate a range of disabilities in the recruiting process is also an obvious competency - and yet no public seminar geared specifically to guide recruiters in this effort is readily available. A partnership between Cornell and the NJ SHRM Council is close (but what we think will resonate is still a step away).
Perhaps the most interesting statement a firm can make is if a recruiter or recruiting leader happens to have a visible disability. RBC and Wal-Mart are two firms we admire who walk the talk. We would enjoy meeting others.
"Support Grows for Disabled Job Seekers" is an article from College Transition Times, a freeon-line publication of Life After Graduation, LLC, and was written by Gerry Crispin and Mark Mehler
Posted by Candice Arnold on September 5, 2008 at 12:59 PM | Leave a Comment (0)
OT and OTA students, I have a great resource for you. If you are not already aware of the book, Successful Occupational Therapy Fieldwork Student , take note now.
From what I can gather, this book would be great for any Occupational Therapy student preparing to begin fieldwork. Chapters provide you with an abundance of information, all of which is geared to "groom students for their fieldwork".
"Fieldwork is the beginning of a lifelong learning experience...The purpose of this book is to take readers from the planning stage, through fieldwork, to supervising their own fieldwork students. When possible, authors were asked to provide true stories from real fieldwork experiences."
This book draws it's content from fieldwork experts all over the US. The author, Karen Sladky, herself has more than 10 years experience as an OT and OTA educator, 5 of which were spent as an Academic Fieldwork Coordinator. With all those experts, you know the information in this book is going to be relevant and provide you with some great information. So, take a moment to check it out...any information that can help you through schooling and all your education requirements is a plus.
Article courtesy of RehabCare Student blog. RehabCare provides college recruiting for Physical Therapists, Physical Therapy Assistants, Occupational Therapists, Occupational Therapy Assistants and Speech Language Pathologists.
Posted by Candice Arnold on September 4, 2008 at 6:39 PM | Leave a Comment (0)
I've been very busy lately working on a large number of projects, and one such project is analyzing and evaluating a number of social networking sites. Now, there have been a number of articles written on social networking and online community involvement, but my viewpoint may be a little different. This article is not written to endorse or condemn any social networking site, but to provide guidance on how to better utilize these sites to your advantage.
After reviewing a number of networking sites, including a number of industry specific networking sites, it became apparent to me that many recruiters are becoming modern day drifters. I use this term to describe the recruiters that wander aimlessly from community to community hoping to connect with that next candidate. I found that many recruiters have hundreds of connections on fifteen or more sites, and I wondered to myself, "How can they possibly keep up with all of these sites?" So I joined a couple networks, and made efforts to reach out. What I found is that, on average, it took almost 21 days for a response. For a recruiter looking to fill jobs quickly, this doesn't appear to be an acceptable turn around time. Also, I noticed the recruiter's profile was different on almost every site, showcasing the fact that the recruiter is, 1) Not keeping up with the site, or 2) Testing out each site for a little while, hoping to catch a candidate.
Focus on strategy
Recruiters need to focus on a strategy, get to know each site in-depth, identify the pros and cons, and build a consistent profile while managing their connections effectively.
Step 1. Identify yourself with social networks that align with your intent.
Conduct an analysis of a variety of sites, and gain familiarity with their tools and functionality, benefits, drawbacks. It is important to understand what information about the candidate you are actually deriving from this site. Ensure that the site aligns with the type of candidate you are looking for. Review a couple of the profiles on the site, as this can give you an indication as to whether or not the profiles on this site or the users of this site are a potential match for the culture at your organization. The key "alignment" questions to ask as you use a social network include:
Step 2. Building your profile
First things first, you need to make sure your profile is consistent across the networks. If you have done your homework in step one, you should only have a few specific sites that you are working with. Make sure your profile represents the culture at your organization or firm, along with highlighting the types of candidates you generally seek. Do not open yourself up to any and all candidates as this will waste your time and build false hope for candidates you can not use. Remember that building a profile on a social network is not just a representation of you, but the organization you represent as well.
Step 3. Manage your connections
None of the social websites would be successful if people did not manage their connections. If you narrow the number of sites you align yourself with, set up your profile consistently across your select sites, and continue to stay up to date on the site, managing your connections is a breeze. Many people state that you should limit your connections only to people you know personally. I disagree. I work with only two sites, and my connection list is over 3000. Since I have aligned myself with the site that works best for my business and have built a profile reflective of my intent, even though I have a high number of connections, I receive very little traffic. The traffic I do receive is relative to what I need to accomplish, and is a request I can generally provide input on. Checking your sites often is key to making your network work. I recommend checking it as least twice a week. Again, if you have done a good job with steps one and two, your traffic should be minimal and successful.
It is easy to get caught up in the next big swing or the next fascinating site, but if you jump on the band wagon of every new community that pops up, you are truly a modern day drifter with no direction. Do your research, align yourself, manage your interactions, and you will be successful.
Article by, Ryan Loken and courtesy of Kenndy Information Recruiting Trends providing leading edge insights and strategies for the recruiting professional
Posted by Candice Arnold on September 4, 2008 at 6:35 PM | Leave a Comment (0)
