News & Insights | Employment & Business Law Updates

Worker Classification Pregnancy Benefits and Benefits Administration HR Best Practices Featured General Businessby Stanton LawHealth Care Reform – What Does It Mean to You?

Over the past few years, employees across the country have been raising questions about health care reform and how it will impact them. The following communication has been created to help inform and educate employees about the possible changes that may affect them in the future. What is Health Care Reform? The Affordable Care Act...

HR Best Practices Hiring and On-boarding Immigration Featured Document Retentionby Stanton LawUpdated Form I-9 Becomes Effective May 8th

The U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) has released a newly revamped and reformatted Form I-9, along with corresponding instructions and M-274 Handbook for Employers. The new form, with revision date “(Rev. 03/08/13) N,” must be used effective May 8th, after which date employers should no longer submit forms bearing the revision dates (Rec. 08/07/09)...

Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA)HR Best Practices Featured Posting Requirementsby Stanton LawDOL Issues New FMLA Regulations Affecting Military Leave and Airline Flight Crews

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has issued updated Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) regulations ahead of schedule, and just in time for the FMLA’s 20th birthday. The Final Rule addresses family military leave and rules applicable to airline flight crews. The effective date for these updates will be March 8, 2013, for those provisions...

HR Best Practices Fair Labor Standards Act Overtime Featuredby Stanton LawDrawing a Very Fine Line: Determining Creative Professional Exemption Status Under the FLSA

Who is an artist? For that matter, who gets to decide? These are existential questions rarely touched upon by folks who are not artists themselves. But if your business employs creative types, you, unfortunately, must also wade into this philosophical quagmire, at least for the purposes of determining whether the artist is entitled to overtime...

Benefits and Benefits Administration HR Best Practices Featuredby Stanton LawEmployer-provided Life Insurance as Imputed Income

As an employer, you’re likely aware of the requirement of managing and calculating “imputed income” for your employees. This requirement of the IRS applies to employees who are covered by an employer-provided benefit of more than $50,000 in term life insurance. This requirement is tedious and challenging, especially if you have a payroll or software...

HR Best Practices Featured General Businessby Stanton LawCrafting a Mobile Device Policy for the 21st Century

In this article: What is a Bring Your Own Device Policy (BYOD), and should your company have one? What are the security implications of BYOD, and how can you address them? What privacy issues does BYOD raise, and how can you manage them? If your employee handbook still contemplates pager use as an HR concern,...

Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA)Guest Writers HR Best Practices Featured USERRAby Stanton LawThe Basics: Employer Overview of Family & Medical Leave

A. Definition of Family Medical Leave Family Medical Leave (FML) is a benefit that eligible/covered employers are required to offer to all eligible employees. FML was created by the Department of Labor (DOL) through the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 (often referred to as “FMLA”). THE PURPOSE OF FML Family Medical Leave was designed...

HR Best Practices Featured USERRAby Stanton LawWarriors at Work: New Developments In Federal Employment Law Protecting Service Members

As thousands of Reservists and National Guardsmen and women return home from overseas campaigns to a less-than-booming economy, it has become hard not to notice the employment-related challenges facing military families. In 2001, the Defense Department began deploying record numbers of non-career military personnel under to a new manpower strategy designed to respond to unprecedented...

Employee Performance Management Guest Writers HR Best Practices Featuredby Stanton LawT & A: There’s Never Been a Better Time to Get Some

Time and attendance headaches are everyone’s problem. Have you ever had an issue with a chronically late employee? You know the one. He slinks in at 9:30 a.m. more than a couple of days per week, even though his official arrival time is supposed to be 9:00 a.m. Does he provide a simple phone call...

Benefits and Benefits Administration Guest Writers Featuredby Stanton LawALERT – Benefits Compliance Deadline October 15

Employer Benefits Compliance – October 15th Deadline Medicare D Creditable Coverage Notification If you are an employer who provides prescription drug coverage as part of your benefit package, you are required under the Medicare Modernization Act to annually disclose to your Medicare-eligible population whether the pharmacy plan is “creditable” or “non-creditable”. “Creditable” means...

HR Best Practices Hiring and On-boarding Featuredby Stanton LawNew FCRA Forms Mandated by 1/1/13

Never content with the current regulatory burden upon employers, our estimable federal government has decided that the existing Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) regulations and forms are insufficiently onerous. Accordingly, one of Washington’s latest bureaucracies, the Consumer Financial Protection Board (“CFPB,” the agency that has assumed FCRA-enforcement responsibilities from the Federal Trade Commission), has issued...

Employee Performance Management Supervisor Training Guest Writers HR Best Practices Featured General Businessby Stanton LawFor CEOs, It Doesn’t Have To Be Lonely At The Top

This article was originally published in the June 29-July 5, 2012 edition of the Atlanta Business Chronicle. It is republished with the permission of the author. Like most adages or clichés, “lonely at the top” rings true most of the time. Whether you own your business, are a CEO, or the head of your department,...

Benefits and Benefits Administration Guest Writers Featured General Businessby Stanton LawOpen Enrollment: A Fresh Look

Millenium Benefits Consulting offers a different perspective on what is normally one of the biggest headaches in an employer’s year. Take a quick look to see if it helps… Yikes – Open Enrollment is just around the corner! Yep, it’s true – for plans renewing on January 1, 2013 – open enrollment is right around...

Uncategorizedby Stanton LawKeeping A Personal Record – It Could Be a Workplace Game-Changer

People often ask me if they should keep a work journal of some kind. I was encouraged to do this early in my career — I did it for awhile. Was it worthwhile? I wasn’t sure. But then something happened… Why keeping a record can help A manager who worked for me was really annoying...

Minimum Wage Wage Payment HR Best Practices Fair Labor Standards Act Overtime Featured Uncategorizedby Stanton LawWhen is Travel Time Compensable?

A recent call from one of my favorite clients prompted this post. His question: I have non-exempt employees who travel internationally for business. They sit on the plane for a long time going to and from assignments. Do I have to pay them to watch in-flight movies? My answer: It depends. And the factors on...

Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA)Worker Classification HR Best Practices Fair Labor Standards Act Immigration Overtime Featuredby Stanton LawTouching on the Most Common Issues

Most employers are too busy with their day-to-day operations to expend much bandwidth wringing their hands over the nuances of employment-law compliance. With this in mind, take a quick look at a rundown of the four most common employment law issues we see in our practice. Simply knowing that these land mines are out there...

Featured General Businessby Stanton LawIt’s Never Too Early to Prepare To Sell Your Business

Whether by design or necessity, you’ll eventually have to leave your business behind. As the short presentation below details, a little forethought and preparation will go a long way towards maximizing the results when that day comes. This presentation by Gareth Young of Abraxas offers an overview of this complex and very important topic for...

HR Best Practices Featured Document Retentionby Stanton LawReady for your COBRA Audit?

The 1986 Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (“COBRA”) requires certain employers’ group health insurance plans to offer qualified beneficiaries (including employees, former employees, and certain dependents) the opportunity to continue health insurance despite events (such as termination) that would otherwise result in the loss of coverage. Information on employers’ and employees’ rights and obligations under...

Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA)Americans with Disabilities Act Pregnancy Guest Writers HR Best Practices Featuredby Stanton LawHR Insider: Pregnancy & the ADA

I recently had lunch with a friend who is happily expecting her first child. While this is certainly an exciting time for her and her husband, she couldn’t help but be anxious about her company’s attitude concerning her pregnancy and the new arrival. Specifically, when she asked the company’s HR Manager about her options for...

Respectful Workplace Guest Writers HR Best Practices Featuredby Stanton LawCreating a Conflict-Conscious Workplace

Conflict comes in all sizes and shapes. It can be both constructive and destructive, productive and unproductive. But one thing is certain: where there are people, there is the potential for disagreements, disputes and interpersonal flare-ups that can undermine the health and well-being of any environment. Being aware of the different types of conflict and...

Wage Payment Interships Worker Classification HR Best Practices Fair Labor Standards Act Overtime Featuredby Stanton LawUnpaid Internships: No Panacea

Especially in these tough economic times, your company is looking to cut labor costs however it can. And if you can, at the same time do, a favor for a deserving young person looking to gain industry experience, all the better. An unpaid intern for your organization, then, would seem like a great idea, right? ...

Social Media Guest Writers HR Best Practices Featuredby Stanton LawAn Effective Social Media Policy

A couple of years ago, a manager stormed into my office demanding that I launch a full investigation into something that had been posted anonymously online. The particular social media website about which he was complaining allowed employees to post reviews about their company, and while not mentioned by name, the manager suspected that the...

Minimum Wage Wage Payment HR Best Practices Fair Labor Standards Act Overtime Featuredby Stanton LawOverview of the Fair Labor Standards Act

The most common problem I’ve encountered since opening up my practice is employers who are not compensating their employees correctly. Unfortunately for these employers, wage and hour cases are big business for plaintiffs’ attorneys, and the Department of Labor loves making examples out of unsuspecting employers who are, in many cases, simply uninformed about the...

HR Best Practices Document Retention GINAby Stanton LawEEOC’s New Rules Extend Recordkeeping to GINA

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission earlier this month issued its final rule extending employers’ record keeping obligations under Title VII and the Americans with Disabilities Act to those organizations covered by the Genetic Nondiscrimination Act, or GINA. Effective April 3, 2012, employers with 15 or more employees must retain all personnel and employment records for...

Supervisor Training Guest Writers HR Best Practices Featuredby Stanton LawWould $8,300 Earn You A Promotion?

Research confirms what HR Professionals already knew: employees that are in the divorce process are often less productive, stressed, and more prone to distractions and increased absenteeism. A recent study by Integrated Organizational Development estimated the cost per worker going through a divorce at about $8,300, an amount that not only quantifies the decrease in...

Featuredby Stanton LawGA Legislature Seeks to Reverse Lawyer Mandate

When the Georgia Supreme Court ruled late last year that companies were required to respond to a Georgia garnishments through an attorney licensed to practice in Georgia, many companies were caught off-guard. Until the Court’s decision, most companies’ payroll personnel simply made the garnishment calculations, withheld the appropriate amount from the garnishee’s check, and returned...

HR Best Practices Featured Labor Relations Posting Requirementsby Stanton LawThe NLRB Delays the Posting Requirement (Again)

On December 23, 2011, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) again postponed implementing its requirement that employers expressly notify employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”). Unless there are further delays (which is quite possible given the several challenges to the rule), the posting requirement will now go into effect on...

HR Best Practices Hiring and On-boarding Immigrationby Stanton LawIs Your Company Ready for Georgia’s E-Verify Mandate?

Starting January 1, 2012, Georgia employers with 500 or more employees must enroll and use E-Verify, the online federal work authorization program that determines the immigration status of new hires. The mandate will trickle down to companies with between 100 and 499 employees on July 1, 2012, and companies with 10 to 99 employees must...

Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA)HR Best Practices Featuredby Stanton LawSix Absolutes to Avoid FMLA Discontent

The Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) will never be a source of quiet repose for HR Professionals. But no matter how big your FMLA headaches become, they’ll unquestionably be a lot worse if you don’t at least implement these six simple propositions to head off the most common employee questions: Display a current version...

At Will Employment HR Best Practices Featuredby Stanton LawHow Much Proof is Enough to Fire?

A likely story…. An HR director called me last week to ask whether it was okay to fire an employee whom she suspected of fraud. Apparently, because of an accounting system error, the company had unknowingly been paying the employee her regular wages for three months while the employee was out on (supposedly) unpaid medical...

Worker Classification HR Best Practices Featuredby Stanton LawSafe Harbor for Misclassified Contractors? Or Snake in the Grass?

In one of my posts last month, I raised the specter of misclassified independent contractors. If you’d like a refresher about the risks to companies posed by misclassification, take a look here: http://goo.gl/Ptz06. Trust me – it can get ugly. Among the perils created by misclassification are the potential back taxes, interest, and penalties imposed...

Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA)HR Best Practicesby Stanton LawFLMA for the Holidays

Nothing dampens an employer’s holiday spirit faster or more completely than a lawsuit. I can’t promise that you won’t get sued before the end of the year, but I can offer a quick piece of advice that may take one issue off the table. If you have employees using their Family & Medical Leave Act...

Supervisor Training HR Best Practices Featuredby Stanton LawPart II: Evolving out of the Evaluation

A few weeks ago, I tried to talk you out of clinging to your traditional employee performance evaluation. I suggested you scrap your company’s formal, stress-inducing, time-consuming, and ineffective “1-5” annual review in favor of a ongoing, interactive performance management system. I proposed that by involving employees in the goal-setting process, offering immediate and rolling...

Guest Writers Uncategorizedby Stanton LawChoosing the Right Business Attorney

Tips for Choosing the Right Business Attorney by Mitesh J. Patel, Principal, MJ Patel Law Group How much time and effort do you put into hiring a new employee? Between writing the job description, reviewing resumes, interviewing candidates and discussing your options internally, it adds up to quite a bit of time, right? So how...

HR Best Practices Hiring and On-boarding Featuredby Stanton LawAvoid Hiring the Next Person You’ll Fire

Avoid Hiring the Next Person You’ll Fire On a Cub Scout camping trip this weekend, I started talking with another boy’s dad. He was an emergency room physician at a large public hospital. During the conversation about all the crazy stuff he sees, he told me that the folks in the ER consider trauma to...

Marketing Guest Writersby Stanton LawDoes My Company Really Need a Logo?

Does My Company Really Need a Logo? When most business people are asked, “What is branding?” they are quick to answer, “a logo.” And they are partially correct; a strong logo should be the foundation of your brand. But it’s so much more too. Ultimately, your brand is your promise to your customers and clients...

Employee Performance Management Supervisor Training Featuredby Stanton LawEvolving Out of the Evaluation

This is the first in a two-part post addressing a workplace issue that likely causes employees and supervisors as much consternation as any aspect of their employment: The Annual Performance Evaluation. A growing number of small and medium-sized employers are jettisoning the traditional annual performance evaluation for more innovative and inspiring ways of measuring and...

Respectful Workplaceby Stanton LawWorkplace Bullies: Asking for Trouble

Raise your hand if you’re an abusive boss. Raise your hand if you’ve had an abusive boss. If my experience holds, a lot more hands went up in response to the second question than the first. I’ve found that the reason for this disparity is two-fold. First, one obnoxious manager can wreak havoc on the...

Uncategorizedby Stanton Law“Employees? Why bother? I just use independent contractors!”

During a recent conversation with a local retailer, I asked him how many employees he had in his shop. He assumed a Cheshire grin… “Employees? Why bother?” he asked rhetorically. “I just use independent contractors. It simplifies everything.” “Really?” I prompted. He did not catch the sarcasm. “Sure,” he proudly continued, “All 1099s. I don’t...

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