Jim Thomason's "The Business of People"

If you are an employer and have employees participating in today's called General Strike here are a few tips.  The demands of the General Strike are not employment related: they are political and are not about to your workplace's specific terms and conditions of employment.  As such this is not subject to the "no strike" clause of your collective bargaining agreement (if you have one), and is not a non-union "wildcat strike".  As such it is not NLRB protected concerted activity in my opinion. You can take corrective action in accordance with your policies. But be careful: this "is" protected First Amendment speech so terminating for absences related to this event could prove problematic.  Still you probably don't want people walking off the job without consequences and/or disrupting your workplace. Here is what you can do.  Insist that the strikers leave your premises, not block your entrances and exits, and not disrupt your business. You c...

A dear friend of mine used to keep a cartoon taped to his office window. One dog was talking to another saying, "I used to blog, but then I just went back to howling at the moon."  In May of 2015 I posted on this site that I was taking a break from blogging.  You can find that easily so I won't repeat it.  At that time I had not posted in almost a year, so now two years have gone by without original content. I felt, and feel, that the risks of a social media misstep must be outweighed by some greater purpose.  Without that, like the dog in the cartoon, all you do is risk your job and reputation howling at the moon.  In the last few weeks I believe I have found that purpose.  A former colleague contacted me asking for my help in his job search. I counseled with him and casually mentioned afterward on LinkedIn that I would do the same for any former Nelson colleague still in transition and would never charge.  Then I had a family member decide t...

One day I looked up and I had only posted twice since April of 2014.  The reason is simple: it no longer feels safe.  The number of Trolls looking to make a huge deal of social media missteps has grown exponentially since I first began blogging.  The number of companies with policies against social media missteps has grown, and those policies carry real consequences.  Finally, I used this blog for communications with the Thomas Nelson workforce of which I am no longer a leader or member.  The combination of these factors makes blogging all risk and no benefit. The dilemma for me personally is that my old content, my "backlist" as we would say in publishing, still gets several hundred to a couple of thousand hits per month.  One day last month I had 700+ hits on an old article in one day.  There seems to be "an" audience, but not one I have been able to successfully define.  But again, unless I were to try and monetize that audience and make a li...

Since July of 2014 the Department of Labor has been soliciting public comments on proposed rule changes to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) regarding same-sex and common-law marriages.  It recently announced that the Final Rules have been written and will become effective March 27th, 2015. Those rules replace interim guidance that had been in place for some time since the Supreme Court's striking down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). First you might ask why this was necessary.  Some will of course say that this is part of the federal government's push under a liberal administration to redefine marriage.  That is hardly the rationale.  Currently 37 states and 18 foreign countries recognize same-sex marriages, but the FMLA is a federal law that applies in all US states and governed territories.  The potential for confusion was significant. More and more young couples are cohabitating and raising families outside of a traditional ma...

One of the little-talked-about benefits of the Affordable Care Act's Insurance Marketplace is that people who lose their health coverage during the year become eligible to sign-up.  The same COBRA qualifying events that make you eligible to elect COBRA also make you eligible for mid-year sign ups on state or federal Exchanges.  Employers can charge you 102% of the full premium for your existing coverage, and generally employees pay about 1/3 to 1/2 of the full premium.  COBRA premiums, then, are sure to be anywhere from double to triple what you normally pay. Exchange coverage will be 100% of the full premium.  The coverage pool is also larger than most employers.  Chances are your premiums will be the same or less than COBRA coverage.  However depending upon your income you could be eligible for a subsidy which could make the coverage less expensive.  Another advantage is that if you did not elect a certain coverage as an employee you cannot elect ...

Interviews are possibly the most important thing a manager will do.  Hiring the right people, and keeping the wrong fit out, is one cornerstone of good performance for the whole team.  A poor contributor, or poor attitude, or both will drag down a whole team.  All-stars properly motivated left the whole group. Bad interview technique can also lead to legal exposure if questions drift into non-job-related subjects. I have found that this happens far more out of ignorance and lack of planning than prejudice. With this in mind here is how to construct interview questions that will keep you legal and focused on the search for great people. Plan your interview questions into two groups: 1. Task-based 2. Probing for Past Performance and Attitudes Task-Based Questions You want to know if the candidate can perform the essential functions of the job.  To do that you want to marry the duties of the job with the prepositional phrases from Behavioral Interviewing. ...

Part of my first-year's learning in Senior Living has been discovering that some communities, even with small workforces, have special benefits for their management teams.  This will become problematic and potentially cause employers to pay penalties once the Affordable Care Act is fully implemented.  Since most plans are based upon the calendar year and have renewed for 2014 now is the time to plan and communicate a discontinuation of those plan options. The regulations have not yet been written and so implementation is delayed: this gives employers time to eliminate those plans for 2015. Section 2716 of the Affordable Care Act prohibits discrimination based upon salary in the provision of benefits under a pre-tax benefits plan. In layman's terms, your highly compensated management cannot receive better benefits than the rest of your employees and your plan still enjoy pre-tax status.  For the definition of "highly compensated employee" the government could have ...

The withering criticism of the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare") has led many to believe that it is a disaster, that it will never work, etc...  If you only watch conservative television or listen to conservative talk radio and politicians then you might be convinced of this "fact".  Best to hang on for a moment. One of the criticisms is that "nobody is signing up" as often-reported on Fox News which is omnipresent in the YMCA where I work out.  Early in the enrollment process there were daily reports of "single digit" enrollments in some states.  This was due to the HHS software being as bad at reporting as it was at enrolling. The software bugs are being fixed and enrollments are happening, and this week no more conservative voice than The Washington Post reports that HHS may actually meet their first enrollment goal of 7 million enrollees for 2014.  If that target is attained, given the large amount of negative publicity, the daily rants ...

In a Right to Work state an employee's employment is at the will or whim of the employer unless there is a contract such as an individual Employment Agreement or a union Collective Bargaining Agreement.  That is technically correct, but widely misunderstood in its practical application. Among my liberal friends this is a controversial topic.  The idea that in a Right to Work state an employee can be fired for any reason at any time is unconscionable and violates the dignity of the worker.  For my conservative friends who run businesses there is no controversy: they believe the law entitles them to make any decision they choose.  Both are wrong. At the heart of this misunderstanding is one huge exception to Right to Work: it does not apply to state or federal discrimination or harassment laws .  These laws are the majority of risk in employment. While retaining or terminating an employee may be at the complete discretion of the employer, if that discret...

There is probably no more misused term or misunderstood concept in most workforces than "hostile environment".  For a whole generation of workers this term has become synonymous with harsh supervisors or rude co-workers. Legally that is just dead wrong.  Often complaints come in to HR departments using the "hostile environment" term as a hot-button to spur action against the offending supervisor or co-worker. It is the hollow "gotcha" of employee complaints. So here's the problem: there is no law against being an awful boss or a toxic co-worker unless the harassing behavior is based upon some protected class status.   A friend of mine is a great labor lawyer in Nashville who coined "The SOB Defense"  which goes something like this: "Yes, Your Honor, my client is a Son of a Bitch...to young, old, black, white, male, female, Jew, Gentile, and everyone in between." In other words, as long as you are a jerk to everybody then being a j...

October 1st is less than two weeks away, and on that date adult U.S. citizens will be able to purchase health insurance from the Insurance Exchanges set up under the Affordable Care Act.  If you live in Tennessee, however, it can be confusing as to how you enroll.  Here is a quick primer. Tennessee, like most Republican-led states, opted not to participate in the Exchange program.  There is no financial advantage to non-participation; actually not participating costs the state more money in the long run.  However the "anti-Obamacare" fever whipped up by Fox News and conservative talk radio made state participation tantamount to support of Healthcare Reform.  No Republican can survive a primary election if they are seen as supporting "Obamacare".  Instead these states, Tennessee among them, choose non-participation, which then requires the federal government to set up an Exchange for them. Since Tennesseans have to use the federal Exchange program let's...

If you travel for a living one of the perks of the trade is the ability to keep you "points" from airlines, hotels and rental car companies.  These once were a lot more generous than they are now, with almost all of them cutting back on benefits or devaluing their points during the Recession.  Once you get elite status and can board early, avoid bag fees, and get free weekend leisure rentals and rooms then losing that status feels punitive.  There is always a catch so you need to know the fine print. For instance after being Gold and then Platinum with American Airlines I took several trips on Southwest because their fare was lower.  I recently got on an American flight and found that I had dropped, without notice, all the way from Platinum to Schmuck in four months.  It didn't matter that I had been Gold with them since the 90's: you keep up your segments or board with the last group. I had a similar "catch" with Avis.  After having a Wizard number sin...

One way to look at the Great Recession of 2007 - 2012 is that it was one giant comeuppance for about three generations of Americans, mine included.  We have been "too good" to do blue collar work and have sent that message to our kids.  Now the Starbucks generations are facing a conundrum: long-term unemployment, long-term and low-wage under employment in fast food and retail, or a return to skilled trades. Starting in the 1980's college became the only acceptable route to success, and the skilled trades fell out of favor.  Working in manufacturing HR during the 1990s I recall the first signs of a critical shortage in tool and die makers and machinists, as more and more people flocked to college rather than vocational schools.  We have not turned out enough skilled trades graduates to feed the demand since the 1970's, but off-shoring of manufacturing and delayed retirements reduced demand and lessened or masked the problem.  No more. In trades all across the...

Earlier this year the Department of Health and Human Services announced a one-year delay in the implementation of key provision of the Affordable Care Act. Because of the highly politicized nature of this law there has been much said about the law "falling apart" and similar comments that would lead some to think that the whole act is on hold. Nothing could be farther from the actual situation so employers and employees must know what to do to keep in compliance. This law is already partially implemented and key provisions roll out this year and next. Here is where your company should be and what it should be preparing to do if it has 50 or more employees. 2013 Changes For the current benefits plan year, or for any plan year beginning during calendar 2013, health plans must execute the following changes: · Healthcare Flexible Spending Account (FSA) deductions are now capped at $2,500. · Women’s preventative health services now must be covered at 100%. ·...

I am a 70-80% on-the-road consultant with clients from Annapolis to San Diego.  I have over 35 clients in 11 states.  I did this kind of work in the 90's with 40-50% travel usually involving regular trips to the same half-dozen-or-so destinations.  I can say after 9 months on this job that its easier now than it was back then, even though I travel more, because of advances in technology across a number of fronts: Smart Phones Mobile Computing (Wifi and VPN) Better Designed Luggage These developments make the travel less lonely and less taxing physically.  Phones I know it isn't news to you that smart phones are a game-changer in society, not just travel or business.  But take a moment to consider what we used not that many years ago.  I started travelling with one of the first Intel 286 laptops and a  pager . This was before the first cellular phones.  I was gone from Sunday night to Thursday night every other we...

After eight months in this job I have gotten to know several people in this company and others who do what I do.  They may be in Sales, Marketing, Nurse Consulting or whatever field, but one thing they have in common is that they travel all the time.  The other thing they have in common is that Southwest is their airline of choice.  Why? Change Fees!  Southwest advertises heavily that they don't charge bag fees.  However most professional travelers rarely check luggage so that doesn't affect our expenses.  What really does hit our companies' pockets is the $150 per change fee that every other airline imposes if you change after your trip is ticketed.  In order to keep our expenses (and that of our clients) low we need to book as far in advance as possible.  However you never know what is going to come up and it is not unusual to change 30 - 50% of your travel arrangements post-ticketing.  The last time I tried to fly Americ...

For years I have been a frequent customer of the Holiday Inn brand of hotels.  Now before you turn up your nose know this: almost all their properties have been remodeled.  There are still some terrible ones (Louisville - North in Clarksville IN) but by and large everything from the Express to the Crowne Plazas are newly constructed or renovated in the last five years. But that isn't my point. These are owned by International Hotel Group or IHG.  IHG appears to be moving their customer loyalty programs into one branded Rewards Club and because they have nine brands there is enough critical mass to staff a 24-hour, 7-day per week customer line.  So as a Holiday Inn Priority Club member I can call and get a live person anytime. And what does said live person do? They find hotels nearby and make reservations for you on the spot. Several times I have ended up in a city only to find that the travel office or the client has failed to properly make my reservation...

This is off-topic for me; it has nothing to do with HR.  It does have to do with a passionate belief of mine: that people have the right to protect themselves and their loved ones from harm. The exercise of that right, I believe, should include the measured and rational use of guns. In exercising this right I have received Conceal and Carry training and permits in two states. Believing as I do in the Conceal and Carry program, the Treyvon Martin case in Florida has grieved me considerably.  It highlighted to the nation, and to the delight of gun control advocates, the exceptionally rare occasion of a permit holder being involved in an unwise use of their weapon.  Permit holders are the most law abiding of citizens and almost never engage in an unjustified shooting. You could argue all day over whether the Martin shooting was or wasn't justified; people who go on about this all-day have no good information and just add their own prejudices about race and g...

Yesterday's announcement by the administration, combined by a new approach by Congressional Republicans, changed the game completely for Healthcare Reform (HCR).  The White House, almost without warning to anyone, delayed by one year the key provision requiring employers to provide affordable coverage to all full-time employees (defined as 30 hours per week or more) or pay a fine. It was to take effect January 1, 2014 and now has been delayed until that same date in 2015. Most of the heat around implementation was coming from the law's quirky definition of a full-time employee.  The issues are: The definition of full-time as 30 hours is at odds with the Wage and Hour definition for purposes of calculating overtime at 40 hours. The definition only applies to medical coverage, leaving benefits administrators a choice to administer coverage differently for medical or adopt the extra expense of changing eligibility rules for dental, vision, etc... The 30-hour rule is not fo...

This week the Supreme Court struck down a key provision in the Defense of Marriage Act, essentially clearing the way for same-sex marriages in states where those are allowed.  For Group Benefits Administrators in plans that only cover spouses in traditional marriages this presents a complex set of problems. Consider for a moment that only  13 states recognize same-sex marriages while the rest do not.  Add to that some states, such as Illinois, that don't allow same-sex marriage but do recognize domestic partnerships.  If an employer covers employees in multiple states but still only covers "spouses" under the traditional definition the complexity and potential for legal challenge is huge. Now add to that the growing phenomenon, especially among younger workers, of cohabitating opposite-sex couples with or without children.  While it may be practical administratively to draw the line at the marriage license ("we cover married couples but not unmarried on...