Q: What steps are you taking for H1N1 illnesses and school closures? Are you giving employees extra time off (not their accrued PTO or sick/vacation) specifically for H1N1 school closures? Do employees have to show proof of the closures? What other steps are you taking in anticipation of more H1N1 illnesses in San Diego?
A: Login and provide your answers.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Pregnancy Leave
Q: Looking for some feedback regarding pregnancy leave and paid company holidays. If an employee takes pregnancy leave, and while on leave the company observes paid holidays (for example, the company closes from Christmas Eve until after New Years and it is a paid leave for all associates). Are those paid holidays added to the pregnancy leave? Is this a policy decision for the company to make or does this create any conflicts with employment laws? Our company is small - 11 employees. We offer unpaid pregnancy leave up to 4 months. Any feedback would be great as I am trying to update our handbook accordingly.
A: Eleven responses:
We state in our policy that employee must be active to receive holiday and vacation pay. I recommend reviewing your policy and speaking to your attorney on how to word it going forward.
Having a policy that says employees are not paid for holidays if they are on unpaid leave would clarify. You should not treat pregnancy any different from any other unpaid leave in this regard.
Since you are not required to offer FMLA/CFRA, anything besides disability leave is at the discretion of the employer. During Pregnancy Disability Leave, they are not receiving Holiday pay. If you offer this unpaid leave, it is at your discretion - just make sure you follow the same rules as any other leave you may provide.
At our company (350 employees), employees on a medical leave of absence during a scheduled company holiday, are not eligible for the holiday pay. They are still eligible for disability pay during that time. The only portion of the leave that is paid is the disability portion - 6-8 weeks. Employees can choose to use their PTO to supplement the disability, or use it when the disability portion is exhausted.
When I was at my last company, we also closed for the December holidays - company paid. We did not pay the EE on LOA for the holidays during this closure time (which was consistent w. our LOA policy) but we gave them the unpaid time on the backend of their leave (which is more generous than what is mandated). So no issues with PDL. So no $$, but they got an extra 5 days of unpaid time off on the backend of their leave. We were public and the LOA policy was approved by outside counsel.
If an employee is on a leave of absence, he/she is not paid for holidays that occur within the time they are on leave. Doesn't matter to us whether the holiday is one day or the entire December shut down: they are on leave so not entitled to get paid for that time. You may need to check with SDI (state disability) to determine how extra pay (eg: holiday pay) would impact the disability payments.
Here is a draft that hasn't been reviewed yet by our attorney: To be eligible for holiday pay, the employee must have worked the normally scheduled work days prior to and following the holiday unless a vacation or sick day(s) has been pre-approved. Employees on leaves of absence are not eligible to receive holiday pay should a holiday fall during the course of their leave of absence. The course of a leave of absence is defined as the dates between the start and actual return-to-work dates.
We state in our policy that employee must be active to receive holiday and vacation pay. I recommend reviewing your policy and speaking to your attorney on how to word it going forward.
As you know, the Calif SDI covers apprx 55% for 6-8 weeks. Then PFL would cover apprx 55% for an additional 6 weeks. 12 weeks of partial pay is really good! In my opinion, adding on the holiday pay at the end may be too generous. I wouldn't recommend it. Plus, it might open up issues down the road with consistency if an employee is sick on a holiday - they may request to use holiday pay on another day they want to take off. Or, if an employee wants to use holiday pay for a religious day, they may try to waive another holiday to swap the two.
That is a company issue that would be outlined in the handbook. So for example, in the section of the handbook relating to leaves of absence, you would identify if employees on leave of absence would continue to accrue vacation and/or sick time. You can specifically outline that holidays that fall during the employee's leave of absence shall not be paid.
My company provides holiday pay to employees on leave that are receiving pay during that leave. For example, an employee begins leave in mid-November and uses sick leave to off-set state disability leave pay. Since they are receiving pay from the company we will pay them the holiday pay. If they are not receiving any pay from the company and only collecting state disability we will not pay them holiday pay. Employers are not obligated to provide holiday pay at all even to full time employees, so it is strictly a company policy issue
A: Eleven responses:
We state in our policy that employee must be active to receive holiday and vacation pay. I recommend reviewing your policy and speaking to your attorney on how to word it going forward.
Having a policy that says employees are not paid for holidays if they are on unpaid leave would clarify. You should not treat pregnancy any different from any other unpaid leave in this regard.
Since you are not required to offer FMLA/CFRA, anything besides disability leave is at the discretion of the employer. During Pregnancy Disability Leave, they are not receiving Holiday pay. If you offer this unpaid leave, it is at your discretion - just make sure you follow the same rules as any other leave you may provide.
At our company (350 employees), employees on a medical leave of absence during a scheduled company holiday, are not eligible for the holiday pay. They are still eligible for disability pay during that time. The only portion of the leave that is paid is the disability portion - 6-8 weeks. Employees can choose to use their PTO to supplement the disability, or use it when the disability portion is exhausted.
When I was at my last company, we also closed for the December holidays - company paid. We did not pay the EE on LOA for the holidays during this closure time (which was consistent w. our LOA policy) but we gave them the unpaid time on the backend of their leave (which is more generous than what is mandated). So no issues with PDL. So no $$, but they got an extra 5 days of unpaid time off on the backend of their leave. We were public and the LOA policy was approved by outside counsel.
If an employee is on a leave of absence, he/she is not paid for holidays that occur within the time they are on leave. Doesn't matter to us whether the holiday is one day or the entire December shut down: they are on leave so not entitled to get paid for that time. You may need to check with SDI (state disability) to determine how extra pay (eg: holiday pay) would impact the disability payments.
Here is a draft that hasn't been reviewed yet by our attorney: To be eligible for holiday pay, the employee must have worked the normally scheduled work days prior to and following the holiday unless a vacation or sick day(s) has been pre-approved. Employees on leaves of absence are not eligible to receive holiday pay should a holiday fall during the course of their leave of absence. The course of a leave of absence is defined as the dates between the start and actual return-to-work dates.
We state in our policy that employee must be active to receive holiday and vacation pay. I recommend reviewing your policy and speaking to your attorney on how to word it going forward.
As you know, the Calif SDI covers apprx 55% for 6-8 weeks. Then PFL would cover apprx 55% for an additional 6 weeks. 12 weeks of partial pay is really good! In my opinion, adding on the holiday pay at the end may be too generous. I wouldn't recommend it. Plus, it might open up issues down the road with consistency if an employee is sick on a holiday - they may request to use holiday pay on another day they want to take off. Or, if an employee wants to use holiday pay for a religious day, they may try to waive another holiday to swap the two.
That is a company issue that would be outlined in the handbook. So for example, in the section of the handbook relating to leaves of absence, you would identify if employees on leave of absence would continue to accrue vacation and/or sick time. You can specifically outline that holidays that fall during the employee's leave of absence shall not be paid.
My company provides holiday pay to employees on leave that are receiving pay during that leave. For example, an employee begins leave in mid-November and uses sick leave to off-set state disability leave pay. Since they are receiving pay from the company we will pay them the holiday pay. If they are not receiving any pay from the company and only collecting state disability we will not pay them holiday pay. Employers are not obligated to provide holiday pay at all even to full time employees, so it is strictly a company policy issue
Head Hunter Recommendations
Q: Looking for a Head Hunter with national contacts who can help me find an experienced Principal Scientist (chem/biochem Ph.D.) Any recommendations you have would be appreciated.
A: Please login and contribute your knowledge!
A: Please login and contribute your knowledge!
Friday, October 16, 2009
401k Matching for 2010
Q: For companies with greater than 200 employees, what will your 401(k) match will be for 2010? For example, match 25% of the first 6% or match 50% of the first 6%.
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A: Thank you all for your quick responses. I'm attaching the results of your feedback. A couple of companies responded that weren't at the > 200 employees but I've noted that in the table. As an added thank you, I can share with you the following detail:
2008 BEDC Benefits Survey: For those with >250 employees
• 8% provided a 25% match
• 31% provided a 50% match
• 15% provided a 100% match
I also requested a recent special Radford report (again for larger life science companies nationally) and 66% provided a match of 50% or more. I hope this helps you all with your decisions.
Data:
1: 100% on first 3%; additional profit sharing match up to 2%.
2: 50% on first 6%
3: 100% on the first $1,000
4: 25% on the first 6%
5: 25% on the first 4%
6: 50% on the first 6%
7: Proposing 50% on the first 6%
8: 50% on the first 6%
9: 50% on the first 6% (175 employees)
10: 100% match in stock (150 employees)
11: 66% match on first 6%
12: 50% on the first 6%
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A: Thank you all for your quick responses. I'm attaching the results of your feedback. A couple of companies responded that weren't at the > 200 employees but I've noted that in the table. As an added thank you, I can share with you the following detail:
2008 BEDC Benefits Survey: For those with >250 employees
• 8% provided a 25% match
• 31% provided a 50% match
• 15% provided a 100% match
I also requested a recent special Radford report (again for larger life science companies nationally) and 66% provided a match of 50% or more. I hope this helps you all with your decisions.
Data:
1: 100% on first 3%; additional profit sharing match up to 2%.
2: 50% on first 6%
3: 100% on the first $1,000
4: 25% on the first 6%
5: 25% on the first 4%
6: 50% on the first 6%
7: Proposing 50% on the first 6%
8: 50% on the first 6%
9: 50% on the first 6% (175 employees)
10: 100% match in stock (150 employees)
11: 66% match on first 6%
12: 50% on the first 6%
Monday, October 5, 2009
Strategies for weathering these economic times
Q: My company has been able to sustain, in fact, grow our workforce during this difficult economic time (2009). We have not cut pay or any benefits. The Board would like to know what BEDC companies in SD have had to do to sustain themselves. In some cases, we know, closure occured. Could you please let me know what steps your company took during the past 12 months - layoffs, pay cuts, benefit cuts, etc.
A: Please comment and share your feedback.
A: Please comment and share your feedback.
Office Planning Policies
Q: We are re-assigning office space and planned to use this policy:
Research Associates: Labs
Scientists, Project Leaders: shared offices (usually 2 employees per office)
Directors and above: single offices
What is your policy for assigning office space?
A: Please comment and share your knowledge.
Research Associates: Labs
Scientists, Project Leaders: shared offices (usually 2 employees per office)
Directors and above: single offices
What is your policy for assigning office space?
A: Please comment and share your knowledge.
Business Partner Modeling?
Q: Are any of your HR departments organized using a Business Partner Model? If you are willing to share the specifics of this organizational model, including a department org chart and the ratio of HR Business Partners to employees, we would very much appreciate it. We are in the process of evaluating our HR department’s structure, and are looking at various ways of reorganization.
A: Please share your feedback by commenting!
A: Please share your feedback by commenting!
Pay increase budgeting
Q: I realize we’ve just received our annual salary survey data, however, we are wondering if companies have revised their budget since submitting data. We are interested in knowing just the individual Merit % and Promo % (not COLA, market, etc.) planned for this year. Thanks in advance for your help.
A: Results:
Company Merit Promo
Company 1 3% 1%
Company 2 3% 0%
Company 3 4% 1%
Company 4 3% 0%
Company 5 3% 0%
Company 6 3% 1%
A: Results:
Company Merit Promo
Company 1 3% 1%
Company 2 3% 0%
Company 3 4% 1%
Company 4 3% 0%
Company 5 3% 0%
Company 6 3% 1%
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