Post Election HR Changes
The webinar presented by the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) was everything I though it would....and more. As we gear up as a Nation for Inauguration Day on January 20th, personally I'm preparing an exhaustive 2009 Human Resources Plan to stay on top of all of the possible Employment Law and HR changes.
The key Federal HR Issues that SHRM highlighted during are: Labor-Management Relations (Union Activities), Civil Rights Protection, Workplace Flexibility/Leave Benefits (more burden on the employer to provide more paid leave?!?!), Comprehensive Immigration Reform/Employment Verification (I-9's still in the spotlight!!), Health Care Reform (again, more burden on the employer) and others.
The Civil Rights protection arena takes a look at legislation such as Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act which clarified that a discrimination compensation decision occurs each time compensation is paid, not when a supervisor establishes the compensation rule. Paycheck Fairness Act would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to provide new remedies for victims of discrimination in payment of wages on the basis of sex and last but not least, The Employment Non-Discrimination Act would prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, which many states have already established. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act just adds more work for HR professionals because we've been training our supervisors all along to only hire on job-related criteria. Looks like I'll be revising many handbooks in the New Year.
Of particular interest/concern - depends on who is asking are the Workplace Flexibility initiatives. The Healthy Family Act would require employers with 15 or more employees to provide 7 days of paid sick leave. When asked to write our congressman, I'll be sure to get my vote in against this. We recently worked with our DC employers to comply with the DC Sick Leave Act - if passed, this will involve a lot of reworking entire compensation packages.
The Family Leave Insurance Act would provide 8 weeks of paid leave to employees for leaves permitted under the Family and Medical Leave Act - again, my vote would be no. Employers would have to give the benefit packages a complete overhaul. For example, I have a client who is a covered employer under the Family and Medical Leave Act - who currently offers employer paid Short and Long Term Disability Insurance. If they now have to pay 8 weeks of Family Medical Leave, you can be assured that they'll want to drop their disability programs to make room for paid FMLA.
I'm an optimist by nature and I've always thrived in a fast-paced environment with plenty of change...I'm looking forward to the New Year and have vowed to support and administer any new legislation that comes my way but I wish somehow our policymakers were in my shoes for one day.