Smart HR Learn

Payroll Training Navigating the many federal, state and local regulatory requirements that oversee the accurate and timely payment of employee wages require understanding each of the different steps in the company payroll process. Understanding how to identify the different employee types is a critical first step. Once the employee type is identified, calculating the wages for the compensable time (to include overtime) are essential to ensure an employee’s gross wages are accurate. One of the final steps in the payroll process will include various pay deductions, garnishments and employee taxation – all leading to the final net pay. The basic payroll cycle will close with the calculation and management of the tax liability payment processing and reporting. The accurate completion of each of these steps will ensure the correct and timely handling of the largest expense of your company and the security of your greatest asset (the employee).

Learning Objectives

You will be able to define compensable time for different employee types.

You will be able to describe how garnishments and overtime are calculated.

You will be able to discuss the calculation and payment of employment taxes.

You will be able to explain overtime calculation to employees.

Agenda

Defining Employee Status

Common Law Employee vs. Independent Contractors

Statutory and Non-Statutory Employees

Exempt vs. Nonexempt

Paying Employees

Minimum Wage Differences

Compensable Time

Calculating Overtime

Calculating the Paycheck

Allowable Deductions and Garnishments

Employee Taxation Calculations

Employer Liabilities and Payments

Who should attend?

Speaker:

Janette Levey Frisch is the founder of The EmpLAWyerologist Firm, has over 20 years of legal experience, more than 10 of which she has spent in Employment Law

Area Covered

• Why You Should Conduct Criminal Background Checks.

• What is Negligent Hiring/Retention, Cases of Negligent Hiring/Retention

• What is the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)?

• How do you comply with the FCRA?

• Cases involving the FCRA

• Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA)

• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) position on criminal background checks

• EEOC’s pre-2012 guidelines

• EEOC’s 2012 Enforcement Guidance

• EEOC Cases

“Ban the Box” Laws

Other considerations (workplace investigation training safety/violence issues, workers’ comp).

Overview:

Most of your employees are likely to be honest, reliable employees. At the same time, hiring employees always involves at least some risk. Are they honest? Are they reliable? Are you, your employees and the public safe if you hire them? Hopefully your worst hire was simply someone who underperformed or wasn’t a match for your company. What if it’s worse, though? What if an employee unfortunately becomes violent with co-workers or unsuspecting members of the public, or steals from you or others? You can then be liable for negligent hiring or retention of those employees if a criminal background check would have revealed this information. On the other hand, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and many of their state and local counterparts are scrutinizing if, how and when you may conduct and use information you obtain from criminal background checks in the hiring process

Why should you attend

Background checks, used correctly, are an invaluable tool for ensuring a safe, reliable workforce –and avoiding negligent hiring liability. At the same time, the use of criminal background checks in the hiring process is creating an increasing exposure to liability. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is aggressively pursuing this issue to ensure the practice does not have a disparate impact on minority applicants. Plaintiffs' class action attorneys are pursuing employers nationwide for failing to conform their background check process with the dictates and protections of the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).

Who will Benefit

• Hiring Managers

• HR Executives

• Risk Managers

• HR Supervisors

• Business Owners

• General Managers

• Human Resource Managers / Administration

• Office Managers

• Compliance Officers

• Safety Officers

• Recruiters

Speaker:  Teri is the founder and President of Hindsight Human Resources Teri Morning, MBA, MS, specializes in solving company "people problems

Areas Covered

Benefits of honing your Project Management Skills

• Understanding the Big Picture, the four processes involved in project work

• Understanding Work Breakdown Structures and scheduling the work

• How to Identify and Manage Risk

• Understanding unique challenges in HR Webinar project management

• How to extract lessons from every HR project and apply them in future projects

Session Outline:

• The Science of Project Management and the HR Professional

• Project Management as a Process

• The Cast of Characters

• A Written Charter

• A Framework for Action

• Work Breakdown

• Scheduling the Work

• Adjustments and Trade-Offs

• Managing Risk

• Project Adaptation

• Getting Off on the Right Foot with Effective Meetings

• Keeping on Track

• The Closedown Phase

• Managing Varied HR Projects

• Supporting Critical High-Level Projects

• Next Steps, Honing your PM Skills

• Implementation Tools

Overview

Planning is everything - and ongoing. On one thing all Project Management texts and authorities agree: The single most important activity that project managers engage in is planning - detailed, systematic, team-involved plans are only the foundation for project success. And when real-world events conspire to change the plan, project managers must make a new one to reflect the changes. So planning and re-planning must be a way of life for project managers.

 To be successful in HR and strategic planning, HR professionals must have a good understanding and practical ability to manage projects. Knowing how to effectively design, develop, and implement a project from beginning to end is critical for on-time and in-budget completion. A good program matched with outstanding implementation is your organization's best assurance of success. It is also an undeniable sign of good management. Strategy creation is about doing the right things and implementation is about doing things right. Therefore, it is very important that effective implementation of your project is as good as your strategy since a great strategy is worthless if that strategy is carried out poorly.

Background:

There are certain benefits to the professional who is able to master the process of project management:

• Achieve crucial results and ensure those results meet team, department, and the organization’s strategic objectives.

• Become a master at getting things done on time, within budget, and according to those quality standards your organization is known for.

• Minimize the time it takes to get the job done by finding ways to deliver on your objectives within reasonable time horizons while avoiding business cycle risks.

• Use resources effectively to save time and money while helping teams make the best use of their valuable time.

Why you should attend:

You as an HR leader play a major role in shaping your company's strategy as well as ensuring that the strategy is carried out as planned. While there is much written about the creation of strategy, there is little written about implementation. Therefore, in this webinar, we will talk about strategic and effective management and implementation of programs and ways in which you, as an HR professional, can facilitate both in your company. More specifically, this session will focus on how project management is becoming a critical success factor in the overall HR organizational strategy.

Who will Benefit :

• HR Practitioners

• HR Leaders and Team Leads

• Organizational Strategy Leaders

Speaker : Diane L. Dee, President of Advantage HR Consulting, has over 25 years of experience in the Human Resources arena

 Overview

When an employer receives an allegation of sexual harassment course online workplace harassment, taking prompt and appropriate action is the employer's legal responsibility. It is imperative that employers understand how to recognize harassment, evaluate the scope of their internal investigations, document steps taken along the way, and insulate their organization from subsequent lawsuits.

Additionally, it's also important for employers to ensure all parties are treated fairly during the process and be sensitive to how the organization's process is communicated and implemented.

In any case of workplace harassment, an employer's behavior must meet a certain standard in the eyes of the law. Just posting an anti-harassment policy, while a positive step, is insufficient to prove that an employer took workplace harassment seriously.

Workplace harassment isn't limited to sexual harassment and doesn't preclude harassment between two people of the same gender. The harasser can be a boss, a supervisor in another department, a co-worker, or even a nonemployee. The victim doesn't necessarily have to be the person being harassed; it can be anyone affected by the harassing behavior.

Harassment can also be considered a form of employment discrimination under various federal, state and local laws. In order to be considered discrimination, the harassment must be based on some protected trait. Under federal law, those traits include race, color, national origin, gender, pregnancy, age, religion, disability, and genetic information. Many state and local governments have enacted similar anti-discrimination laws.

Retaliation claims are costly and time-consuming for employers. Missteps in handling sensitive employee issues could result in the organization writing a check with a lot of zeros.

Additionally, workplace harassment may constitute a hostile work environment. Some conduct can be so severe on its own that even one incident can create a legal claim of workplace harassment.

How companies investigate potential misconduct can affect the company's reputation as well as its bottom line. Because cultural and generational diversity is changing the landscape of the U.S. workforce, that diversity can become fuel for all types of litigation. Understanding how to recognize harassment and effectively conduct workplace investigations can greatly reduce the chances of an organization being sued.

An employer can avoid or reduce liability by taking appropriate preventative measures. Participants will learn the best practices employers can employ to minimize the likelihood of retaliation violations.

Why you should attend

While no employer wants to be accused of harassment, all employers need to be armed with the knowledge of how to proceed should they find themselves in the position of having to defend themselves against a harassment charge. Employers must ensure they are properly prepared at the outset of an investigation to conduct effective and legally-compliant investigations into the harassment.

Employers first need to understand exactly what harassment is: unwelcome conduct from a boss, coworker, group of coworkers, vendor, or customer whose actions, communication, or behavior mocks, demeans, puts down, disparages, or ridicules an employee. Physical assaults, threats, and intimidation are severe forms of harassment and bullying. Harassment may also include offensive jokes, name-calling, offensive nicknames, pornographic images on a laptop, and offensive pictures or objects. Interfering with an employee's ability to do his or her work also is considered a form of harassment.

Employees can also experience harassment when they are not the target of the harasser because of the negative work environment that can develop because of the harassment. This is referred to as a hostile work environment. Additionally, workplace harassment can result in claims of discrimination and retaliation.

Employers often overlook the importance of promptly investigating complaints of harassment and taking quick and appropriate corrective action. Since an employer's prompt and effective response to complaints can limit or eliminate its liability in a discrimination, harassment, or retaliation lawsuit, it is imperative that employers implement an effective mechanism to investigate and resolve workplace complaints.

Charges of harassment in the workplace can result in costly consequences for companies. In 2017, the EEOC handled 84,254 charges and secured more than $125 million for victims of harassment and discrimination in private, federal, state, and local government workplaces.

From fact-finding to conducting interviews and writing reports, participants will gain the knowledge needed to recognize harassment in their workplace and confidently and effectively conduct investigations.

Who will benefit

Senior Leadership

Human Resources Professionals

Compliance Professionals

Operations Professionals

Managers & Supervisors

Employees

Speaker: Diane L. Dee, President of Advantage HR Consulting, has over 25 years of experience in the Human Resources arena

Session Highlights

Defining unconscious bias

Interaction tips

What does unconscious bias look like?

When do unconscious biases occur?

Impact of bias on the workplace

Types of bias that affect the workplace

Subtle unconscious biases

Addressing and combatting biases

Bias and its effect on recruiting efforts

The bias that occurs during performance management reviews

Legal protections afforded to employees

Interaction tips

 Overview

Unconscious bias in the workplace is a fact of life. Biases occur when individuals make spontaneous judgments about people or situations based on past experiences, culture, background, or exposure to media. These hidden preferences or prejudices can affect nearly every decision an organization makes. Biases can stymie diversity, recruiting, and retention efforts and can unknowingly shape an organization’s culture.

Bias affects who gets hired, promoted, and developed. If left unchecked, it also is blamed for influencing discriminatory behavior and workplace inequality. Most recently, it has been identified as a major contributor to the gender pay gap.

Organizations need to recognize and root out the unconscious biases that can undermine their diversity efforts, recruiting, and retention programs. By providing proper awareness training and putting processes in place that identify unconscious biases, organizations can take positive steps in minimizing biases that can impact every aspect of an organization.

Why Should you Attend

Tackling unconscious bias in the workplace can be difficult because it can be neither visible nor deliberate. Managers and employees might not realize they are making unfair assumptions or developing stereotypes based on the personal biases they bring to the workplace. Unconscious bias happens outside of our control. It occurs automatically and is triggered by our brain making quick judgments.

Individuals who experience bias can feel marginalized and unhappy leading to a less inclusive organizational culture, lower employee morale, and reduced employee retention. Attending this best hr courses online webinar will provide participants with the information needed to recognize bias and then take the necessary steps to address and reduce bias in their workplace.

Who Will benefit

Senior Leadership

HR Professionals

Managers & Supervisors

Compliance Professionals

Ethics Professionals

Employees

This activity has been approved for 1.15 (General) recertification credit hours toward aPHR, PHR, PHRca, SPHR, GPHR, PHRi, and SPHRi recertification through HR Certification Institute (HRCI). Please make note of the activity ID number on your recertification application form. For more information about certification or recertification, please visit the Human Resource Seminars website at https://smarthrlearn.com/

More and more people are complaining of feeling depressed, hopeless and just plain out of sorts.Therapists indicate that more and more people are seeking therapy, especially since the 2016 election. Millennials, the largest work group in our workplaces, have an increase in depression. These are your employees—What are your responsibilities as a manager or HR professional in recognizing and helping them?How can you ensure your organization’s climate is a safe and healthy place rather than a climate that might exacerbate poor mental health?

Employers are seeing more mental health issues in their workforce than ever before.Each year 1 in 5 adults is stricken with a mental illness (National Institute of Mental health), making mental illness an everyday reality for many of your employees.Yet, only 1 in 3 people seek help with their illness. The ADA, HIPAA, FMLA and most states’ human/civil rights department dictate how employers deal with employees’ with mental health problems.Privacy laws create challenges for employers to determine how serious a situation is and whether an employee poses a danger (though those with a mental illness pose no more risk of violence than those without a mental illness).

Examples of the most common psychological disorders include major depression and dysthymia, bipolar disorder, anxiety, schizophrenia and an array of personality disorders.Those individuals with depression have 2.5 times the risk of on the job injury.Workplace depression results in 200 million lost days annually.The disease is common, debilitating, and the number one cause of disability worldwide.Employers lose an estimated $52 billion annually in loss of productivity and insurance payments.

In 2016, the EEOC resolved 5000 disability based claims dealing with mental health conditions costing employers approximately $20 million.With the increase in claims came an EEOC newly released Guidance on Mental Health Discrimination which is addressed to employees informing them of their employment rights under the ADA.

Workplaces can and should play a significant role in minimizing their employees’ mental health risks. Employee stress levels continue to rise as more and more employees spend more and more hours at work without an increase in pay or benefits. Burnout and depression, particularly to millennials and millennial women are reported more than any other generation.

Why Should You Attend

Mental illness is a largely misunderstood disease that carries much stigma in society and in the workplace.70% of people with depression are employed, many do not seek treatment and when they do—medication is able to help only about 66% of those who are depressed.Approximately 20% of the population has any one of a number of personality disorders—those who do are often difficult to manage.Anxiety is one of the most common mental illnesses with some research suggesting it is the most common U.S. mental health problem; other research indicates depression is the number one disability.Mental illness is a covered disability under the ADAAA and therefore is subject to the law of the ADAAA including the requirement to engage in an interactive process.Managers and HR professionals often walk a delicate line in dealing with employees who may have a mental illness or exhibit signs and symptoms that give pause in considering if an employee needs to be referred for outside assistance such as EAP.But how does one refer a troubled employee without violating the ADA?What steps should an organization take to create a stigma-free workplace that is centered on the well-being of its employees’ physical and mental health? These issues will be discussed in this hr webinar.

Who will Benefit

HR

Risk Management

Any employee

All industries

Manager

This activity has been approved for 1.5 HR (General) recertification credit hours toward aPHR, PHR, PHRca, SPHR, GPHR, PHRi and SPHRi recertification through HR Certification Institute (HRCI). Please make note of the activity ID number on your recertification application form. This hr certification programs online is valid for 1.5 PDCs for the SHRM-CP® or SHRM-SCP®

 Speaker 

Prepare for New OSHA Regulations for COVID-19

Wed, September 02, 2020 01:00 PM – 02:30 PM EDT 90 Minutes Credits HRCI 1.5 & SHRM 1.5 PDCs

Speaker:Bill Levinson, P.E., FASQ, is the owner of Levinson Productivity Systems PC

Areas will be covered

1. Planning principles

Create     a risk register of locations and/or activities that could expose workers     and other stakeholders to COVID-19.

Involve     workers and other interested parties in the planning process. They are     often in the best position to identify potential contagion sources.

Consider     two primary hazards: contagion from a cough, and contagion from surfaces.     Countermeasures against a cough will work against contagion from ordinary     respiration but not necessarily the other way around.

2. Hierarchy of controls: eliminate the hazard, reduce the hazard, engineering controls, administrative controls, and personal protective equipment (PPE)

3. Eliminate the hazard: working from home, distance education, and remote conferencing make contagion impossible as COVID-19 cannot travel on the Internet. Organizations have already found that these measures they have been forced to take have saved a lot of money on physical space along with commuting costs, and may make them permanent.

4. Reduce the hazard, e.g. with drive-up banking rather than in-office banking.

5. Engineering controls do not rely on vigilance or compliance to protect people.

Distance     (between respiratory tracts) is our friend, and the more, the better.     Distance can be added without the need for more floor space through the     use of partitions.

Air     handling systems, and ultraviolet air disinfection systems, can suppress     contagion as well. ASHRAE offers substantial guidance on this.

6. Administrative controls rely on vigilance and compliance.

Staggered     shifts reduce the number of people present at any given time.

Hand     hygiene and surface hygiene address the issue of surface-borne contagion.

Telling     people to maintain 6 feet between them, on the other hand, requires the     use of technology (such as proximity alarms as reminders) to be truly     effective.

7. PPE is a last line of defense but it can be extremely effective.

If     a job requires respiratory protection as defined by OSHA, then     NIOSH-approved respirators are mandatory, along with a respiratory     protection program. Ordinary or even surgical face masks will not do. The     good news however is that most jobs defined as medium risk, i.e. most jobs     outside health care, will not require this level of protection per     "Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19"

Respirators     nonetheless offer the best protection when worn regardless of job     requirements, assuming they are available. The UK's Health and Safety     Executive (their counterpart of OSHA) found that the best respirator     reduces the risk of getting COVID-19 by a factor of 100. The kinds not     used by health care workers do seem available on an at least sporadic     basis. Placement of a cloth mask over the exhaust valve can meanwhile     offer some protection to others if the wearer has the disease and is     asymptomatic.

The     UK's Health and Safety Executive found that surgical masks reduce the risk     of getting COVID-19 by a factor of about 6. These masks are known     quantities when they meet ASTM requirements. A major issue is that, unlike     respirators, they do not seal completely around the nose and mouth but     this can be improved with mask tighteners and mask sealers.

Improvised     masks are not as good but they are still better than none at all.

All     masks and respirators must be worn and handled properly and, if reusable,     disinfected properly between uses.

Beware     of counterfeit PPE, especially respirators that claim N95 or better     capability.

Consider     safety goggles or face shields to protect against contagion through the     eyes, although this is not believed to be a principal contagion source.

Attendees will receive a pdf copy of the presentation slides and the accompanying notes, as well as another handout on face masks and respirators. Disclaimer; no part of this presentation constitutes formal engineering or occupational health and safety advice. Attendees are encouraged to consult the material from OSHA, ASHRAE, and the other sources that will be cited in the presentation.

 Overview

 The HEROES (Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act) which passed the House of Representatives in May, will require OSHA to develop regulations for workplace protection from COVID-19. This webinar will help workplaces get a head start on these requirements with off-the-shelf solutions that are already being used and, more importantly, protect workers and other stakeholders while ensuring continuity of operations.

 Why Should You Attend

 The United States has unfortunately made the same mistakes it made in 1918, when a respite in the flu pandemic caused people to lower their guard by abandoning precautions including social distancing and use of face masks. COVID-19 has made a devastating comeback, at the estimated cost of 1000 lives per day, that threatens a fragile economic recovery along with businesses' continuity of operations.

Safe restoration of economic activity requires nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) including but not limited to social distancing, engineering controls, and appropriate respiratory protection. "Wait for a vaccine" is not an option because it might not be ready until 2021, and viruses can mutate into forms that can defeat existing vaccines. This is why new flu vaccines are needed every year.

The pending legislation will require OSHA to issue a standard or regulation with which workplaces will then need to comply, but the standard should be welcomed enthusiastically. Workplaces do not, however, have to wait for a formal standard because OSHA’s "Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19" already offers a good preview as to what to expect, and other off-the-shelf protective actions are widely available as well. This webinar will provide a comprehensive overview of countermeasures against COVID-19 along with links to authoritative resources.

 Key Learning Objectives

 1. The HEROES Act will require OSHA to develop a standard for protection from occupational exposure to COVID-19 and related diseases. Safe resumption of economic activity, and continuity of operations, depend on workplace protection regardless of whether a standard is forthcoming.

2. Basic planning principles for workplace protection including risk registers and workforce participation in the planning activities

3. Hierarchy of controls: eliminate the hazard, substitute less hazardous conditions, engineering controls, administrative controls, and personal protective equipment (PPE)

4. Use telecommuting, distance education, and remote conferencing to not just eliminate the hazard, but also save money.

5. Use engineering controls such as partitions and air handling systems to reduce workplace exposure.

6. Administrative controls may require technical aids to be effective as they rely on vigilance and compliance.

7. PPE is a last line of defense but it is very effective if used properly.

 Who will Benefit

Everyone with responsibility for reopening businesses in the aftermath of the COVID-19 outbreak, as well as people with responsibility for occupational health and safety (OH&S) compliance along with building layouts and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC).

This activity has been approved for 1.5 HR (General) recertification credit hours toward aPHR, PHR, PHRca, SPHR, GPHR, PHRi and SPHRi recertification through HR Certification Institute (HRCI). Please make note of the activity ID number on your recertification application form. For more information about certification or recertification, please visit the HR Certification Institute website at www.hrci.org

This program is valid for 1.5 PDCs for the SHRM-CP® or SHRM-SCP®

Understand the common misconception about paying employees to ensure that your company is handling them correctly.

Many employers have misconceptions about what is actually required to pay employees correctly under federal and state wage and hour laws. There are some who absolutely believe it is illegal to force exempt employees to record their time (it is not) or that if you pay an employee for a holiday it legally must be included in the overtime calculation (it does not). Other companies are convinced that if they have a policy that states that overtime must be approved in advance or it will not be paid, it is perfectly legal not to pay the overtime (it is not). This topic will help you understand the common areas of misconception about paying employees to ensure that your company is handling them correctly.

Learning Objectives

You will be able to discuss unproductive hours eligible for compensation.

You will be able to explain exempt vs. non exempt vs. hourly vs. salary positions.

You will be able to identify who should punch a time clock.

You will be able to recognize what work time is.

Agenda

How to Define an FLSA Exempt vs. Nonexempt Employee

Are All Managers Exempt?

Are Only Hourly Employees Eligible for Overtime?

If You Require Exempt Employees to Clock in/out, Do You Have to Pay Overtime?

How to Calculate Overtime

What Is the Workweek?

Can the Workweek Change at Any Time?

Who Decides What Is Considered Work Time?

Determining What Non-Worked Time Must Be Paid

Do I Have to Pay Employees for Holidays, Sick and Vacation?

Is Non-Worked Time Used to Calculate Overtime?

What Other Types of Unproductive Time Must Be Paid?

Who should attend?