I Didn’t Say I Wanted to Work, I Said I Wanted A Paycheck

Posted on March 31, 2013 by

So, If I Email An Employee After Hours I Have To Pay Them?

It is important to ensure that as an employer, you are paying your employees for all hours worked each pay period.  A common issue cited by small business employees to the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor is that they are  ‘working off the clock’.

This can occur in several ways:

1. One is a situation where the employer expects work to be completed by an hourly employee and when the work is not done, the employee takes it home to complete it.  Then the employee brings the completed project back to the clinic and they do not record the hours worked at home on their time worked for the week.ID-100123723

2. Maybe, it’s Sheryl at the front desk that has been helping with a marketing program and wants to do it where no one will disturb her, or your supervisor who writes those employee reviews at night while watching the kids.  Everything seems to be fine until there’s a problem with Sheryl’s performance and suddenly, you, the manager are trying to explain to the Practice Owner why the employee feels she hasn’t been paid for all the work she has done and is underappreciated. And, there are wages that Sheryl feels she should be paid, according to the printed pages she gave you from the Fair Labor Standards Act Website.

4. Another example of times when an employee might ‘work off the clock’ is after they clock out for the day or for lunch. Another employee asks the first employee to help with work task. The employee spends a few minutes unpacking inventory, another few minutes explaining an invoice or helping in some other way, but it is not paid work time.

5. An employee is interrupted during his or her lunch to answer the phone or answer someone’s work questions.  Remember, when an employee has clocked out for lunch or at the end of the day, they are off work.

6. Let’s add the Social Media layer. Your manager texts an employee about work when the employee is at home and expects to receive a reply. The Practice Owner has some questions and tends to send a bunch of emails at night and her ever ready Super Technician will respond whenever she can, at the grocery store, on her way home from her sister’s house and at the end of her day at home. The doctors on the weekend email the veterinary technicians about the cases and the team looks over the information the night before they come into the practice on Monday morning. So, is this work? AND, should it be paid? If it’s work and these are hourly employees, you better say yes.

“But it’s not just employers who give their hourly workers smart phones and demand after-hours accessibility who may have to worry. According to the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act, even if an employer discourages hourly employees from responding to work-related messages off the clock, the company still could be on the hook for overtime wages.” According to Kevin Hyde, who’s vice chair of the Labor & Employment Practice at Foley & Lardner LLP

ID-10018451Recommendation – Think carefully and reduce down what is not necessary to be done outside the practice. Does that work really need to be done offsite? And if that answer is yes, then, accurately capture the amount of time and have a policy for recording and tracking these tasks. The tasks may be best done by a salaried position that does not have the same constraints as an hourly employee has in these situations.

Many times the employer is unaware that employees have worked ‘off the clock’ until they are involved in a Wage and Hour audit and it is brought to their attention.  A suggestion made by Business and Legal Resources to help employers protect themselves from future wage claims and to encourage employees to note all the hours that they worked is to include a note at the bottom of each time card that says:

“I have received my paycheck and it is accurate for the hours that I worked for the pay period.”  All time cards should be signed by the employee to affirm this statement.

Another suggestion is to include a note on each pay stub or envelope such as “If there are any questions or concerns about the amount of pay or hours worked, contact __________”.

Employers should have an area away from the work areas for employees to take their lunch and breaks.  Ensure that employees are uninterrupted during the lunch.  Once an employee has signed out for the day, they should leave the building.  But, if you do request assistance after the employee is off the clock, be sure to pay them for that time.

Make it fair for your employees; pay them for their time. It’s as simple or as complicated as you want to make it.

Blog entries should not be considered legal advice.

Posted in employee manual, Financial Management, Human Resources, Social Media, Uncategorized, veterinary hospital, veterinary Human Resources, veterinary practice management | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

NEW I-9 Form Released Today – Employer’s Need To Switch To It By May 7, 2013

Posted on March 8, 2013 by
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has published Introduction of the Revised Employment Eligibility Verification Form in the March 8, 2013, Federal Register and will make the new Form I-9 available at I-9 Central.  Employers do not need to complete the new Form I-9 (Rev. 03/08/13)N for current employees for whom there is already a properly completed Form I-9 on file unless reverification applies.

A comprehensive list of what changes have been made in the form and how to fill it out are explained at  I-9 Central as well.

Employers should use the new form as soon as possible but have until May 7, 2013 before they will be penalized for not using it.

Read more about the new I-9 on SHRM Online
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

When The Push Becomes The Shove – Do You Have A Workplace Bully?

After working with hundreds of veterinary clinics, there is a certain vibe that you get when you walk into a practice and you sense that something isn’t quite right with the team. While there’s it’s not possible to tell exactly what is wrong, there’s definitely an undercurrent; a tension that something or someone is causing problems in this work environment. After only a couple of hours of observing the team, there is one person who begins to stick out. Scene one: Stacy (let’s call her) leans over to two other women who are chatting by her in the pharmacy and interrupts their conversation, I can’t hear what she says, but can see the face of the person she is speaking to while she speaks. The other person (let’s call her) Ann, tears up and immediately leaves the room, the person she was speaking with Danielle also backs away, literally from Stacy and exits the area. It’s only 10 minutes later that I hear Stacy telling Dr. Jones that she needs to leave early and thatAnn and Danielle agreed to stay late to cover her shift tonight and tomorrow since she needs to leave early tomorrow night as well. (are you beginning to get the vibe as well?) Less than fifteen minutes later, I can see Stacey over in the kennel area within 8 inches away from Laura’s face saying something that is obviously upsetting since Laura is staring pointedly at the floor and nodding her head; doing her best to get away from Laura. Laura punctuates the end of her conversation by slamming her hand against the wall only a few inches away from where Laura had been standing.

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credit -http://www.sxc.hu/

Here comes my afternoon of interviewing team members to assess the workplace (that’s why I am here). The owner’s have asked me to come in and assess why they are having trouble keeping employees, what is causing the morale to be so low and what they can do to improve the work environment. Once the employees realize that the interviews are going to be confidential and the owner is committed to improving the work place environment, the conditions become clear. The interaction witnessed earlier between Stacey, and Ann was about how Stacey  threatening her so she was able to leave early. On several occasions, Stacey had threatened team members with a variety of actions from “accidents” to getting them fired, to making them look bad with the owner.

In completing the interviews with all 9 team members, each recounted experiences where Stacy had threatened, acted aggressively, and in certain circumstances outright lied to cause problems for others. These actions are blatant examples of bullying behavior, but as a team member what can you do? The stories of  how she has forced other past employees from the practice are down right legendary and told to everyone who starts with the practice, “you don’t cross Stacey.” Any one who goes to the boss with their complaints, found that the problems got worse. Dr. Jones would often reply that “girls don’t always get along.”

1. Don’t engage in the “back and forth” with them. If there’s something they like to pick on you about, then don’t give them a response, if they can’t get a rise out of you, there isn’t any enjoyment in it for them. This is one of those time where ignoring it if at all possible is a good choice.

2. Know your practice policy – While you may think there is nothing that can be done about the situation, that may not be the case. Check the employee manual, if they are in violation of a policy, you are within your right to report it. There are many state laws being passed right now about bullying in the workplace, check and see if there may be a new law in your state that needs to be discussed with your employer. You can find information on these laws at http://www.healthyworkplacebill.org

3. Lean on someone, seek out a mentor – talk to someone outside of work who can listen to your experiences and give advice that is not based on what they know about everyone else in your practice, but on you. Choose someone with good business sense, and someone you know that will tell you when you are whining.

4. Bullies like to divide and conquer, form a support group with others in the clinic. When something has happened, form a group instead of going off on your own. You will feel better and the others will know they can count on you when they need support

5. Keep a record of events, if there is a problem later and you go to your supervisor, it will be important that you can provide specific information about when something happened and who else can verify the event. If you are a manager, your documentation about an event or an observation is going to be the foundation for

showing patterns of behavior and demonstrating the severity of a problem. Accuracy is absolutely essential if it becomes a legal matter or someone is terminated.

6. Do good work – Do not let this bully effect your quality of work.

7. Don’t Blame Yourself – This is about them, not you.  So, don’t take it personally, as hard as it is when it’s happening. They are threatened by your ability, your friendliness, your perceived taking over of their territory, whatever in their warped mind.

8.  Know when to seek help – If this is causing you physical harm, you are losing sleep, feeling ill, it’s impacting your home life, then it needs to be addressed. The workplace Bullying Site has excellent tools to assess the severity of the situation and to help with getting back on track with your career.

If you know a Sarah or you work with a Sarah, then having the tools to assure that you can continue to enjoy your job and not allow them to chase you from a practice that you love. You have choices. Additional resources can be found at http://www.kickbully.com/basic.html

Aside | Posted on February 9, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Legalizing Marijuana – What’s Up with That?

Posted on December 4, 2012 by

The big question that remains is, what does that mean in the workplace? According to Jim Shore, a partner at the Stoel Rives’ Seattle office told SHRM online, “The Simple answer is the new law does not change an employers rights. Employers can still enforce zero-tolerance policies and other drug-testing policies now.” Then, what does it mean to employers?

While there may be some confusion over the Colorado Marijuana Law itself, there is little need for clarification of the state law on what happens if an employee in under the influence while working. Section 10(a) of the amendment states “No governmental, private, or any other health insurance provider shall be required to be liable for any claim for reimbursement for the medical use of marijuana.” This had led to some unresolved debate by claimant attorneys that workers’ compensation carriers should not be included because they are not technically “health insurance providers.”

The Colorado law specifically addresses employers’ rights, stating the law “is not intended to require an employer to permit or accommodate the use, consumption, possession, transfer, display, transportation, sale or growing of marijuana in the workplace or . . . affect the ability of employers to have policies restricting the use of marijuana by employees.” The Washington law does not mention employers; however, it does provide for a cost-benefit evaluation of the law’s economic impacts on workplace safety.

Washington still has a 2011 Supreme Court ruling that held for employers to discipline or terminate employees who use medical marijuana use violates workplace drug policy, and there is not requirement to accommodate to the employees use of medical marijuana.

The courts are ruling on the sides of employers in situations of discipline and termination were resulting from violating drug and workplace safety policy. This is an excellent time to assure that as an employer your policies are clear, consistently administered and understood by all employees. There’s a distinct scent in the air and it’s coming your way, 18 states have a medical marijuana statue in place already. Do you know if your state is one of them? http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org

Posted in employee manual, Hiring/Training/Recruiting, Human Resources, Positive and Productive Workplace, Uncategorized, veterinary hospital, veterinary Human Resources, veterinary medicine, veterinary practice, veterinary practice management | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

10 Ways To Deal Disagreements Out Today

Posted on November 6, 2012 by

Disagreements, we are bound to have them.  So, when that next time is today, here are 10 ways to deal. Share this list and maybe those days will be farther apart.

  1. Keep it private. It is not appropriate to have other members in the practice hearing all about it. This facilitates gossip and can encourage others to “take sides.” None of these occurrences helps solve the problem.
  2. Assess what is really going on.Initially, you might be shocked that you are being treated unprofessionally. Take a deep breath, and try to understand exactly what is happening to you. Realize that you are not alone and that someone else may have had this same experience with this individual.

    You are not alone, disagreements affect everyone in a practice.

  3. Make the first move. Proceed on the belief that the other person wants to resolve this situation just like you. Neither of you is comfortable with the current situation. Let them know that you want to work this out. Begin your conversation with “I would really like to work this out with you,” or “I’m sorry for what I may have done to hurt you” or “I could be wrong.”
  4. Don’t sink to their level. Face it, people as well as ourselves will on occasion react in an inappropriate or dysfunctional way to conflict. As a result, stupid stuff happens. Don’t engage in this behavior, it only intensifies the conflict and makes it more difficult to sort out. Gossiping with others, sending anonymous notes, passively aggressive attacking the other person, or bad mouthing the person would be examples of dysfunctional and inappropriate actions.
  5. Recognize poison personalities. Get comfortable with identifying when a coworker is “poisonous.” Difficult people come in all shapes and sizes: Some don’t listen and seem able to talk non-stop. Others must always have the last word. Some team members don’t keep commitments. You will find team members that criticize anything that they did not create themselves. A poisonous team member can take the form of a cut-you-down for no reason person, a two-faced backstabber, a gossip, a meddler, an instigator, or a nasty competitor.
  6. Decide to resolve it in a timely manner.  Handling problems in swift, but in a well thought out manner is the best approach. Do not let your anger and frustration to evolve to a point that you will not be able to interact professionally with someone. Deal with the problem while you can maintain some objectivity and emotional control.
  7. Know that the boss can be part of the problem.  Bosses are people too, they can be part of   a conflict situation or even be the biggest part of a problem. If you need to confront your boss, avoid putting him or her on the defensive. This is the most risky situation with which to deal.
  8. Make it happen. Once you are fully aware of what is happening your situation won’t improve unless you do something about it. In fact, left unaddressed, if you do nothing, it will get worse.
  9. It’s a good idea to be politically correct. If you consistently complain about other team member’s behavior then your boss is going to begin to get the impression that you do not have problem solving skills. Don’t become Wendy Whiner, pick your battles carefully.  If you are embroiled in a constant conflict at work, you may end up getting blamed for other problems.
  10. You don’t have to like everyone. It’s okay to not want to have all the people you work with each day over to the house for dinner. Even when you dislike someone, you can still learn from them. Take that mindset and you will enjoy your day more and not build up resentment. If you can find something to appreciate about them, comment on it in a favorable way. If that person senses your allegiance, they will be naturally drawn to you, and you may both learn to get along despite your differences.

Now, about that list of people….. who should you email this list to?

Image courtesy of Solitude / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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