The fall and winter holiday season can be a special time for many. People often look forward to the food, music, decorations, and gathering with family and friends. However, when it comes to holidays in the workplace, there are some pitfalls that employers should be careful to avoid.
Stay at Work: Getting Money Back for Light-Duty Accommodations
Despite employers’ best efforts to ensure safe working conditions for employees, workplace injuries can still happen, which are hard for everyone involved. Injured workers often worry about their recovery and potential financial hardships if they cannot work due to their injury. Employers may be concerned about the employee’s well-being, losing the worker’s skills they’ve come to depend on, as well as financial losses associated with the injury.
What Employers Need to Know About Paid Leave Oregon
Oregon is preparing to roll out its much-anticipated paid family and medical leave program called Paid Leave Oregon. The program, which was delayed for a year partially due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will require employee and employer contributions to start on January 1, 2023. Employees can apply for benefits beginning on September 3, 2023.
Union Awareness: Top 5 Issues That Non-Employers Should Look Out For
After vowing to be the most pro-union president in history, President Biden took steps literally from day one to achieve that goal. On his inauguration day, President Biden called for the resignation of the Trump-appointed National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel and later appointed former union attorney Jennifer Abruzzo to the position.
General Counsel Abruzzo has already issued several directives to NLRB field offices to make union organizing easier. Non-union employers need to heighten their awareness of these directives and other union organizing trends, especially if they prefer to remain union-free.
Do your employees work from heights in the state of Washington? If so, you may need to brush up on the Washington Labor and Industries’ (L&I) updated Unified Fall Protection rule, WAC 296-880.
L&I’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) updated the Unified Fall Protection rule because they received notification from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) that Washington’s rule was not “at least as effective” as the federal fall protection standards.
For state agencies such as L&I to maintain state-run safety programs, they must meet or exceed federal standards. DOSH’s updates to the Washington rule became effective on November 1, 2022.
One unfortunate trend we’ve noticed on the HR Hotline is the always unsettling call from an Archbright member stating a remote worker moved out of state months ago without telling them.
We recommend making it abundantly clear to your entire staff: Employees may not ask for forgiveness as opposed to permission when relocating out of state.
Because employment laws typically apply in the state where the employee lives (as opposed to where the employer is headquartered), there can be significant issues of legal exposure when employees leave without telling their employer.
Many employers and employees mutually benefit when employees are allowed to perform work in another state.
This Working Out of State Checklist was developed to assist employers with conducting a review of all considerations before expanding operations into another state.