Employment Law

Hiring Teenagers – What Employers Need to Know About Child Employment Laws

It’s that time of year when employers are considering hiring teens. Here’s an article from the Easy Small Business archives that you can use as a reference.

How many hours can a minor work in a week? Can I hire a 13 year old? Small business owners who tap into the teen work force need to know the in’s and out’s of child employment laws. Here’s your basic guide to hiring teenagers—and staying compliant.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) sets the federal guidelines for employers hiring teenagers under the age of 18. These child employment laws are designed to protect their educational opportunities and to protect them from harmful or hazardous jobs. The FLSA provides very specific guidelines for employers to follow when hiring teenagers: [click to continue…]

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Tips For Hiring an Intern Legally

Done correctly, taking on or hiring an intern is a win-win proposition. The students gain valuable work experience and the chance to prove that they’re worth considering for full time work (either at your company or elsewhere). Your company benefits from adding creative talent at low or no cost.

Here’s the thing, though: There are some rather sticky legalities about hiring interns. If you don’t follow the letter of the law, it can really come back to bite you.

In order for an internship to be legal, it has to benefit the student. That means one of two things. Either:

The student is being paid, or
The student is receiving college credit.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

The FLSA governs internships and defines what is (and isn’t) a valid internship program. If the internship is unpaid, it must qualify as a trainee program. In order to qualify, it must meet all of the following criteria:

The interns must receive on the job training.
Interns cannot be used to displace other workers.
Interns cannot be offered a guarantee of employment with your company after the program is completed.
Interns must be taught skills during the internship which could transfer to other career opportunities.
Interns must receive some form of training which is particular to your type of industry.
The intern must know ahead of time that he is not entitled to wages or compensation.
Your company cannot receive “immediate benefit” from the intern’s activity.

Failure to follow those set in stone criteria accounts for most of the mistakes businesses make with interns. Those kinds of mistakes can be costly, causing your business to run afoul of the Federal Department of Labor.

Paid internships offer you more leeway, since there is a clear benefit to the intern. With paid internships, the laws are similar to hiring any other employee. The major difference is that you have much more wiggle room when it comes to terminating an internship than an actual employment. For example, if you end an internship, you’re not required to pay unemployment benefits.

Other Common Mistakes that Could Get Your Business in Trouble

There are a number of other mistakes which can get you in trouble. A few common examples include:

Using international students as interns without the proper approval. International students are allowed to participate in internships, but there are a few additional hoops they need to jump through. Essentially, this amounts to receiving a letter from you, which they will use to obtain work permission from their college administration.
Not covering interns under worker’s compensation. As long as you’re not paying your interns, you’re not necessarily required to cover them under worker’s compensation. However, failure to cover them can expose you to more liability than it’s worth.
Not adhering to Equal Opportunity Employment guidelines. Interns are not specifically covered under EOE. Still, you’re inviting a lawsuit if you give a college student a viable reason to believe they were discriminated against based on any protected status.
Accepting interns whose educational/career goals don’t line up with the training provided. If you have a student who is studying to be a social worker, you can’t add them to the internship program in your machine ship just to get a cost effective go-fer. If your program doesn’t further the intern’s goals, then it isn’t an internship and you need to pay them minimum wage or higher.
Not treating the selection process as you would the hiring process. You want interns who will bring something of value to your business. The interns want a training program which will help them advance their career and educational goals. If you don’t treat the selection and interview process as you would the normal hiring process (for paid employees), neither of you are likely to get what you want.

The Sticky Grey Area

Technically, to be considered an internship or training program, you can’t expect the interns to produce work of immediate value to you or your business. Still, truth be told, most companies who use interns do manage to get some productive work out of the interns.

The main issue here is that the interns need to be getting something of value. In order to keep you out of hot water with the DOL, your program needs to benefit the interns more than it does your company. That’s not to say that your company can’t benefit from the efforts of interns. It is to say that your internship program needs to be clearly designed to be primarily of value to them.

Why You Should Consider an Internship Program Anyway

There are definite benefits of having an internship program, even though you can’t design it to give immediate benefit to your company. The real benefit for most companies comes in being able to screen out future hires.

A solid internship program allows you to screen out the best candidates. When you offer an intern a paid position, you get an employee who has already proven their aptitude and has a serious head start on the training they need to be an asset to your operation.

Dominique Molina is President of the American Institute of Certified Tax Coaches, an organization of tax professionals who are trained to help their clients rescue thousands of dollars in wasted tax and is a registered educator with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA). In addition to her blogging and speaking engagements, Dominique also provides engagement letters, accounting marketing and a range of accounting templates to her clients.

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The Parental Bereavement Act: What Employers Need to Know

What is the Parental Bereavement Act? As a supervisor, you’re already familiar with the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which provides eligible workers in specific situations with up to 12 weeks of protected unpaid leave and continuation of health insurance coverage. For example, FMLA protects employees caring for a newborn or bonding with an adopted child.

The Parental Bereavement Act, introduced in 2011 and still in committee, would expand FMLA by providing protection for parents grieving the loss of a child. Montana Senator Jon Tester, who introduced the bill, said in a press release, “When the unthinkable happens to parents, the last thing they should be worrying about is whether they’ll lose their jobs as they deal with life-changing loss.”

Employers and employees need to be aware of one key difference between a parental bereavement leave and other FMLA-protected leaves. This amendment, like the original legislation, would give eligible workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave in the 12-month period following a child’s death. However, unlike standard FMLA leave, the Parental Bereavement Act dictates that the leave must be taken in a single block of time unless the employer specifically authorizes intermittent leave.

Like the rest of FMLA guidelines, the Parental Bereavement Act only applies to companies with 50 or more employees.

Stay tuned as this piece of employment legislation works through Congress.

Dianne Shaddock is the President of Easy Small Business HR, Employee Hiring and Managing Tips and the author of the ebook “How To Supervise: What Your Boss Never Told You Before You Took the Job“, A Step-By-Step Guide For New and Seasoned Managers.

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An Employee Undergoes Gender Change – What Should Managers Do?

How do you manage the situations created when an employee undergoes a gender change? No matter what your personal views on the matter may be, as a supervisor, it’s your job to help the team member transition within the workplace and minimize the impact the employee sex change has on staff and productivity.

What is a transgender employee? The term is a broad definition for people who have a sense of gender that is different than the gender of their birth. It can be a man who identifies as female or a woman who identifies as male. A transsexual is a transgender person who lives full time as the gender opposite their birth gender. The person may or may not undergo medical procedures to alter the body’s appearance.

Legal Matters

Laws vary regarding an employee who undergoes a gender change. A number of jurisdictions, including California, New Jersey, Minnesota, and Washington D.C., have prohibited discrimination based on gender identity. The worker may be protected by these laws even if they haven’t undergone sex reassignment surgery. Always check with state and local labor departments to learn about transgender employee laws in your area.

Federal courts have also provided some protections for employees who undergo gender change. For instance, in 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that discrimination against a woman who didn’t conform to female stereotypes was, in fact, a form of sex discrimination.

Practical Matters

When the employee everyone has known as Robert shows up one day as Rosalie, it can be a shock to the team. The best way to handle an employee gender change is to create a transition plan. What should you consider in a plan for the employee who undergoes gender change?

Paperwork: From changing the worker’s gender on employment forms to changing their name, you’ll need to update documentation, which might include insurance forms, ID cards, and even organizational or workflow charts.

Restrooms: You and your employee should discuss which restroom he or she will use.

Pronouns: He or she? Always find out from the person experiencing a gender change how he or she would prefer to be addressed.

Workplace Education Session: The most successful plans include creating a workplace where the transitioning worker’s team members are informed of the situation. Begin the session by explaining that their co-worker will be transitioning into a different gender. Give co-workers an opportunity to openly ask questions. Providing a forum to ask even uncomfortable questions helps relieve tension that these unfamiliar situations may trigger in some employees. Most importantly, be sure that your staff member who is undergoing the gender change has input into your communication strategy every step of the way.
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