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Facts you need to know about the Drug Free Workplace Act of 1988:
| Employers |
Employees |
| Employers must certify to the contracting or granting agencies that they maintain a drug free work place by publishing (posted in employee handbook and on job sites) and administering specific drug free workplace policies and a drug awareness program. |
Individuals who have drug problems may come forward under ADAAA to be protected as a disability; only if they have or are in a drug rehab program. |
| Applies to federal contractors with contracts of $25,000 or more. |
No employment action can be taken on them once they are protected by ADAAA. |
| If you have a drug program at your company, you must train supervisors on how to tell if someone is intoxicated or on drugs at least once every 3 years. |
Employees must notify their employer of criminal drug or alcohol conviction for a violation occurring in the workplace no less than 5 days after conviction. |
| Inform employees on 1) the dangers of drug abuse, 2) company policy, 3) any available drug counseling, rehab, or EAP programs offered. |
Employees must communicate to their employer imposing a sanction of requiring satisfactory participation in drug abuse assistance or rehab program. |
The following items should be included in your employee handbook:
Define reasons for testing program.
- Pre-employment
- For cause
- Post accident testing
- Random testing
Policy should be publicly stated:
- in offer letters
- in employment ads
Demonstrate need and objectives of testing program:
- Consider nature of job.
- Obligation to maintain safe workplace.
- Prevention of negligence liability.
- Government contract program.
- Define who will screened.
- Define what drug related issues be reported to the authorities.
- Define when employee or applicants be subject to testing.
- Define what will happen if an employee or applicant refuses testing.
- Define which drugs are included in the testing and their limits.
- Define what action will be taken if employee or applicant tests positive.
- Define if an EAP program will be implemented to help.
Conduct supervisor and management training.
With the start of this new year I want to share with you five things all employers should do to help protect their businesses and stay in compliance with the law:
1) Update your job descriptions to include the new ADAAA provisions and ensure proper FLSA (exempt/hourly) status.
2) Update your Employee Handbooks to include the Ledbetter Law, new FMLA Military Leave, ADAAA and GINA (the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act).
3) Update your federal posters to include GINA and new FMLA (mandated by the Federal Government on 11/21/09).
4) All employers offering benefits ensure COBRA administration is giving notice to laid off employees about their extended benefits.
5) Conduct EEO/Sexual Harassment and Safety Training if you have not done so in the past two years. (California requires supervisors be trained in their first 6 months).
If you have questions please don’t hesitate to give me a call, or if you are in Fort Worth, attend one of my HR training classes.
Employers need to check their Human Resources bulletin boards to ensure the posting notices are current. All notices should be posted prominently where both applicants and employees can readily see them.
If your employees do not speak English, you may be required to post in their language.
1. Consolidated EEO poster that covers Title VII, ADEA, ADAA, EPA and Veterans. The poster is called “Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law”.
2. Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA) notice.
3. Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) covers minimum wage, overtime, and child labor laws. (New minimum wage changed 7/24/09 to $7.25).
4. Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) notice only effecting employers with over 50 employees. This notice should also reflect new military and family leaves.
5. Uniform Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) notice. The post is called “Your Rights Under USERRA”.
6. Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) notice. The poster is called “Job Safety and Health–It’s the Law”
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If you answer “no” to any of the questions below, review the termination carefully.
1. Have the violations been thoroughly documented and investigated?
2. Are there facts to support the discharge?
3. Has the employee been told discharge is the next step in the process?
4. Is the violation so serious that it requires immediate discharge?
5. Do employee handbooks clearly state that an employee can be discharged for this violation?
6. Does the employee know the appropriate rule and penalty they violated?
7. Has there been a serious, documented effort to help the employee correct the behavior or performance?
8. Have other employees been discharged for the same violation?
9. Has the employee received a fair hearing to their side of the story.
10. Has this employee gotten away with the same violation in the past?
11. Has the employee experienced any retaliation from other employees or management?
12. Has the employee been treated fairly?
Before you terminate an employee check with an HR Professional!
Reference: BLR HR Daily Advisor 6/16/2009. Termination Lawsuit Risks Reduced? Check!
A background check confirms an applicants truthfulness on their application and can include verification of: identity, criminal and civil history, employment, education, licensing, motor vehicles report, and credit history.
1. The average jury verdict for negligent hiring* is $810,000.
2. In a bad economy, people tend to misstate their backgrounds in desperation for a job.
3. A bad hire can cost your company 2 times the individuals salary to replace.DAS Header
At DAS HR Consulting we conduct background checks for our clients.
* Negligent hiring: hiring an individual for a job without conducting proper screening.
June was an exciting month for DAS HR Consulting — we received our HUB certification and attended the 2009 Procurement Connection Seminar and Expo in Austin.
The Statewide Historically Underutilized Business Program, or HUB, provides opportunities for contractors to conduct business with state government agencies and universities.
If your firm has questions regarding HUB certification or the state government procurement process, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
If you are someone who wants to pursue another profession or career, during this recession–THERE IS HOPE!
The following job openings are projected to grow between 2006-2016! Here are the top 25 fastest-growing occupations and number of potential positions:
1. Network Systems and Data Communications Analysts (401,600) 53%
2. Personal and Home Care Aides (1,155,800) 51%
3. Home Health Aides (1,170,900) 49%
4. Computer Software Engineers, Applications (732,500) 45%
5. Veterinary Technologists and Technicians (100,400) 41%
6. Personal Financial Advisers (284,400) 41%
7. Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance (3,000) 40%
8. Medical Assistants (564,600) 35%
9. Veterinarians (84,000) 35%
10. Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors (112,000) 34%
11. Skin Care Specialists (51,300) 34%
12. Financial Analysts (295,200) 34%
13. Social and Human Service Assistants (452,600) 34%
14. Gaming Surveillance Officers and Gaming Investigators (11,600) 34%
15. Physical Therapist Assistants (79,800) 32%
16. Pharmacy Technicians (376,400) 32%
17. Forensic Science Technicians (17,100) 31%
18. Dental Hygienists (217,200) 30%
19. Mental Health Counselors (129,000) 30%
20. Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers (158,800) 30%
21. Marriage and Family Therapists (32,100) 30%
22. Dental Assistants (361,500) 29%
23. Computer Systems Analysts (649,600) 29%
24. Database Administrators (153,500) 29%
25. Computer Software Engineers, Systems Software (448,700) 28%
Source: America’s Career InfoNet (www.acinet.org/acinet) provides data from a variety of federal and state sources, including the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) at the U.S. Department of Labor.
Being in a recession can be scary for employers AND employees.
Here are 5 proven tips that work in a recession:
1) Have weekly meetings with all employees to share the state of the company; employees want to help but can’t if they do not have information!
2) Involve employees in the decision making; if there are cost savings needed, have them come up with them.
3) Re-evaluate your incentive structure to reward cost savings and new clients that employees have produced.
4) Re-evaluate all positions descriptions and organizational structure; many employees may want added responsibilities to enhance their skills set.
5) Celebrate whenever you can with your employees – new clients and new business.
By Suzanne Gamboa, Associated Press Writer
Di Ann Sanchez, Vice President of Human Resources at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport sits behind her desk in her office in Irving, Texas, Friday, May 25, 2007. Sanchez, sees a big bottleneck on the horizon when the airport has to make sure its 1,700 employees are legal workers, even those employed for decades. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
The nation’s employers say a major problem with system overload is on the way if Congress forces them to prove, electronically, that all their workers are legal. Currently, 16,727 employers check employees through a system previously known as Basic Pilot and now called the Electronic Employer Verification System. They have checked 1.77 million employees, according to Citizenship and Immigration Services, an agency within the Homeland Security Department.
Current immigration law leaves it to employers to verify that they are hiring legal workers. But that law, passed in 1986, has not been enforced strictly. Immigration legislation pending in the Senate would require that Social Security numbers, identification and other information supplied by all U.S. workers be run through the electronic system. If the proposal becomes law, employers would have to check all new hires within 18 months of its enactment, and check all other employees within three years.
That could mean millions more employers logging on to a system that, right now, is still under development. “I just don’t think this is a realistic approach,” said Susan R. Meisinger, president of the Society for Human Resource Management, a suburban Washington-based association of human resources professionals. To get to all new hires in a year, she said, the Homeland Security Department would have to sign up 20,000 employers a day. There are an estimated 7 million to 8 million employers and 140 million employees in the U.S., business and labor officials say. Under the Senate proposal, employers who have illegal workers on the payroll could face fines from $5,000 per worker to up to $75,000 and six months in jail per worker.
Screening proponents say the requirement is needed because too many employers are hiring illegal immigrants, whether knowingly or unwittingly. The worker check system can’t verify the accuracy of all information submitted to an employer, including drivers licenses and state identification cards obtained with stolen or borrowed birth certificates. That was a problem for the pork and beef processor Swift & Co., which had been using the system for 10 years when its six plants were raided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement last year. More than 1,200 immigrant workers were arrested; Swift itself wasn’t charged.
Di Ann Sanchez, vice president of human resources at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, anticipates a bottleneck when the airport has to ensure its 1,800 employees are legal — even those employed for decades. “If you’ve got all these employers hitting that system, is the system reliable to do it and not come back with a false negative or be so overloaded that it won’t allow employers to hire as quickly as we need to?” Sanchez said.
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4/7/2009 By Steve Taylor, SHRM
Participative management practices such as quality circles, self-directed work teams and clear, two-way communication might be seen as methods of recovering economic health, but in an atmosphere of uncertainty, those practices have been abandoned at many organizations.
“Employers are clamming up and not talking to their own employees,” says consultant
Di Ann Sanchez, SPHR, of Fort Worth, Texas. “They’re not sharing the state of the union of their companies. They’re trying to fix it themselves.”
Sanchez’s firm, DAS HR Consulting, specializes in small- to medium-sized businesses. “I tell my clients, ‘This is the time you should be doing the most to be meeting with employees.’”
But the response all too often is a closed door concealing a frightened CEO. “They’re used to being take-charge individuals,” Sanchez says. “In crisis times, they start saying, ‘I know best. I’m going to handle it, hunker down, make all the decisions. I’m not going to show fear.’”
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