WEA Consulting is proud to announce the release of sharedHR 7.1. In addition to the functional enhancements, this release offers our clients the benefit of critical compliance updates resulting from months of state-specific research and legal reviews. You are encouraged to review your current policies, and release new versions of your Employee Handbook(s) to ensure they are compliant with the current federal and states labor laws in which you operate.

As you know, 2005 is the year sharedHR goes national! The content and state-specific compliance* updates in this release cover additional states as we our endeavor to meet the needs of multi-state clients, and those operating in states other than California.

This new release reflects our commitment to provide our clients with a continuous, complete and compliant human resource management system that incorporates the following new content and features:

• Critical model document and handbook language changes to address important state and federal compliance requirements of 2005;
• New features such as State-Specific Document Groups and associated content, Standardized Payroll Codes and International Currency Code tracking; and
• System upgrades that continue to make sharedHR the most comprehensive, easy-to-use Human Resource Management System available.

Many of the updated and new model documents were released during the fourth quarter of 2004. "Be sure to continue to watch for new models throughout the year. We will continue to provide you with necessary compliance documents, as they become available in the coming months. The handbook updates and new features in 7.1 were implemented January 3, 2005. As is our practice, these new features and updates where released without incident and resulted in no service interruptions on the site. You are encouraged to log into your sharedHR site and check out what's new about sharedHR 7.1.

To take advantage of the compliance updates and new features offered in 7.1, please review the details and recommended next steps outlined below. Members of our Client Services department will be contacting you over the next few weeks to offer support of your efforts to update and rollout your Employee Handbooks (including model email to all employees), implement the new model documents, and introduce new features.

Model Document And Handbook Language Changes:

1. New and Updated Model Documents - Given some important changes in state and federal laws, we have posted several new model documents that should be added to all client libraries to ensure ongoing compliance. You are encouraged to review and add the following model documents to your library as soon as possible.

• In the Compliance & Training section:
  • Summary Tests for Exempt v. Non-Exempt Status
  • Workers' Compensation DWC-1 Form
  • HIPAA Compliance Checklist
• In the Leaves of Absence section:
  • Disability Analysis And Accommodation Checklist
  • Integration of Family and Medical Leave Entitlements
• In the Recruiting & Hiring section:
  • General Notice of COBRA Continuation Rights
  • Pre-Employment Inquiry Guidelines
  • W-4 for 2005
• In the Separations section:
  • Election Notice of COBRA Continuation Rights
• In the Staff Files section:
  • Personal Physician Predesignation Form
  • Attendance Calendar
• In the Payroll section:
  • Payroll and Holidays Calendar

2. Employee Handbook Compliance Updates - As indicated in our December 2004 Management Bulletin, there have been many new laws introduced for 2005 that should be reflected in company policy. We have updated the Employee Handbook platform in sharedHR 7.1 to incorporate the recommended policy language changes. Clients are encouraged to update their current handbooks as soon as possible to ensure compliance with the new and clarified laws.

Updating your Employee Handbook(s) is made simple with sharedHR. From the Home page, select Update Company Information and Handbooks, and then select Update Handbook(s). Unless you've already started a draft version of your currently released Handbook, you will be prompted to do so. Once in draft mode, you can review the new questions, verify the answers to the others and make any necessary changes to reflect your current policy and procedures. Be sure to "Save" your changes at the end of each page. Lastly, be sure to review the updated language and familiarize yourself with the new sections prior to releasing the updated Employee Handbook to your employees.

As an example, the following sections have been updated to ensure on-going compliance with 2005 California State and federal laws, court cases and regulatory guidelines.

Purpose of the Handbook Leaves of Absence Break In Service PTO/Vacation Accruals Family Care and Medical Leave Jury Duty Leave Discrimination and Harassment Sexual Harassment Equal Employment Opportunity Investigations

Personal Conduct Meal and Rest Periods Inspection of Employment Records Return to Work Paid Family Leave Electronic Communications / Media Cellular / Wireless Telephones Health and Welfare Benefits Deductions Searches

3. State-Specific Employee Handbooks and Documents - In addition to compliance updates to address Federal and California state requirements, sharedHR 7.1 offers state-specific handbook updates for Florida, North Carolina, Texas, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Washington and Virginia as well. For information on state-specific content that might be of value to your organization, please contact us .

Of course, you can always add Custom policies to your Employee Handbook at any time. You may contact our offices if you wish to have your policies reviewed by one of our HR Consultants.

New Features:

1. State-Specific Document Groups and Content - With the release of sharedHR 7.1 we now offer seamless state-specific content for all users of a given Document Group. Once activated, your employees will have access to not only state-specific model documents, general information and resource links, but state-specific handbook compliance updates as well. This is a valuable feature made possible by implementing state-specific Document Groups and devoting many resources into the development of the state-specific content. And this is just the beginning of an exciting year. You can expect much to evolve in terms of our ability to meet and exceed your state-specific compliance content expectations in the coming months!

Most clients will automatically see the state-specific content intended for their established Document Groups. You are encouraged to review the “default” states assigned to your existing Document Groups to ensure we have coded them properly. From the Home page, select Update Company Information and Handbooks, and then select Update Document Groups. You can review the state associated with each of your document groups on this page.

If you do not currently have state-specific Document Groups, you may add this feature by first updating your Company Profile. Simply “select states in which you have employees,” scroll down and save your changes. Then go to Update Document Groups section of the site from the Home page, and add or edit the groups. You will be required to assign an “associated state” to each Document Group. By doing so, all employees in that group will see the state-specific content appropriate for them.

2. Standardized Payroll Codes – Through the sharedHR system, we continually strive to create efficiencies in the way HR is performed. One way to create such efficiencies is to reduce duplicate data entry. In release 7.1, we have developed a way to create standardized, company specific payroll “pay codes” and “deduction codes.” Once set up for your Company, you will be able to track the use of each code in the Payroll tab of the Add / Maintain Employee Data section of the site. The standard codes you create once, will be available on the employee Payroll tab in a drop down menu. Simply select the code relevant to the employee you are updating and add it to their Payroll records. The results of your work are reflected in the Payroll Details report, which is available to Administrators only. We have big plans for this report. You will notice format and layout changes in our next release. In the meantime, if you have any suggestions as to how we can make that report more useful to you, please let us know at .

3. International Currency Code Tracking – For our international clients, sharedHR offers a new field on the Record a Salary/Position Adjustment screen to track the type of currency each employees' wages are paid. While we are not yet to the point of calculating currency conversions, or reporting compensation in other than USD values, this new feature is the first step in that direction. To activate this feature, you must establish the "types of currency(s) your company uses for payroll" in the Company Profile section of the site. By selecting more than one currency type for your company, the feature is activated throughout the site. Then you can update the records of those employees being paid with international currency by either adding new compensation records or editing the existing history in the Compensation History report. This new feature also impacts the Career Progression – By Department report.

If you need assistance with any of sharedHR’s newest features, please contact .

System Upgrades:

1. Document Library - You may notice that we have upgraded the way in which Administrators view and manage the Document Libraries. We hope you will find the new layout easier to read and understand. With just a “check of the box” you can now add or remove sharedHR model documents to your library. This is just one of the many "user-friendly refinements" available in sharedHR 7.1.

2. Customizable Pages – It is now simpler to Manage Customizable Pages within sharedHR. Administrators and Super Managers will hopefully appreciate the streamlined presentation of your options in this regard.

3. Update Handbook Enhancements – It is now possible to review the wizard settings and the resulting policies of both the “Current (Released) Version” and “Draft Version” of your Employee Handbook(s). This allows Administrators to compare and determine the distinctions between the different versions of each Handbook.

The Welcome page of the Employee Handbook can now be added to the Table of Contents of your Handbook(s). This option exists for those clients that wish to “customize” the main page of the Handbook & Policies section of the site, yet still include a Welcome page in the Handbook. It you are interested in this option, be sure to change the content of either the new Handbook section, or the “customizable page” to avoid the display of duplicate information to your employees.

* sharedHR narrowly defines state-specific “compliance” as policies, processes and procedures associated with Employee Handbooks and policies, recruiting and hiring, leaves of absences, separations and required employment postings necessary to operate a private sector business within a given state.