Happy New Year from sharedHR! Outlined below is important information regarding updates to sharedHR's compliance content and feature enhancements to kick of the start of a new year. We have some exciting new developments in our pipeline and look forward to bringing these to assist our clients.
This notification is intended for sharedHR Administrators, SuperManagers and business owners. Please forward this communication to anyone else in your organization that may be interested. The following topics are covered:
PTO and Leaves Calendar
In our last client update, we let you know we were gathering client feedback to better meet your needs. One of the most popular requests was having a
calendar view of employee paid time off (PTO) and leaves. This is now available in the Reports section! Administrators can run a report by department,
location, Document Group or a single employee, and look at PTO and leave history in a calendar format. Managers are able to view this calendar for their
direct and indirect reports (as set up through User Groups). Employees can see their own PTO and leave history too. This new report is
called Time Off/Leave of Absence Calendar Report. You can choose your own date range e.g. a year or a month, and the report will pull
up one, or many employees depending on your selection.
When looking at the calendar, you will see employee initials and you can hold your mouse over the entry to see the employee's full name. You can also click on the entry to see the details of the employee's time off.
These reports are turned on and available for Administrators, but they are not turned on for employees and managers. To turn these reports on for employees and managers, click on Manage Report Access under Administration Tools. At the top of the drop down menu you have the option to manage all employee access to reports and all manager access to reports. Turn on the new reports by clicking on the button.
Administrators Can Now Delete Records
With this release, sharedHR Administrators and Super-Managers now have the ability to delete the history records that the enter for their employees. When mistakes are made or duplicate records are entered, users can now clean up their own data.
Deleting records is accomplished by, first running one of the reports and clicking on the Edit link. That will take you to the Record screen
where you'll now find a Delete button at the bottom of the form, just below the OK and Cancel buttons.
Here is a list of the types of records that you can now delete, and which reports you would run to delete them:
Position/Salary Adjustments(unless you're integrated with a payroll system)
Accessible from the Compensation History and Career Progression - By Department reports.
Counseling Session
Accessible from the Counseling Sessions report.
Performance Reviews
Accessible from the Performance Reviews report.
Separations
Accessible from the Separations report.
Bonuses
Accessible from the Compensation History and Career Progression - By Department reports.
Leaves of Absence
Accessible from the Time-Off/Leave of Absence Activity - By Department and Time-Off/Leave of Absence Activity - By Employee reports.
Paid Time Off
Accessible from the Time-Off/Leave of Absence Activity - By Department, Time-Off/Leave of Absence Activity - By Employee and Paid Time Off History - By Employee reports.
Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses
Accessible from the Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses (OSHA 300) report.
International Document Group Enhancements
Several enhancements have been made to sharedHR to better facilitate usage by our clients with international employees. These changes include removing U.S. specific data elements from the data entry screens and reports, like Federal and State Withholding information, EEO data and COBRA tracking. Other changes include making the site more flexible for international employee's data, like allowing Tax IDs to be longer and contain alphanumeric characters.
To see these changes, the employee you're working on must be a member of a Document Group that is marked as "International". For a complete list of international employee enhancements, contact
.
Compliance & Content Updates - 2008 New and Updated Forms and Documents in the Document Library
Given ongoing changes in state and federal laws, we have posted many new or updated forms and documents in the sharedHR Document Library.
In the Manage Library Documents section of sharedHR, documents with a 1/1/08 date in either the Last Review Date or
Last Upd Date column indicate that the sharedHR model is either new, or has been recently reviewed for sufficiency and/or updated. You can review new or updated versions of documents by clicking on the title.
Documents with a red date in the Last Upd Date column indicate that the sharedHR model is new or has been more recently updated than your current version. If you use a customized version (i.e. not a sharedHR standard document), you can review our new or updated model to see what differences exist that may need to be added to your current model.
Please see below for a list of forms and documents that have either been added to or updated in the sharedHR library. (Please note that these forms and documents may or may not be relevant to you depending on the states for which you have purchased sharedHR compliance):
In the Compliance & Training section:
Earned Income Credit Form W-5
Employers Tax Guide
Family Rights Act
Minimum Wage Posting
Notice to Employees working with Government Contracts
Rights under USERRA
State Disability Insurance Fact Sheets
State Disability Insurance Provisions
Summary Tests for Exempt v. Non-Exempt Status
Time off for voting
2008 W-4 Form
W-9 Form
In the Leaves of Absence section:
Family and Medical Leave Checklist
Fit for Duty Evaluation Letter
Integration of Family and Medical Leave Entitlements
In the Payroll section:
For Your Benefit EDD Pamphlet
Pay Requirements by State
2008 Payroll and Holidays Calendar
In the Policies section:
Model Injury Illness Prevention Plan
In the Recruiting & Hiring section:
Application for Employment
Arbitration Agreement Instructions
New Hire Report Form
State Income Tax Withholding Form
Statement of Intent to Employ Minors
In the Staff Files section:
2008 Attendance Calendar
Time Off Request Form
Employee Handbook Updates
There have been several new laws introduced for 2008 that should be reflected in company policy. We have updated the sharedHR Employee Handbook platform in 7.13 to incorporate the recommended policy language changes. As is sharedHR's continued practice, all our policy changes are reviewed by legal counsel so that our clients can rest assured that their employment risk is significantly reduced.
We encourage all our clients to update their current handbooks as soon as possible to comply with the new and clarified laws by following the guidelines below.
Updating your sharedHR Employee Handbook(s) is a straightforward process using sharedHR. Under Administration Tools, clicking on
Update Company Information and Handbook(s) takes you to the Update Handbook(s) section of the site. Unless you have already started a draft version of your currently released Handbook, you will be prompted to do so. Once in draft mode, you can review and answer the questions on each tab and make any of your own changes to reflect your current company policy and procedures. Be sure to "save" your changes at the end of each page. (Remember you can review the Draft Handbook version, and compare it to your Current (Released) Handbook version by clicking on the options in the upper right hand corner of the Handbook set up screen). Lastly, be sure to review the updated language and familiarize yourself with the changes (as listed below) prior to releasing the updated Employee Handbook to your employees.
The following sections have been updated (depending on the states in which you operate) to reflect the changes made in 2008 State and Federal laws, court cases and regulatory guidelines:
Americans with Disabilities Act
Maternity Leave
Bone Marrow Leave
Meal and Rest Periods
Bulletin Boards
Military Leave
Cellular/Wireless Telephone
Pay Policies and Procedures
Crime Victim Leave
Persons With Disabilities
Definitions
Protecting Personal Information
Discrimination and Harassment
Purpose of the Handbook
Equal Employment Opportunity
Searches
Electronic Communications/Media
Sick Leave
Expression of Breast Milk (new)
Smoking
Family and Medical Leave
Time Records
Vacations
In addition to the policies listed above, we have summarized some of the more significant changes for 2008:
California and New York: Eligible employees are now allowed to take up to 10 days of unpaid leave while their spouse is on leave from active military duty who has been deployed during a period of military conflict. In California registered domestic partners are also covered. Companies with military families in these states should take notice of this.
Michigan: State law has amended their Americans with Disabilities Act language to include the following statement:
Employees who believe they need an accommodation of a physical or mental disability should make a written request for such an accommodation within 182 days of learning of the need for an accommodation.
Employers in this state should ensure all employees are aware of this change as it may effect an employee's status for accommodation should they require one.
Michigan and Puerto Rico: These states have made significant changes to their regulations that govern the protection of Social Security Numbers. While our "Protecting Personal Information" policies are recommended handbook additions, we suggest employers in these states review the language in this policy and consider it for your handbook if it is not already included.
Changes in Michigan include specific restrictions on use and disclosure, in addition to how to dispose of the data. Puerto Rico recently issued Regulation Number 7413 to implement the provisions of Law number 207, which covers how social security numbers are used. This new regulation sets April 2, 2008 as the date on or before which employers must file their certification of compliance with the Department of Labor.
New Hampshire: A domestic partner is now defined as an individual who has lawfully entered into a civil union with another person of the same sex in compliance with RSA 457. In respect to employee benefits, employers in New Hampshire should give domestic partners of employees the same consideration as spouses.
New York, Oregon and Tennessee: In these states, employees who need to express breast milk will be provided with reasonable tie and accommodations to do so.
Oregon: Oregon law states that all employee offers that include arbitration agreements must be received by the employee at least two weeks prior to the employee's first day of employment. This is to allow the employee ample time to consider the agreement.
While agreements to arbitrate must be presented to the job applicant in a "written employment offer" agreements to arbitrate may be presented to current employees. However, in order for the agreement to be enforceable it must be entered into at the time of a "bona fide advancement" or two weeks before the first day of the employee's employment.
Tennessee: All employees are now eligible for Maternity Leave. Tennessee Maternity Leave previously only covered female employees who wish to use this benefit. Please update your policies to reflect this change.
If you need assistance with any of sharedHR's newest features, please contact
and we would be happy to help. From all of us at sharedHR, thank you for choosing our technology to support your business needs.
