This Week’s HR Tidbits

Dear Clients and Friends,

Greetings from the staff here at Human Capital Resources! We hope you have enjoyed an extremely warm summer, as well as a positive work environment. The purpose of HR Tidbits is to help “close the gap” that exists due to the complexity of human resources.

This week’s HR Tidbits topics include: - E-Verify - Social media: Are you going too far in your research? - Background checks - Employees who are nursing - Typology discrimination - Unemployed Individuals

We hope that you are finding the new format very rewarding and easy from which to pull valuable information. The objective of this newsletter is to meet your needs!

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about the new document, direct them to Matt Wells, our Business Development and Marketing Liaison at matthew-wells@hc-resources.com.

For archived issues and our brochure, visit: hc-resources.com/library.

Please Enjoy!

Sarah Nickell and Matt Wells

July 29, 2011; Vol. 1; Issue 3

Human Capital ResourcesOne Rock At A Time: It’s Our Vision, It’s Our Passion

119 S. Washington St.Marion, IN 46952765-382-3220

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The Facts And Our ViewOn E-Verify

Social Media Update

The Three Due Diligence MythsOf Background Checks

Nursing Employees: Break Time& Breast-Feeding Issues

Keeping It Legal: TypologyDiscrimination 101

The Unemployed Need NotApply: Reconsider Saying This!

Art

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Learn more about E-Verify and how Human Capital Resourcessees it working every day.

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, andBlogger are just a few placeswhere employers are looking...and discriminating.

Enjoy this graphical explanationof due diligence myths and whatyou should do to avoid problems.

Did you know that there are requirements about how often nursing mothers should receivebreaks?

Discrimination is everywhere. Learn more about different types and be exposed to situations where it could occur.

Sometimes the unemployed are the best employees, but we never give them the chance. Read about how to prevent this!

According to the USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services), E-Verify is an internet-based system that compares information given on an employee’s Form I-9 to data from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration records to confirm employment eligibility. To verify work eligibility and immigration status, all U.S. employers must complete Form I-9 no later than 3 business days after the employee begins work for pay.

DID YOU KNOW?As of July 1st, 2011, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels signed the mandatory usage of E-verify into effect. Therefore, the state of Indiana is required to use the information about the employee from Form I-9 as the foundation for verifying work eligibility on E-Verify. This is also performed no later than 3 business days after the employee begins work for pay. The employee’s citizenship attestation, document type(s), biographical information including name, date of birth, Social Security number and Alien or I-94 number (if a noncitizen) are required within the first three days of work to facilitate this E-Verify process.

July 29, 2011; Vol. 1; Issue 3 2

If you haven’t already signed up to use the E-Verify system hosted by the US Citizen and Immigration Department, as part of the Government’s Department of Homeland Security, you are missing out! It is no longer an option; it is required by state law. This Internet-based system allows businesses to determine the eligibility of their employees to work here in the United States. E-Verify is fast, free and easy to use. Plus, it’s the best way employers can ensure true I-9 compliance upon hire. Human Capital Resources has been using the system for over a year and half. Having been part of its usage during the initial roll out, we have seen its glitches and its successes. Many employers we know have tried to steer clear of it, touting that its usage is not required of non-federal contractors.

TIME TO START NOW! So, why not start now? It’s free and it trains your HR or payroll representative to process Form I-9 the correct and legal way. If you have ever been through an I-9 audit, which I have back in my manufacturing days, and it can be a laborious and needless process. In addition to the service, the USCIS has now launched a new portal on their site.

I-9 Central provides one online location to keep employers and workers up to date with the information needed to properly complete Form I-9. This form is the most accessed form on USCIS.gov. Bookmark www.USCIS.gov/I- 9Central to ensure that you are indeed up to date with your I-9. There have been recent revisions on List B and C of documents on the actual form.

continued on next page >>

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission regularly reminds employers and human resource managers about the risks of violating federal anti-discrimination employment rules and laws by using online research in hiring decisions. Things that you can’t ask in an interview are the same things you can’t research online, specifically information covering a person’s age, gender, religion, disability, national origin and race.

The Wall Street Journal recently quoted that 70 percent of recruiters in the United States report that they have rejected candidates because of information online. How certain are you that the information your recruiter is considering about applicants is legal and appropriate? Is your HR Clerk, Coordinator or Recruiter trained on protected classes and protected status? What if your manager or HR person has per-sonal biases you don’t know about and they are allow-ing their biases to rule out all applicants in inter-racial relationships, for example?

Are You Being Compliant? We ask this question to stimulate your thought process as one of our clients recently uncovered a manager that would Facebook her applicants prior to making an offer. If the manager did not find any reference to the applicant leading a Christian lifestyle, she automatically rejected them, and in one case with-drew her offer of employment.

Social Media Update

Are You Going Too Far In Your Research? By: Sarah Nickell

July 29, 2011; Vol. 1; Issue 3 3

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July 29, 2011; Vol. 1; Issue 3 4

Nursing Employees

Break Time & Breast-feeding Issues By: Sarah Nickell

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act amended the Fair Labor Standards Act to add a section requiring "reasonable" break time for nursing/breast-feeding mothers.

Explanation Because the FLSA applies to almost all employers, the new break requirement does as well. The only employers exempt from the break requirement are those with fewer than 50 employees that would experience undue hardship from "significant difficulty or expense" by complying with the requirement. A nursing mother will be eligible for the break time for up to one year after her child's birth and may take advantage of the breaks anytime she has the need to do so. Employers must provide a private place, other than a bathroom, for the employee to use for expressing breast milk.

State LawsContrary to the general FLSA requirement that you must pay for breaks that last less than 20 minutes, the amendment permits nursing mothers' break time to be unpaid. However, the amendment is clear that it will not preempt state laws that provide greater protections to nursing mothers, e.g., laws that require such breaks to be paid. Indiana is indeed one of those states. Continue reading to read the Indiana State Code and please note that Indiana requires employers with more than 25 employees to follow this law, not 50 per the federal requirement.

Indiana CodeInd. Code § 16-35-6 allows a woman to breast-feed her child anywhere the law allows her to be. (HB 1510)

Ind. Code § 5-10-6-2 and § 22-2-14-2 (2008) provide that state and political subdivisions shall provide for reasonable paid breaks for an employee to express breast milk for her infant, make reasonable efforts to provide a room or other location, other than a toilet stall, where the employee can express breast milk in private and make reasonable efforts to provide for a refrigerator to keep breast milk that has been expressed. The lawalso provides that employers with more than 25 employees must provide a private location, other than a toilet stall, where an employee can express the employee's breast milk in private and if possible to provide a refrigerator for storing breast milk that has been expressed. (2008 Ind. Acts, P.L. 13, SB 219)

“...employerswith more than 25

employees must provide a private

location, other than a toilet stall,

where an employee can express the

employee’s breast milk in private...”

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Most employers think that discrimination is an overt act, overt statement or overt practice. They clearly understand that “out in the open” discrimination is illegal. What about the other types of discrimination? For example, the types of discrimination that get repeated by the plaintiff ’s attorney upon his opening argument against your company, or the type of discrimination that leaves you, the employer, sitting there in court saying, “That’s not what I meant, they are twisting my words.”

We see this scenario play out all too often, so we thought it might be good timing to review some of the other key types of discrimination and the legal way they are classified.

Patronizing Discrimination-A specialized form of stereotypingThis kind of discrimination occurs when you least expect it. It is the comment you let slip out about an employee or applicant when considering their personal circumstances, trying to help them, but unintentionally discriminating against them.

Here are some real life examples of Patronizing Discrimination that our staff at HCR has encountered or witnessed clients saying:

Keeping It Legal:

DiscriminationTypology 101 By: Sarah Nickell

July 29, 2011; Vol. 1; Issue 3 5

- “She has school aged children; she will not want to uproot her family.”- “Women should be extra careful; traveling alone can be dangerous for them”- “She has put on weight, her productivity decline really shows.”- “Pregnant women don’t do well in stressful environments, they don’t travel well”- “Her husband has a great job; the money shouldn’t matter to her.”

StereotypingStereotyping in general is usually pretty straight forward and is typically overt. Though it is overt and it seems pretty obvious, our staff at HCR was recently surprised to learn that some business owners don’t get what it means to stereotype their workers or potential applicants. Here are some real life quotes: - “Male nurses don’t care as much as female nurses.”- “Women aren’t strong enough to do this job.”- “Obese people are lazy.”- “African Americans have attendance issues.”

Avoidance DiscriminationThis type of discrimination occurs when leadership purposely avoids interacting with a protected class of individuals all together to avoid potential liability. Here are some actual quotes: - “He has difficulty staying faithful to his wife, that’s why he never hires female dept. managers.”- “If I avoid all the black CNAs, no one can ever say that I am racist.”

<< continued from previous page - “Large women are intimidated by me, so I don’t bother meeting with them after HR pre-screens them… they can’t come back and say I didn’t hire them because of their size.”

Favoritism DiscriminationThis type of discrimination happens when leadership routinely hires and promotes from a specific group of known acquaintances. These acquaintances are usually people the managers are comfortable with and these acquaintances get the preferred work assignments, more bonus opportunities, more promotion opportunities, etc…while other workers or applicants are overlooked.

“Unemployed Need Not Apply”

You May Want To Reconsider Saying This!By: Sarah Nickell

Be careful when running your recruitment ads and on line recruitment posts. Many employers are being investigated and publicized for specifically stating that the unemployed population need not apply. As you may or may not know, excluding unemployed people from applying does not technically fit the statutory definition of discrimination, since unemployment is not a federally protected status like age, race, gender, religion, etc..

However, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently set out to establish whether employers were discriminating against certain protected groups because they are overrepresented in the ranks of the unemployed,

such as African-American and older workers. New Jersey recently passed a law barring employment ads that seek to rule out applications from unemployed people.

The Take HomeLet each application be reviewed on its own merit. We have found some very good, qualified, and loyal applicants among the ranks of the unemployed. In fact, one of our staff members is a big fan of using Indiana Career Connect as a recruiting service. This free service is powered by WorkOne and used to be known within our industry as the unemployed portal. Thisis no longer the case. We have found top-notch professionals using this service and some have tragically been downsized elsewhere. Another take home to consider is whether or not your employment application specifically asks if the applicant is currently employed in the beginning part of the form. You should be able to determine the applicant’s employment status on the work history section of the application, so why ask this right out of the gate? To avoid an EEOC investigator asking what the purpose of this question is, if not to quickly discount applicants, we have recommended removing these queries in the non-work history part of all employment applications.

“Let each application be

reviewed on its own merit.

We have found some very good,

qualified, and loyal applicants

among the ranks of the

unemployed.”