Quick Hits - April 18, 2018 - American Society of Employers - ASE Staff

Quick Hits - April 18, 2018

Defamation in the air: There’s a reason why corporate HR is tight-lipped about former employees. Calling to check a potential new hire’s reference? Good luck getting more than dates of employment. The reason: defamation. There are a growing number of defamation claims tied to employee departures and particularly to employee terminations. And the damages can be huge. Take a recent case from Illinois: Allstate Insurance fired four employees and accused them of violating the company’s conflict of interest policy. Allstate repeated that allegation in a memo the company sent to more than 350 of their former co-workers and in an SEC filing. The memo contained enough details to identify the individuals at issue. They sued in Illinois Federal Court, and they won a jury verdict of $27.1 million. It should go without saying that truth is an absolute defense to a defamation claim. So, if an employee did anything dirty or unethical, they probably don’t have a case.  But be careful, managers will talk whether they totally know the truth of the situation or not.  Source: Pollard PLLC 4/5/18

Is your hands-free policy being enforced? American drivers appear to be getting worse at avoiding social media, e-mail and other mobile-phone distractions while driving. More people are using their phones at the wheel, and for longer periods of time, according to a study published Tuesday from Zendrive, a San Francisco-based startup that tracks phone use for auto insurers and ride-hailing fleets. Among those who picked up their phones, they used them for an average of almost four minutes—a 5% increase from last year. Phone use peaks around 4:00 p.m., when three out of four drivers, on average, are stealing a peak at their screens, perhaps trying to beat traffic and finish work at the same time. It drops steadily through the night, though drivers who use phones just before midnight tend to stay on them the longest, more than four minutes at a time.  Those with iPhones used their devices far more often, and far longer, than those on Android-based handsets.  Maybe it’s time to revisit the hands-free policies.  Source: BusinessWeek 4/10/18

NLRB up to full strength:  The U.S. Senate on Wednesday narrowly confirmed Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP attorney John Ring to fill the National Labor Relations Board’s only remaining vacancy, restoring the five-member board to full strength and clearing the way for the Trump administration to resume its pro-business overhaul of federal labor policy.  Ring’s confirmation returns the board to a full complement of three Republicans and two Democrats and brings back a GOP majority that will allow the administration to overturn a slew of Obama-era decisions that business advocates have criticized as overly labor-friendly. The board overturned five decisions in December, but the shift has been in limbo since Republican Chairman Philip Miscimarra’s term expired on December 16.  Ring, after confirmation was appointed Chair of the NLRB.  Source: Law360 4/11/18

IRS issues FAQs for paid family leave credit: The IRS has issued FAQs that address the new employer credit under Code Sec. 45S for paid family and medical leave, that is available for 2018 and 2019 tax years.   The credit is a percentage of the amount of wages paid to a qualifying employee while on family and medical leave for up to 12 weeks per taxable year. The minimum percentage is 12.5% and is increased by 0.25% for each percentage point by which the amount paid to a qualifying employee exceeds 50% of the employee’s wages, with a maximum of 25%. In certain cases, an additional limit may apply. An employer must reduce its deduction for wages or salaries paid or incurred by the amount determined as a credit.  A qualifying employee is any employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act who has been employed by the employer for one year or more and who, for the preceding year, had compensation of not more than $72,000. To claim the credit, employers must have a written policy in place that meets certain requirements, including providing at least two weeks of paid family and medical leave at not less than 50% of the wages are normally paid.  Source:  IRS.gov, CCH 4/11/18

Target settles background check class action: Target Corporation has agreed to pay more than $3.7 million and overhaul job-screening guidelines for hourly workers to resolve a civil-rights class-action complaint that alleged the company’s policies regarding criminal-background checks were too broad and discriminated against African-Americans and Latinos.  Under the terms of the proposed settlement, pending court approval, Target is to give priority hiring rights to African-Americans and Latinos who applied for jobs starting around May 11, 2006, but were ultimately denied employment based on pre-employment background checks. Those who have since retired or otherwise couldn’t benefit from the program due to a number of reasons, such as family-medical and military-service obligations, would be eligible to receive up to $1,000.  According to the proposed settlement, more than 41,000 African-American and Latino applicants were denied jobs based on the criminal-history screening process from May 2008 to December 2016.  The Minnesota-based retailer also agreed to donate $600,000 to non-profit organizations working with released prisoners, including the Fortune Society.  Source:  The Wall Street Journal 4/5/18

Men less likely to believe in pay disparity: Equal pay for equal work? Maybe not, according to CareerBuilder's Equal Pay Day survey on men and women in the workplace. Nearly a third of women (32%) do not think they are making the same pay as men in their organization who have similar experience and qualifications, compared to 12% of men.  More than 800 hiring and human resource managers, and more than 800 workers, both of whom are employed in the private sector across industries, participated in this nationwide survey, from November 28 and December 20, 2017. Men are more likely to expect higher job levels during their career — 29% of men think they will reach a director level or higher, compared to 22% of women. A quarter of women (25%) never expect to reach above an entry-level role, compared to 9% of men. Almost a third of women (31%) think they've hit a glass ceiling within their organization. The differences in expectations extend to salary. More than a third of women (35%) don't expect to reach a salary over $50,000 during their career, compared to 17% of men, while roughly half of men (47%) expect to reach a six-figure salary, compared to 22% of women.  Source: CareerBuilder 4/9/18

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