President Biden issued today (Jan. 21) an Executive Order protecting the rights of the LGBTQ+ community: Executive Order on Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation. 

The Order states:

Every person should be treated with respect and dignity and should be able to live without fear, no matter who they are or whom they love.

 

Building on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision of Bostock v. Clayton County issued last year, President Biden has ordered all federal agencies to review ”all existing orders, regulations, guidance documents, policies, programs, or other agency actions” that prohibit sex discrimination, including any that relate to the agency’s own compliance with such statutes or regulations and to develop a plan to revise, suspend, or rescind such agency actions, or promulgate new agency actions, as necessary to fully implement statutes that prohibit sex discrimination. . . .

As one of his first actions, President Biden issued an executive order overturning the controversial Executive Order 13950: Combatting Race and Sex Stereotyping.  

President Biden’s new Executive Order On Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government expressly revokes EO 13950.

Tri-State SHRM Texarkana Wins SHRM Pinnacle Award for Exceptional HR Program

Texarkana, Texas, November 18, 2020 — Today, SHRM (the Society for Human Resource Management) awarded Tri-State SHRM Texarkana the 2020 Pinnacle Award in recognition of its high achievements advancing the profession of human resources.

The Pinnacle Award is the most prestigious honor SHRM state councils and chapters can receive. Created in 1991, it honors programs that exceed the standard activities of SHRM affiliates in enhancing HR management. Tri-State SHRM Texarkana was one of 12 human resource organizations—out of more than 600—from across the country to win the award in 2020.

“SHRM's chapters and state councils are among the most dedicated and passionate professionals, period, and play an integral role in elevating and advancing the practice of human resources,” said SHRM President and CEO, Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., SHRM-SCP. “From educational series, community support, mentor programs, and more, each winner made a real difference for our profession and in their communities at a time of turmoil and uncertainty.”

“We are extremely honored at Tri-State SHRM Texarkana to be a recipient of the 2020 Pinnacle Award and we are very grateful to our membership and our board that enable us to continue supporting the HR profession within the Texarkana community.”

– Chapter President, J.W. Bramlett

As a result of a chapter-wide strategic planning session in 2018, Tri-State SHRM members created a two-part chapter strategy to increase the relevancy and awareness of the HR profession in the community, to help build HR skills within local businesses, and to support the growth of their local SHRM chapter and SHRM membership.  Tri-State SHRM partnered with SHRM to deliver “SHRM Essentials of Human Resources” – a 12-hour SHRM course providing quality, basic HR training for area HR employees of small to midsize businesses.  The program grew community business leaders’ knowledge of basic HR practices and functions and provided attendees with resources to determine what is needed from HR to support their businesses.

Winning programs, selected from over 75 applications, receive a $1,000 prize given by Paychex Inc., which is the sponsor of this year’s Pinnacle Awards. The awardees were recognized at SHRM’s Volunteer Leaders Business Meeting, November 17-20.  

Winners of the 2020 SHRM Pinnacle Award are:

California State Council of SHRM

Charlotte Area SHRM (NC)

Chicago SHRM (IL)

Greater Cincinnati HRA (OH)

HRA of Greater Oak Brook  (IL)

Kentucky SHRM State Council

Louisville SHRM (KY)

Oregon SHRM

Prince William SHRM (VA)

Stateline SHRM (IL)

Sussex-Warren HRMA (NJ)

Tri-State SHRM Chapter (TX)

Media: Contact Julie Hirschhorn at Julie.Hirschhorn@shrm.org and 703-842-5152

About Tri-State SHRM Texarkana

We serve the needs of the Human Resource (HR) community as well as advance the working knowledge of HR professionals.  Our mission is to serve and support the local Human Resource Community by providing education and networking opportunities to improve the professional competence and working knowledge of the Human Resource profession.  Our vision is to be the definitive HR resource for employers, employees, and HR professionals in the Tri-State area.

About SHRM

SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management, creates better workplaces where employers and employees thrive together. As the voice of all things work, workers and the workplace, SHRM is the foremost expert, convener and thought leader on issues impacting today’s evolving workplaces. With 300,000+ HR and business executive members in 165 countries, SHRM impacts the lives of more than 115 million workers and families globally. Learn more at SHRM.org and on Twitter @SHRM.

The Dept. of Labor has revised (some of) its Leave Rules under the FFCRA after the NY federal judge found fault with four of them:

1. The Department reaffirms that paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave may be taken only if the employee has work from which to take leave and explains further why this requirement is appropriate. This temporary rule clarifies that this requirement applies to all qualifying reasons to take paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave.

2. The Department reaffirms that, where intermittent FFCRA leave is permitted by the Department’s regulations, an employee must obtain his or her employer’s approval to take paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave intermittently under § 825.50 and explains further the basis for this requirement.
3. The Department revises the definition of “health care provider” under § 825.30(c)(1) to mean employees who are health care providers under 29 CFR 825.102 and 825.125,(fn3) and other employees who are employed to provide diagnostic services, preventive services, treatment services, or other services that are integrated with and necessary to the provision of patient care.

4. The Department revises § 826.100 to clarify that the information the employee must give the employer to support the need for his or her leave should be provided to the employer as soon as practicable.

5. The Department revises § 826.90 to correct an inconsistency regarding when an employee may be required to give notice of expanded family and medical leave to his or her employer.

Fn3 The definition of “health care provider” under § 825.102 is identical to the definition under § 825.125.

The DOL’s revisions are in a 53 page document found here:  https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2020-20351.pdf

Please select the link below to read more on this article.

https://www.shrm.org/ResourcesAndTools/legal-and-compliance/employment-law/Pages/Supreme-Court-DACA-ruling.aspx?utm_source=marketo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=editorial~HR%20Daily~NL_2020_6-18_Breaking_News-DACA&linktext=READ-NOW&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWTJJME9UWXdZMlUyTUdOaSIsInQiOiJhbGFSbG51bkVlOXZYRDFuNjF5VmhUaWtoTE0rdEpBVUQyMVlZa3VBU1BJYkZjVHhIaVhNSDFHZDBnMm1ERDY2T25tK2gxMmozN3dLM3NtNmNVODhxdXhrS2N3ZWU4YkZyN1Q3d09DQUpRQzNISE9Lamtsd2ZGVWlGeG5YQ2M0eSJ9

Please select the link below to learn more about how you can earn re-certification PDC's for your work during COVID-19.

https://www.shrm.org/certification/recertification/qualifying-credit-activities/Pages/Advance-Your-Education.aspx

In light of the new USSC decision this morning, which states that sex discrimination under Title VII includes sexual orientation and gender discrimination, employers must change their policies and handbooks to include sexual orientation and gender identity in any listings of protected classifications.

 

SHEILA B. GLADSTONE Principal 512-322-5863 Direct 512-970-5815 Cell Lloyd Gosselink Rochelle & Townsend, P.C. 816 Congress Ave., Suite 1900, Austin, TX 78701 www.lglawfirm.com  |  512-322-5800 News | vCard | LinkedIn | Bio

 

As I indicated this morning, the U.S. Supreme Court today issued a 6-3 opinion finding that Title VII's anti-discrimination provisions apply to LGBT workers.  There is a lot of legal discussion (obviously) in the full majority opinion and the two dissenting opinions.  I won't clog up HR Connect with those details but if anyone is interested, I've attached the decision here.   At the end of the day, the majority opinion was decided on a very simple basis - that the language of Title VII prohibits discrimination against LGBT individuals because it is discrimination based on sex.  The following language from Justice Gorsuch's majority opinion explains: "An individual's homosexuality or transgender status is not relevant to employment decisions. That's because it is impossible to discriminate against a person for being homosexual or transgender without discriminating against that individual based on sex. Consider, for example, an employer with two employees, both of whom are attracted to men. The two individuals are, to the employer's mind, materially identical in all respects, except that one is a man and the other a woman. If the employer fires the male employee for no reason other than the fact he is attracted to men, the employer discriminates against him for traits or actions it tolerates in his female colleague. Or take an employer who fires a transgender person who was identified as a male at birth but who now identifies as a female. If the employer retains an otherwise identical employee who was identified as female at birth, the employer intentionally penalizes a person identified as male at birth for traits or actions that it tolerates in an employee identified as female at birth. Again, the individual employee's sex plays an unmistakable and impermissible role in the discharge decision." Obviously, this decision could yield further action in the courts...specifically in the realm of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (which has Title VII implications).  But that is a post for another day. At the end of the day, the notes from Sheila and John are correct - you should update your policies to reflect that discrimination based upon sexual orientation or gender identity are prohibited and you should train all your staff regarding that fact. ------------------------------ Dustin Paschal Chair, DallasHR Board of Trustees Attorney Simon | Paschal PLLC Dallas TX ------------------------------

RANDOM DRUG TESTING RATE GOING BACK UP TO 50 PERCENT

On December 27, 2019, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced in a Federal Register Notice that carriers will need to test 50 percent of their drivers for drugs in calendar year 2020. This is an increase from 2019, when carriers were required to randomly test 25 percent of their drivers for drugs.

The reason for the change

Under §382.305, the FMCSA Administrator can drop the random drug testing percentage to 25 percent if the industry is below a one percent positive test rate for two consecutive years (this is based on the reports that certain carriers are required to file). However, if the rate goes above one percent for one year, the percentage must be raised to 50 percent. For calendar year 2018 (the most-recent year full data is available), the industry exceeded the one percent, leading to the change to back to 50 percent for 2020.

Nothing new

The testing percentage for the industry was 50 percent for many years. FMCSA dropped the required percentage to 25 percent in 2015 for calendar year 2016, and it remained there until now. Before 2016, the testing rate was 50 percent.

No change in alcohol testing

The percentage of drivers a carrier must test randomly for alcohol has not changed. For calendar year 2020, carriers must test 10 percent of their drivers randomly for alcohol.

How many are required?

FMCSA requires a carrier to base their random testing percentage on its number of driver positions. If a carrier has a constant driver count, this is not hard to determine. However, if there are fluctuations throughout the year, a commonly accepted method is to average the number of drivers you had for the last few random drawings. Once you have the driver count averaged, just multiply by the testing rate (50 percent) and round up to the nearest whole number. That’s the number of drivers you’d need to test for the year. To determine how many drivers need to be drawn in each drawing, simply divide that number by how many drawings you conduct during the year.

Here is an example: For your first quarter you had 80 drivers, for the second quarter drawing you had 95 drivers, and for the third quarter drawing you have 91 drivers. The average is 80 + 95 + 91 divided by 3, or 88.6, which rounds up to 89. This is then multiplied by .5 to determine how many random drug tests you need to do this year (44.5, which rounds up to 45) and .1 to determine how many random alcohol tests you have to do this year (8.9, or 9). The process is detailed in Interpretation Question 20 to §382.305.

It’s all about tests, not how many were drawn

At the end of the calendar year, you must have randomly tested the proper number of drivers for drug and alcohol. How many you drew is not what you are judged on. If you drew enough, but were short on the number tested due to terminations, layoff, or injuries, you are not in compliance.

If you find you are running short due to any of the above reasons, the interpretations state that you are allowed to draw alternates to achieve the correct number of tests in the calendar year. However, you need to remember that the alternates must be drawn using the same scientific selection method used for the regular drawing. No walking out to the drivers’ room and selecting alternates based on who’s available the day you realize you are running short!

Key to remember: For 2020, you will need to double the number of drivers drawn for random drug tests, so remember to double the money budgeted for drug testing and to double the manhours allotted for notifications, filing, and other administrative tasks.

New policies go into effect on August 1st, 2019.  Follow this link for the announcement:  SHRM Recertification Policy Changes

Watch for developments on this over the next month.  See the article here:  EEO-1 Pay Data Deadline