Both articles are below & here: economist.com-After-Hours; & BND-Small Business Guide to Unemployment Insurance.

Sandra Levin
President, Orbit Skate Center-Palatine IL, Graphic Design, Network Marketing, Social Media & Entrepreneur

I met Charles Krugel through my attorney Lawrence Steingold and retained him to help us with an employment legal issue. Charles is very easy to talk to and you feel like he is in your corner to help. I appreciate the fact that he only represents employers. He tells you exactly where you stand, what you have to get done and helps you along the way. I’d like to think we became friends through the process and most recently he agreed to speak to the Roller Skating Association regarding employment issues and FLSA legal situations that small businesses need to be aware of. I would recommend him to anyone that is dealing with business issues, especially small and family businesses. Thanks Chuck!

Beginner’s Guide to Unemployment Insurance for Small Business

By Sue Marquette Poremba, Business News Daily Contributing Writer, April 20, 2018, 07:02 am EST

Credit: zimmytws/Shutterstock

No one plans to lose their job. However, that’s exactly what happens when a small business owner decides to close their doors to retirement, relocation or poor sales. Employees quickly become former employees and are suddenly in search of new careers. Unemployment insurance allows those former employees some sense of financial security.

However, there is a lot of misunderstanding around unemployment insurance, such as who pays for the insurance benefits, who is eligible for them and whether you can opt out of providing this benefit. Below is a guide that should answer some of the basic questions about unemployment insurance.

A brief history

Unemployment insurance came into effect nationwide as part of the Social Security Act of 1935 as a way to assist the unemployed during the Great Depression and its recovery. It is a federally mandated and regulated program, but eligibility and payment amounts are determined at a state level.

In most states, unemployment insurance is funded through taxes employers pay on behalf of their employees (although in some states, the employees pay this tax directly). These taxes are directed to a state-controlled reserve fund.

“The employer reserve fund, which is made up of 3 to 7 percent of an employee’s gross wages depending on the individual state, is backed by a reserve fund controlled by the state,” said Jim Bell Sr., founder and CEO of Abel HR in Cranbury, New Jersey. “If that fails, the federal government lends money to ensure unemployed workers are paid. All businesses must pay into unemployment insurance, except for certain nonprofits.”

The concept of the original unemployment insurance benefit continues to run in a similar manner to its 1935 inception; however, over the years, more rules, regulations and reports have been added. Also, the unemployment division now covers payments for disability, Family and Medical Leave Act claims, workforce development, re-employment, and enforcement.

Who must pay unemployment insurance?

Companies of every size need to worry about unemployment insurance, especially small businesses.

“One of the biggest misconceptions held by many business owners and managers is that unemployment insurance is a fixed, uncontrollable tax,” said Bell. “This concept could not be further from the truth. Unemployment insurance costs can be controlled from the moment a business starts.”

The state determines a three-year startup contribution to unemployment and disability insurances for new businesses. After three years, the rate is averaged to calculate the next year’s payment and then is annually re-evaluated.

From hire to termination

Generally, whenever a company hires an employee, part of the new hire process includes enrollment in either the state, federal or both unemployment compensation programs. Depending on the state’s requirements, new hires are periodically reported and placed on the tax rolls.

“Subsequently, each time an employee has payroll taxes deducted, from each paycheck, some of that money is used for the unemployment compensation insurance pool,” explained Charles A. Krugel, human resources attorney and counselor. “Depending on the state where the employer or employee is located, benefits-eligible people will receive a biweekly or monthly payment based on a formula based mainly on the employee’s rate of pay, cost of living and other statutory factors.”

Most states have at-will employment laws, meaning both the employee and the employer can either leave or be terminated at any time for any reason that is not illegal. At-will employees are eligible for unemployment. The exception is if the departure is due to a disciplinary problem such as insubordination, theft and other serious charges.

When a termination does occur, be sure to keep detailed documentation that protects the company if a claim is filed, denied and challenged.

“Documentation is key,” said Krugel. “When documenting, [a] business should write up incidents as soon as they occur. That is, document who was involved, who witnessed what, where events occurred, when events occurred, what happened, why do you think it happened, and so on.”

In-depth advice

The steps for handling the unemployment insurance can usually be found on each state department’s website, according to Chris Orletski, co-president of Blankit Insurance Group. “More often, this is becoming an online process whereby the employer uploads the required information to the state, but, again, an employment attorney would be able to advise appropriately.”

Orletski also advised any employer with unemployment insurance and tax questions to turn to an employment attorney in the state which you intend to employ individuals. The secretary of state’s website usually provides a direct link to the department charged with handling the unemployment insurance for that state.

“The overall takeaway is that unemployment insurance is not handled by insurance agencies, but by a state governmental agency,” said Orletski.

• Sue Marquette Poremba is a freelance writer based in State College, Pennsylvania. She primarily covers cybersecurity and emerging technology, with a particular emphasis on how emerging technology and cybersecurity overlap.

After-hours business communication: its affects and implications

Communication is essential for the successful functioning of any organisation, but are some companies taking it to the extreme?

A recent survey by Challenger, Gray & Christmas reveals that many managers contact employees after hours—and quite a few expect a timely reply. The survey questions and responses were as follows:

Would you contact a subordinate after hours?

• 48.57% Yes, but I would not expect a response until the following workday
• 28.57% Yes, I would expect a response within a few hours
• 17.14% No, I would wait until the following workday
• 5.71% Yes, customer demand necessitates contacting employees at all hours

For what reason(s) would you contact a subordinate after work (check all that apply)?

87.50% Work emergency

41.67% Professional

29.17% Personal emergency

16.67% Personal; our relationship is such that we discuss personal issues after work

5.10% Social

3.30% Other

Through what method(s) would you contact your employee after hours?

76.92% Email

76.92% Text message

42.31% Phone call

15.38% Chat software (Skype, Gchat, Internal Chat)

7.69% Social media message (Tweet, Facebook Messenger)

3.85% Other

Apparently, leaders are contacting workers after hours. But should they?

The legal factor

Before addressing such issues as work/life balance, perhaps the most important question is whether employers have the legal right to contact employees when they’re not at work.

According to Dallas attorney Todd Shadle, chair of the employment law section of Godwin Bowman & Martinez PC, while most companies have policies regarding non-exempt employees and overtime, after-hours and remote access work is not addressed.

In fact, according to the Challenger, Gray & Christmas survey, less than 10% of surveyed companies have a policy that details communicating for work outside of work hours. Another 3% stated they were working on a policy, but the majority (87.5%) have no procedures in place.

“It becomes a problem when the manager is demanding information immediately—which happens in small businesses as well as major corporations,” Shadle says.

He explains that employees don’t have the luxury of ignoring requests and often feel compelled to respond, so companies need to establish policies that address these issues.

However, he admits that currently, it’s not clear if answering a few voicemail or email messages qualifies as compensable work.

“Regarding exempt employees, there are no restrictions on what an employer can expect,” he says.

That’s because exempt employees operate by a totally different set of rules.

Charles Krugel, an employment lawyer and HR counselor in Chicago, explains, “With employees who are properly classified as salaried employees, the off-the-clock question doesn’t apply since salaried employees aren’t paid by the hour but on a flat rate.”

As a result, he says the question of whether it is legal to contact an employee after hours or not would depend on whether the employee is salaried or paid by the hour.

“In any event, I strongly advise companies that if they require off-the-clock work, then document all of those hours,” Krugel says.

Beyond that, Shadle believes there is no right or wrong answer if the company is prepared to pay its hourly-compensated employees.

“It’s not a matter of ‘should,’ but whether it’s cost-feasible for a company to require off-the clock contact with hourly employees,” he says.

The work/life balance factor

After clearing the legal hurdle, it has been established that U.S. companies have the right to contact exempt employees, and pay non-exempt workers (or try to claim that the contact doesn’t constitute a significant time requirement).

But should companies contact employees outside of work hours?

Jason Fried, CEO of Basecamp, doesn’t think so.

“No, it’s not company time, it’s life time,” he says. Fried believes 40 hours a week should be plenty of time to accomplish everything that needs to get done. If companies can contact workers at will, Fried believes employees never really get to “leave” work.

He admits that there may be emergencies and special situations that require contacting employees, but stresses that these incidents should be real emergencies.

“It’s reasonable to have one or two emergencies a year—but, if it’s more frequent than that, you’ve got deeper problems on your hands,” Fried says.

Adam Beeson, director of communications at G2, believes that there are several factors that determine if companies should contact an employee outside of normal work hours.

“Your business, industry and the function an employee serves for the company would be deciding factors,” he says. For example, in the healthcare industry, a specially-skilled employee might have information that could help a patient.

“However,” he stresses, “in an industry where the work is not a matter of life and death, the questions should be approached differently.”

Many employees have an expectation of after-hours contact. A Gallup poll reveals that 60% of U.S. workers check email outside of business hours.

Elizabeth Cogswell Baskin, CEO and executive creative director of Tribe, Inc., says this issue reflects the company’s culture.

“For some cultures, being available 24/7 is almost a point of pride for employees; for others, employees will find such expectations an affront to their rights to a personal life,” she says.

Baskin believes the tone is set at the top. If the CEO works nights and weekends, there may be an expectation that everyone else will follow suit and communicate around the clock.

“In a company where employees expect to leave their work at the office, managers need to respect that—or have frank discussions with their team about why they sometimes will need to be available after hours.”

The distracted driving factor

Findings from a Harris Poll reveal that 27% of employees say their boss has called/texted them while knowing that they were driving.

“People typically want to please their managers and employers, but doing so [while driving] could come at a big price,” says Joan Woodward, president of the Travelers Institute and executive vice president of Public Policy at Travelers.

Woodward warns that when employees take their eyes off the road, even for a few seconds, the results could be catastrophic.

“It’s important for supervisors to lead by example and make it clear they don’t expect an immediate response while an employee may be driving, whether it be a phone call, email, or text.”

Establishing criteria

If employees need to be contacted when they’re not at work, this should entail guidelines—and, perhaps, a reverse pecking order.

For example, Beeson believes that employees in leadership should be contacted before reaching out to a lower level employee.

“In many instances, the more advanced leader is better prepared to handle the question remotely than the less experienced, lower-level employee,” he explains.

And if the issue at hand can’t be handled remotely, he doesn’t see the point in contacting them.

Fried believes the only criterion to consider should be respect.

“Companies don’t own people—they pay people for a full day’s work, not a whole day’s work.”

He says that 8-9 hours is more than enough time for a workday and anything more than that is “an invasion of life.”

Fried says respect must start at the top, with owners and managers treating their workers as human beings and not cogs in a machine.

“People aren’t on-demand like a Netflix show, they are at work or they aren’t.”

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—
Terri Williams is a freelance writer who covers leadership topics for The Economist Careers Network.