Bryan Dear’s Blog

The results of political changes are hardly ever those which their friends hope or their foes fear. Thomas Henry Huxley, 1825 – 1895

It’s summer or some seasonal kind of hiring time and you’re interested in hiring that reliable fifteen year-old down the street. So, what are the three general areas to know?

•  Age,
•  Hours, and
•  Hazards.

Age: In general, the FLSA establishes the minimum employment age of 14. For instance, a child under 14 may deliver newspapers, baby-sit on occasion, or work in a business completely owned by the parents. Most importantly, the job must not involve hazardous activities prohibited under the FLSA.

Hours: Employers have no federal restrictions on work hours for 16- and 17-year-olds work. On the other hand, workers 14 and 15 years of age may only work up to three hours on school days, eight hours on non-school days, 18 hours per school week, and 40 hours per non-school week. Moreover, their work hours must be between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. (9 p.m. from June 1 until Labor Day).

 Hazards: Generally prohibited for workers under 18, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) deemed many types of non-farm work activities as hazardous.

IN other words, there should be no overtime for that fifteen year-old. The list is long what hazardous materials they should not be around. And don’t even think about having them work the forty hour week over Thanksgiving.

Some states can add their own restrictions above and beyond the ones carried under the federal ones.

There’s no need to avoid hiring the under age of 18 – just be familiar with the rules.

Bryan Dear

www.payrolldept.biz

We learn geology the morning after the earthquake.- Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803 – 1882

It might be a better time to review your unemployment insurance rate before you receive your next rate notice. In Colorado, rates are assessed once a year that cover the period January 1 to December 31.  The period in which the rates are based on is the prior year beginning July 1 to June 30 so if someone is separated and they start receiving insurance in August, your experience rate won’t be affected for almost a year and a half.

So how are rates calculated? There’s a macro and micro effect. The macro effect is how the fund is doing overall. In times of rising layoffs and lower employment, the fund can be swiftly reduced and the rate may go up for every employing entity. The micro effect is how many claims are filed on you as an employer. These two factors determine your rate with your own experience carrying most of the weight.

How do you keep your rate in check? If an employee resigns there is no penalty to your rate. If an employee requests unemployment benefits and you think he/she was rightfully terminated, you may contest his/her benefits by responding to the notice sent to you by the state department of labor. Don’t waste time – respond as soon as you receive the notice because the response time is very short as in seven days.

You can contest for almost all the reasons that you would fire an employee (from stealing to refusing to work a non-overtime shift), but your documentation better be good because lacking that, you will be wasting your time and no doubt becoming frustrated to boot.

The world of unemployment insurance may become a bit more expensive in the next few years. Consider minimizing your costs by hiring right and documenting behavior that impacts the employee’s job quality. Your rate will stay lower than most.

Here’s to keeping a low rate of turnover and insurance,

Bryan Dear

www.payrolldept.biz