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SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: CHANGE IN PAYROLL STATUS SAMPLE POLICY

April 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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In yesterday’s Silkin Management Group blog, and as part of our series on sample office policies, we presented a sample policy concerning payroll deductions. This is a policy all new staff should read when hired. You can link to that Silkin Management Group blog site here: Payroll Deductions Sample Policy

Today, as a follow up to that policy, you’ll find below a sample policy concerning changes in tax/W-4 status that all staff should be aware of. This policy can be found in Silkin Management Group’s 400 plus page Office Policy and Job Description Manual which is something all clients new to Silkin Management Group receive.

CHANGE IN PAYROLL STATUS – SAMPLE POLICY

An employee must file an amended Form W-4 reducing their number of exemptions within ten days after:

  • The spouse for whom the employee had been claiming an exemption is divorced or legally separated or claims his/her own exemption on a separate certificate.
  • The support of a dependent for whom the employee claimed exemptions is taken over by someone else or no longer furnishes more than half the support for the year.
  • The employee finds the income of a dependent relative is less than the legally allowable amount for the year, and the employee had not previously claimed an exemption for the dependent.
  • The employee or his/her spouse will reach age 65 on or before January 1 of the next year.
  • The employee of his/her spouse becomes blind.

Note:  The employer is required to submit the W-4 Form to the IRS for review if the employee:

  • Is claiming 10 or more exemptions, or
  • Is claiming total exemption from withholding and earns more than $200 per week, or
  • The employer believes an employee has claimed an excessive number of dependents.

As we recommend to all Silkin Management Group clients, do not implement this policy without first checking with your accountant that all the items mentioned in this policy are correct and valid per the latest IRS regulations.  IRS regulations change with such frequency that it is imperative that you get professional advice before implementing any policy that can be affected by their rules and regulations.

For more information about Silkin Management Group, visit our website at www.silkinmanagementgroup.com or call us at 800-695-0257.

Gary Crawshaw

Silkin Management Group Consultant



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SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: MORE POLICY ON HOURS WORKED

April 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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In yesterday’s Silkin Management Group blog we went over a sample policy that one could use on the subject of keeping track of hours worked. You can access this article at the following Silkin Management Group blog site: Sample Policy on Keeping Track of Hours Worked. This policy is one of many that Silkin Management Group consultants help institute into the offices of new clients. These policies come from Silkin Management Group’s 400 plus page Office Policy and Job Description Manual.

Today’s example policy is one that could be used as part of the above referenced sample presented in yesterday’s Silkin Management Group blog. It covers additional information concerning policies on hours worked.

More Policy on Keeping Track of Time Worked – Sample

  • How is “Time Worked” Defined?  All elapsed time, from the moment you actually begin your duties until the end of the work day, except for time spent at lunch or dinner, is time worked. Arriving early, leaving late, or preliminary time spent in grooming, changing clothes or attending to personal matters – none of these activities is considered time worked. It’s when you actually start work. Remember that you need to get permission to work overtime if you start work early or work late. If you don’t have such permission you may have to adjust your hours for another day during the week to balance it out. Always let the Office Manager or Doctor know when this occurs so that any possible overtime can be handled in advance.
  • Compensatory Time Off:  Non-exempt employees are entitled to overtime pay whenever they perform overtime work. Employees may not take time off in lieu of receiving overtime pay.  Please don’t ask to make up time missed if it will result in overtime. Any time off during normally scheduled work hours will be without pay.
  • Exchanging Hours With Another Employee: Staff members may exchange hours with another employee, providing they have prior authorization and that the exchange involves no overtime for either employee.

For more information about Silkin Management Group’s services and/or Silkin Management Group’s Office Policy and Job Description Manual, contact us at 800-695-0257 or visit our website at www.silkinmanagementgroup.com

Bill Hickey

Silkin Management Group Consultant



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SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: POLICY ON SICK LEAVE

April 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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Silkin Management Group knows that its clients receive very little practice management education during their professional schooling. Unfortunately the “school of hard knocks” starts teaching them a key lesson once they have their own practice – the lesson that their practice is, in fact, a business to be run requiring basic management skills. And that’s what Silkin Management Group’s business is all about. We provide practice management training and consulting for those doctors lacking this education.

One of the first areas that Silkin Management Group consultants tackle with their clients is office policy due to its importance in the smooth running of any office. Without policy any business will be chaotic as there are no basic known agreements for staff to operate on.

Over the last week we’ve presented various sample policies that can be adapted for use in your office. You can link to yesterday’s Silkin Management Group blog here: Sample Continuing Education Policy. Today we’ll present a sample policy on sick leave.

SAMPLE POLICY ON SICK LEAVE

Sick leave is intended to protect staff against undue financial loss in the event of an illness of one or more days duration. Sick leave may not be used for absences other than a personal illness. Personal emergencies may qualify for sick leave if approved by management.

Upon completion of the orientation and training period regular full-time and specified regular part-time staff members earn time off for sick leave for each month worked. Regular full-time staff earn 6 days of paid sick leave within a consecutive 12 month period. Eligible regular part-time staff receive sick time relative to the number of hours worked by regular full-time staff. (i.e. an eligible part time staff member working 20 hours a week would receive half the amount of sick leave of a full-time staff member working 40 hours a week.)

Sick pay benefits will be paid for the times you normally would be scheduled to work. To be eligible for sick leave benefits you must contact the office no later than one hour prior to the scheduled work period if you are unable to report to work. Failure to give advanced notice may void the claim for benefits. During absence because of sickness you are expected to keep in touch with the office on a daily basis and let us know your progress and prediction on when you’ll be back to work.

For more information on Silkin Management Group and/or Silkin Management Group’s Office Policy and Job Description Manual, contact us at 800-695-0257 or visit our website at www.silkinmanagementgroup.com

Jack Hennessy

Silkin Management Group Consultant



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SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: VACATION POLICY

March 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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Silkin Management Group, with clients throughout the United States and Canada, trains its clients on the basics of practice management. Very few doctors receive any significant education during professional school on the business side of running a practice. But, soon after starting or buying a practice, they all come to realize that their professional education doesn’t cover a lot of what they have to do on a day to day basis to keep their practice growing and viable. That’s where Silkin Management Group helps out – by providing practice management training and consulting for those doctors uneducated in this area.

One of the key areas that Silkin Management Group consultants help our clients with is office policy. Today we’ll present some ideas on what you can include in an office policy having to do with vacations.  This information can also be found in Silkin Management Group’s 400 page Office Policy and Job Description Manual which can easily be edited for any office.

Sample Policy on Vacation Benefits

Regular full-time staff and specified regular part-time staff get an annual paid vacation.  The length of your vacation is based on the length of your continuous service with the office.

Length of Continuous Service

Less than 90 Days:   0 vacation days

After 1 year:               5 vacation days

After 2 years:                         10 vacation days

Vacation pay for full and specified part-time staff members is at the regular pay rate.

Vacation benefits accrue on a monthly basis.  However, since vacation time is earned in 12 month increments, staff members are not eligible to take vacation time off for time worked in less than a 12 month period.

New employees begin to earn vacation pay at the end of the orientation and training period. Upon completion of this phase, eligible new employees will receive vacation benefits retroactive to the date of employment. If employment is terminated for any reason after completing the orientation and training period, the employee is entitled to payment of prorated vacation benefits earned and accrued, retroactive to the date of employment.

For more information on Silkin Management Group and/or its Office Policy and Job Description Manual, contact us at 800-695-0257 or visit our website at www.silkinmanagementgroup.com.

Eric Korb

Silkin Management Group Consultant



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SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: DEALING WITH EMPLOYEES

March 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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Silkin Management Group has been delivering practice management training and consulting to the health care field for nearly 30 years. Very few of our clients received any effective training in running any sort of business during their professional training. Thus, Silkin Management Group consultants are continually working with clients on various aspects of practice management.

Probably the area that Silkin Management Group clients need and want the most help with is dealing with employees, including the legal issues involved with employee management. Below you will find an article written by an employment attorney that Silkin Management Group has referred many clients to with great success. I thought this article was very informative and therefore wanted to pass it along to any readers of our Silkin Management Group blogs.

For more information about Silkin Management Group and how we can help you with practice management, visit our website at www.silkinmanagementgroup.com

Gary Crawshaw

Consultant for Silkin Management Group

TEDDY ROOSEVELT AND PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT

Then-New York Governor Teddy Roosevelt probably summed up politics, diplomacy, and personnel management with his line: “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.”  Some suggestions:

● Management is Part of the Solution, Not the Problem – In the face of reported misconduct, a personnel manager should always proceed in a manner in which he or she could take pride later.  It is possible the report is false, misleading, or otherwise in error.  Investigation should be fair and forthright.  Unless, it’s a matter of some overt, observed threat to safety, the accused should have the opportunity to respond fully to any accusation before a decision is made on consequences.

● Document, Document, Document: Document.

● Policies Should Allow Discretion on Discipline – Employment contracts and workplace policies that strictly define the procedures that must be followed and the consequences that must result from specific offenses are too restrictive for anyone’s good.  While policy should supply standards of conduct and rules for reporting, investigation and handling of misconduct, policy should also provide management the discretion to deal fairly with situations on a case-by-case basis.

For example, a company policy that promises only a warning for any first offense may be a problem when an employee’s first misbehavior is embezzlement or violence against another worker.

● Consistent Handling of Reported Misconduct – Managers should strive to deal with similar situations similarly.  If there are reasons why one employee received a harsher consequence than another for a similar offense, the reasons should be documented.  See Document, Document, Document: Document section above.

Workplace discipline is never fun.  It is even less so when management badly handles a matter, either too softly or too harshly.  When in doubt, reach out.

From The Law Offices of Timothy Bowles

Pasadena, CA

626-583-6600  info@TBowlesLaw.com



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SILKIN MANAGEMENTGROUP: STAFF CORRECTION, GUIDELINES TO TERMINATE

August 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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PART 2

Silkin Management Group’s initial article on termination guidelines can be found at Silkin Management Group’s blog site which you can link to here: http://silkinmanagementgroup.org/?p=28
.

In previous articles on this and other Silkin Management Group blog sites we went over how to handle a sequence of offenses committed by a staff member and what Silkin Management Group consultants recommend to Silkin Management Group clients on this matter. In this new series of articles we are going over key guidelines that consultants at Silkin Management Group go over with their clients when looking at terminating an employee. These guidelines can also be found in Silkin Management Group’s copyrighted Job Description and Office Policy Manual that all new Silkin Management Group clients receive.

The first two guidelines mentioned in Silkin Management Group’s August 25th article were: a) being aware if the employee was part of a protected group and b) making sure you had a good, defensible paper trail.

Here are several more termination guidelines or points to keep in mind that we go over with Silkin Management Group clients:

• Remaining Staff Morale: Make sure you look at what impact would failing to terminate have on morale as well as what impact terminating the employee would have on office morale. Silkin Management Group consultants look at this closely.

• Shooting From the Hip: Are you just trying to get rid of someone you don’t like or does the evidence justify dismissal? Silkin Management Group clients are taught to evaluate this.

As mentioned many times before in Silkin Management Group blog articles on this subject, make sure you have job descriptions and office policies in place as your first step of basic business management in the area of human resources. :

We will present more guidelines for termination decisions in upcoming Silkin Management Group blogs.

Gary Crawshaw
Silkin Management Group Consultant

Find out more about Silkin Management Group at http://silkinmanagementgroup.ning.com/.



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SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: SUGGESTIONS ON STAFF CORRECTION

August 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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Part 2

Silkin Management Group’s initial blog article on staff correction, posted on August 19th can be found here: http://silkinmanagementgroup.org/?p=18.

As mentioned in yesterday’s Silkin Management Group article, we are continually helping Silkin Management Group clients with a variety of human resource type issues. We have found that clients new to Silkin Management Group have high on their “help wish list” training in dealing with staff, including hiring, training and correcting staff.

Yesterday we discussed that one of the most important things that Silkin Management Group implements with new Silkin Management Group clients is written office policies and job descriptions since clients new to Silkin Management Group rarely have proper job descriptions and office policies in place. Silkin Management Group clients are provided with Silkin Management Group’s 400 plus page manual of office policies and job descriptions for each position in the office as part of their Silkin Management Group program. It is vital to have these policies and job descriptions in place to properly correct staff.

As mentioned in yesterday’s Silkin Management Group blog, on a first offense you should show the staff member the policy and/or job description violated, have them re-read it and go over it with them to make sure they understand it and how their actions violated it.

On a second offense we recommend to Silkin Management Group clients to review the situation with the staff member and have them sign a copy of the policy or procedure that covers what was violated as an attestation that he/she understands and agrees to the policy and/or job description. Silkin Management Group clients are instructed to put a copy of the signed document in the personnel folder of the staff member and give a copy to the staff member to put in their staff binder. One can consider that this constitutes a warning.

We will cover additional offenses in our next Silkin Management Group blog.

Eric Korb
Silkin Management Group Consultant

Find out more about Silkin Management Group at http://www.ikarma.com/id/38354



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HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF AGAINST THE UNPRODUCTIVE EMPLOYEE

August 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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Part 2

As mentioned in yesterday’s Silkin Management Group blog which you can link to here: http://blog.silkinmanagementgroup.com/?p=238, dealing with problem employees is a major area of uncertainty and lack of training with many business owners and many of Silkin Management Group clients before they start working with us. Lack of knowledge in this area is very dangerous and can lead to incorrect actions taken with employees resulting in unnecessary liabilities which eat up time and money and can cause a great deal of stress.

We’ve presented and will continue to present relevant articles that we find concerning the various legal issues on dealing with employees. We have primarily used articles from The Law Offices of Timothy Bowles, P.C., a firm that we and many of our clients have used over the years for Human Resource issues. Today we present a follow up article from this firm on a method of protecting yourself when dismissing a “bad apple”.

Larry Silver
President, Silkin Management Group

For more information about Silkin Management Group, visit our website at www.silkinmanagementgroup.com. You can also contact Silkin Management Group at info@silkinmanagementgroup.com.


How to Fire a Troublesome Worker without Getting Burned

Susan is the supervisor for “Tony the Trouble-Maker.” Although Tony used to be the top producer in the division, lately he has been rude to Susan, fights with his coworkers, and refuses to take responsibility when something goes wrong under his watch. Susan is struggling to keep her unit in the black and this guy is weighing down the whole area. She is now ready to terminate Tony’s employment. However, Susan seems to recall Tony once boasted about how he successfully sued his former employer for “tons of dough.” Susan is concerned if she terminates Tony, he will file a lawsuit for wrongful termination, and Susan doesn’t exactly relish the unnecessary cost or distraction. How can Susan reduce the likelihood of post-employment litigation?

Susan should offer Tony an additional severance pay amount in exchange for a signed release and waiver. In theory, this is a simple transaction. Tony will receive additional money beyond his final wages so long as he signs a document in which he agrees not to sue the company for claims including wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, or breach of contract.

However, there are several pitfalls to this arrangement of which Susan must be aware in order to ensure the applicable state agency (such as the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing) or federal agency (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) will honor such a waiver. For example, if Susan’s company has at least twenty employees and Tony is age 40 or over, Susan must notify Tony that (1) he has up to 21 days to consider and sign the waiver after which time the company will withdraw the severance pay offer; and (2) he has another seven days to change his mind and rescind the agreement.

Handled correctly, we have found the great majority of departing workers will agree to such a severance package. Indeed, most don’t bother waiting for any part of the 21 day offer period to expire, instead signing and taking the severance check upon receiving and promptly reviewing the papers.

Our severance pay forms package includes a five-page overview of exact steps to take, two separate types of severance agreements and two corresponding checklists for the departing employee to initial and sign. By ensuring all these forms are properly understood and implemented, a company can take effective steps to prevent frivolous wrongful termination suits where the company judges it best to promote a worker’s smooth transition to other employment.

If you have any questions, please contact me or any of our other employment law attorneys.

Cindy Bamforth
Law Offices of Timothy Bowles, P.C.
One South Fair Oaks Ave., Suite 301
Pasadena, CA 91105
626-583-6600
email: information@bowleslaw.com



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WHAT ANNOYS YOU ABOUT YOUR EMPLOYEES?

July 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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Part 3

Handling problem employees is a huge area of help that Silkin Management Group clients and prospective clients are interested in. In Silkin Management Group’s blog site of July 20th & July 21st we introduced Part 1 and 2 of a 5 part series on things staff do to drive their bosses crazy and what to do about them.

In Part 1 we went over the “clock puncher”, the low responsibility staff member. In part 2 we discussed the staff member who spends job time doing personal things and disturbing other employees.
Here is a third type of staff member that can cause irritation to their boss:

“I know you already told me a few times, but can you tell me again, how do I do this?”

These employees just can’t seem to learn anything and are always asking you to solve their problems. They rarely, if ever, offer solutions. They just don’t take the intuitive to seek answers or work out solutions to problems by themselves. Even if you have an easy-to-understand and comprehensive job policy manual put together, they’ve just never read it, but instead bother you and the other staff members with questions that are clearly answered in their job materials.

Solution: For starters, make very sure you have a comprehensive Office Policy and Job Description Manual. Then check the employee out on their job description by asking them to perform some of the duties covered. Do this on a gradient basis, taking the easiest first. If they have trouble with the easy stuff, you know you are going to have trouble generally. More basic, do some literacy testing PRIOR to hiring.

Silkin Management Group provides job description and office policy manuals to its clients as well as various tests for screening applicants. If you’d like more information about this contact us at info@silkinmanagementgroup.com.

Lyn Ribisi
Senior Analyst’s Assistant
For Silkin Management Group



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WHAT IF AN EMPLOYEE WORE A KNIFE TO WORK?

June 9, 2010 By 4 Comments
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One of the most frequent areas of concern for new Silkin Management Group clients is dealing with employees. Who to hire, how to train them, what should written office policies and job descriptions look like, who do you fire and how, how do you deal with discrimination and harassment, etc. are the common areas of concern.

As Silkin Management Group deals with business management, we have to be familiar with the various legalities surrounding these various issues. At the same time, we aren’t attorneys. Therefore we keep ourselves informed and educated through research as well as interaction with attorneys we know and trust.

We have presented articles on past Silkin Management Group blogs from an attorney, Timothy Bowles, whom we have worked with for many years and whose expertise is in employment law. Below you will find a very interesting article by him that will answer the question posed in the title above. If you are a business person who has employees to deal with, you should find this interesting.

Larry Silver
President, Silkin Management Group

For information about Silkin Management Group, visit our website at: www.silkinmanagementgroup.com. You may also contact Silkin Management Group at: info@silkinmanagementgroup.com.

Religion in the Workplace, Have Faith in the Law

Bill, a hospital supervisor, learned that one of his subordinates, Harvinder, has been wearing a miniature sword strapped to and hidden underneath her clothing. Harvinder is a baptized Sikh who wears the 4-inch dull and sheathed sword (called a kirpan) as a symbol of her religious commitment to defend truth and moral values. Bill instructed Harvinder not to wear the kirpan at work because it violated hospital policy against bringing weapons in the workplace. Harvinder explained to Bill that her faith requires her to wear a kirpan in order to comply with the Sikh Code of Conduct, and gave him literature explaining the kirpan is not a weapon. Harvinder also allowed Bill to examine the kirpan so he could see it was no sharper than a butter knife.

It may be surprising to learn that if Bill were then to inform Harvinder she would be terminated if she continued to wear the kirpan at work, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) would consider the hospital liable for religious discrimination in the workplace. In the face of a potential conflict between a religious practice such as Harvinder’s and an employer’s policy, in this case the company’s obligation to maintain a safe and secure workplace, that employer must almost always take the initiative to see if a reasonable accommodation for that religious practice can be reached. Only where an employer can show that any accommodation for religious practice would impose an undue economic hardship is that company excused from permitting that practice to continue. Employment laws establish that resolution of religion in the workplace issues is a case-by-case proposition. An undue hardship is found where the proposed accommodation imposed more than a de minimus (trifling or minimal) cost to the employer. Examples where courts have found accommodations imposed undue hardship include “additional costs in the form of lost efficiency or higher wages.” Balint v. Carson City, Nevada (Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals [9th Cir] 1998) 180 Federal Reporter, Third Series (F.3rd) 1047, 1051, note 4.

Thus, faced with Harvinder’s request to continue wearing her kirpan in the workplace, Bill would have to explore whether the company could accommodate the request without a disruption in operations that would amount to more than a minimal or trivial distraction. If Harvinder’s request was to carry a loaded gun based on her religion’s principles, Bill would obviously have a much easier decision since such a weapon creates a hostile work environment to say the least, nearly certain to significantly divert fellow hospital workers from full attention to their duties. However, a ceremonial object no sharper than a butter knife – and kept out of sight of other workers in any event — can probably be accommodated since it would be difficult at best to distinguish between that object and the eating utensils brought by other workers and utilized daily on the premises.

If you have any questions, please contact me or any of our other employment law attorneys.

Timothy Bowles
Law Offices of Timothy Bowles, P.C.
One South Fair Oaks Ave., Suite 301
Pasadena, CA 91105

Phone: 626-583-6600
Fax: 626-583-6605
Email: information@bowleslaw.com



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