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What's New!
KDG HR Solutions Newsletter
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Greetings!
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Workplace harassment, conduct
issues, and embezzlements can be very costly to an employer. Do not
make matters worse by conducting an investigation that is poorly
designed, poorly executed, and poorly communicated. Join us for our
April Lunch & Learn when Jay Rosenlieb
will provide you with the tools you need to conduct a meaningful
investigation and the information you need to help you avoid the common
mistakes that employers make when investigating employee misconduct.
We'll see you then and hope you enjoy this issue of our
newsletter.
Sincerely,
Robin Paggi, MA, SPHR-CA, CPLP, CPC 
Paralegal/HR Professional
KDG HR Solutions
rpaggi@kleinlaw.com
(661) 328-5267
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Training Tip
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Must employers pay employees who
seek additional training to enhance their knowledge or skills? The
California Labor Commissioner has adopted the federal stance with
regard to whether employees must be paid for time spent at training
programs. Essentially, the training program time will not count
as compensable hours worked ONLY IF all of the following criteria are
met:
- Attendance is voluntary
(meaning that the program is not required, nor is the employee led
to believe that the current employment relationship or position
will be adversely affected by non-attendance);
- Attendance is outside
of regular working hours;
- The course is not
directly related to the employee's job (that is, the training is not
designed to make the employee handle his current job more
effectively, as opposed to training for a new job or new skill
which would not be considered to be directly related); and
- The employee does not
perform any work during the time of attendance.
Contact Katy Raytis for more information or if you are
interested in a Tuition Forgiveness Agreement for your workplace.
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California Prevailing
Wage Seminar
April 12, 2012
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Please join us and Kern
County Builder's Exchange on
April 12th for our California
Prevailing Wage Seminar.
This presentation will provide
up-to-date information on California
prevailing wage laws and will include a broad overview of employer obligations
to ensure compliance.
Topics include:
* recent
legislation
* duties and
responsibilities under the law
* how
prevailing wage requirements are enforced
* tips to avoid
liability
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UPCOMING WORKSHOPS
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April
11, 2012 Bakersfield
9-11:00am- AB1825
State-Mandated Sexual Harassment Prevention Training - $50
April 12, 2012 Bakersfield
10:30-11:30am- California
Prevailing Wage Seminar $35
Click Here for More Info
April 25, 2012 Fresno
For
more information or to RSVP contact
Kelsey
Bonesteel at:
kbonesteel@kleinlaw.com
or call (661) 328-5218.
ALL
SESSIONS REQUIRE PRE-REGISTRATION
Thank You!
For additional details on each workshop, visit our
website at:
www.kdghrsolutions.com
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Thorough,
Well-Documented Investigation Defeats Discrimination Claim
By Robin Paggi
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A recent court case demonstrated
why well-executed investigations are so important when handling
allegations of employee misconduct. Arturo Martinez was a manager for
W. W. Grainger, Inc. His manager, Jeff Timm,
became concerned about Martinez's
management style after having a conversation with some of his
subordinates. Timm asked Joyce LePage, who worked in Grainger's HR department, to
conduct an investigation into allegations that Martinez was being too harsh with his
employees. LePage spoke with a number of
employees who reported that Martinez
managed "by intimidation and threats" and that he was
"brutal and belittling" among other similar negative
comments. LePage took extensive notes during
the interviews with the employees, and then she and Timm
met with Martinez
to discuss how to move forward. When Martinez would not acknowledge that
there was a problem with his management style, he was fired, and then
subsequently sued for racial and national origin discrimination. The
trial court dismissed the lawsuit, then Martinez appealed and lost in that
court too. According to court documents, Martinez failed to establish that the
reason for his termination was because of something other than his
performance. Moreover, the court noted that "the deposition
testimony of the branch employees confirmed that the notes LePage used to create the summary list for Martinez were accurate and that the specific
examples she gave of his (Martinez's)
problematic managerial style were brought up during her
investigation." Thus, a thorough, well-documented investigation
into employee misconduct is one of the best defenses against
discrimination lawsuits.
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Honesty is
the best policy when dealing with HR issues
By: Robin Paggi
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"Honesty is the best
policy." This quote, attributed to Benjamin Franklin, is
especially true when it comes to employment issues. The following
employers learned that lesson the hard way.
Bingham Toyota Isuzu learned not
to make promises it couldn't keep. Kevin Helmer
applied for a position in the parts department at the auto dealership
and was interviewed by Bob Clark, the director of parts and service. Helmer told Clark
during the interview that he needed to earn at least $5,700 per month.
According to court documents, "Clark
then opened his desk drawer, pulled out a financial statement, made
some calculations, and stated that 'if (Helmer)
had been employed by Bingham since January, (he) would have made
$70,000 up to that point." So, Helmer
left his job at a competing dealership, and proceeded to make less than
$5,700 a month at Bingham. Helmer talked to Clark about making less pay than he was promised
and was ignored for a while, then was told he could work extra hours to
earn the pay, next was asked to prove that he had actually made $5,700
a month at his previous job, and finally was fired. He sued the company
and Clark for promissory fraud. The jury awarded Helmer
$450,913 in compensatory damages and $1.5 million in punitive damages
(later reduced by the Court to $675,000).
Texaco learned not to sugarcoat
performance evaluations. According to www.leagle.com, employee Emma
Vaughn received favorable performance evaluations, merit increases, and
no criticism of her work performance before being terminated by Texaco.
During the subsequent lawsuit, Texaco management stated that Vaughn was
terminated for poor performance, even though its documentation
demonstrated otherwise. Managers said that they refrained from
confronting Vaughn about her poor performance because she was black.
Ironically, "this direct evidence clearly shows that (her supervisor)
acted as he did solely because Vaughn is black...Vaughn has,
consequently, established that Texaco discriminated against her."
She was awarded $465,000 in punitive damages.
Michaels Stores, Inc. learned not
to make up bogus reasons for firing employees. Store manager Kara Jorud was terminated while she was undergoing
chemotherapy for breast cancer. In her subsequent lawsuit, Jorud claimed that district manager Skip Sand began
calling her days after her mastectomy asking when she would return to
work. When Jorud did return to work, Sand
frequently visited the store to criticize her performance. Jorud was then terminated for theft, a charge she
later disproved and Sand admitted was false. According to the South
Florida Sun-Sentinel, a jury awarded Jorud
$8.1 million.
The examples above demonstrate
that deceit is expensive and just not very smart. Being honest when it
comes to employment issues is the right thing to do and is the more
intelligent way to go. As Thomas Jefferson said, "Honesty is the
first chapter in the book of wisdom."
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KDG HR
Solutions Team
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David Blaine, Esq.,
Jeffrey Noe, Esq.
Katy Raytis,
Esq. Jay Rosenlieb,
Esq.
SPHR
 
Kelsey
Bonesteel Robin
Paggi, MA, Aimee Kircher,
Esq., Amy L. Hanf, Esq.
Marketing
Assistant SPHR-CA, CPLP,
SPHR
CPC, HR Consultant
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4550
California Avenue, 2nd Floor 5260 N. Palm
Avenue, Ste. 201
Bakersfield, CA 93309
Fresno,
CA 93704
(661) 634-1200 (559)
801-0606
Strategic
Human Resources. Employment Law Solutions.
www.kdghrsolutions.com
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