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The FMLA and the Availability of New Forms

The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993, and as amended, provides that an employee may be eligible for a period of job-protected unpaid leave if he or she meets the criteria set forth in the FMLA regulations (29 CFR Part 825 – https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=039f1af15a43df094376ea8502f56a93&mc=true&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title29/29cfr825_main_02.tpl). According to the DOL, evidence suggests that adopting flexible … more »

Salary Increase Budgets Decline during the Pandemic

The global pandemic has impacted salary budget planning for the first time in 12-years. The last time that U.S. employers saw a decline in salary budget increases was during the Great Recession of 2008-2009. WorldatWork’s 2020-2021 Salary Budget Survey, conducted from May through June 2020, with 4,754 responses found that salary increase budgets are still … more »

Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) Considerations for Employers as Schools Plan to Reopen

During the beginning stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, many parents, students and even teachers had high expectations for returning to school following their regularly scheduled spring breaks. However, as the days turned into weeks and the weeks turned into months with no end in sight, parents, students and schools began to realize that a massive … more »

Recognizing and Managing Employee Burnout in 2020

In what seems like a never-ending effort, organizations continue to increase their throughput on a yearly basis and attempt to do so with the same number of employees from the previous year. In the case of 2020, many organizations are likely doing so with fewer employees due to lay-offs related to the current pandemic. This … more »

Contact Tracing for Employers

Contact tracing has been a controversial topic in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. It has increasingly drawn more attention from the media, especially as Apple and Google recently announced a partnership on COVID-19 contact tracing and Apple’s most recent iOS update has a “COVID Exposure Notification” feature. Multiple other technology companies are creating … more »

Workplace Claims Due to COVID-19

During the COVID-19 pandemic, employers have faced new federal, state, and local legislation and guidelines as well as an onslaught of information from media sources as they have tried to understand the implications for their workplaces, keep their businesses afloat, and remain in compliance with all laws. Despite this, the pandemic has created an emotional, … more »

Can Employers Make Employees Wear a Face Covering at Work?

The answer is “yes”. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has released guidance that indicates that an employer may require employees to wear personal protective equipment (PPE), such as a face covering, mask, gloves, or gowns in order to reduce the transmission of COVID-19. In addition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) … more »

Who is the EEOC and What Do They Do?

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a bipartisan Commission comprised of five (there are currently two vacancy’s) presidential appointees, including the Chair, Vice Chair, and three Commissioners. In addition to the Commissioners, there is also a presidentially appointed General Counsel to support the Commission and provide direction, coordination, and supervision to the EEOC’s … more »

Evaluating the Performance of Remote Employees

Many organizations are now faced with the task of managing and evaluating remote employees more than ever before. One may argue that managing and evaluating employees are the two most crucial pieces of operating a successful business. After all, employees are the essential ingredient to the operations of any business and without them, there may … more »

Return-to-Work Considerations Following COVID-19 Stay-at-Home Orders

As many organizations and their leaders wade through the many requirements of employees returning to work safely following arguably one of the biggest business challenges they have faced so far, their employees are going to have questions and concerns. Employees are going to expect that their employers will have the answers to their questions. It … more »

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New Focus HR is a human resources consulting and training company that services all organizations. Our expert team collaborates with businesses to attract, motivate, retrain and retain their biggest assets, employees. While engaged with an organization, our focus is to find solutions that improve the company’s internal HR-related practices while increasing results at the same time! Our focus. Your results.

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