Business Resolutions

From the Union Leader to the Boston Globe to the Wall Street Journal, business writers and analysts are predicting a general increase in hiring for 2011. Early economic indicators, including the Dow edging tantalizingly towards 12,000, suggest consumer confidence is returning to a level not seen for several years. This is welcome news after countless reports of layoffs, work force reductions, and hiring freezes.

Is your business ready to add new employees? Talking to business associates has revealed an understandable but dangerous tendency to let hiring procedures, company policies and employee handbooks unattended during this recent negative economic cycle. With many companies experiencing a downturn in earnings, it was hard to justify added expense in reviewing these types of materials. Now, however, with news that the recession is “officially over” and publication of positive predictions, this may be a good time to revisit company procedures and update policies, manuals, and forms. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have about the best manner in which to do this; or call Meredith Cook at 629-4511 to discuss updating your employment policies; or, call Mona Movafaghi at 629-4523 to discuss immigration issues. This is an opportune time to revamp employer policies and hiring information, and place your company in a good position to expand your work force as, hopefully, it and the economy grows again.

-Submitted By Christopher Pyles, Esq.
603-629-4725
cpyles@wiggin-nourie.com

BREAKS FOR NURSING MOTHERS

Many of the provisions of the health care reform legislation do not take effect for years to come, but a new breastfeeding break requirement took effect on March 23, 2010 with very little media attention. Employers now are required to provide reasonable break times for female employees for lactation purposes for one year after the child's birth. Employers are required to provide a reasonable amount of break time to express milk as frequently as needed by the nursing mother, but an employer is not required to compensate an employee for this break unless the employer already provides compensated breaks and the employee uses that time for nursing. Employers must provide a location for breastfeeding, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the pubic. Employers with fewer than 50 employees are not subject to the break time requirement if compliance would impose an undue hardship, determined by looking at the difficulty or expense of compliance for a specific employer in comparison to the size, financial resources, nature, and structure of the employer's business.


-Submitted By Meredith Cook, Esq.
603-629-4511
mcook@wiggin-nourie.com

Get Your Mandatory DOL Posters – for free!

For Employers – Remember, you are required to conspicuously post various Department of Labor notices. The Department has recently sent out reminders that those mandatory posters are available, for free. Go to:

http://www.labor.state.nh.us/mandatory_posters.asp for further details.

-Submitted By Christopher Pyles, Esq.
603-629-4725
cpyles@wiggin-nourie.com

Employee Theft and Unemployment Benefits

An employer may terminate an employee for stealing, and the employee cannot collect unemployment benefits. Accordingly, the employer does not suffer any adverse impact on its unemployment tax rate. However, a recently passed law now allows employees who steal less than $500 from a previous employer to collect benefits, if they are laid off from their next job, and credits the employee for the time they worked at their previous job even though they were fired for stealing. According to a very helpful article in the New Hampshire Business Review for the week of August 27, 2010, the new law clarifies the term “gross misconduct” by removing the word “dishonesty” and replacing it with “theft of an amount greater than $500.” The NHBR article, written by Bob Sanders, provides a complete analysis of the change, and some interesting statistics on gross misconduct in the workplace.

-Submitted By Christopher Pyles, Employment Attorney
603-629-4725
cpyles@wiggin-nourie.com

ICE

On April 30, 2009, Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) announced a new strategy for enforcement of employer sanctions. For details see the ICE release at:

http://www.aila.org/content/default.aspx?docid=28757