Employer's Report: Employers Report Post

Posted by California Employers Association on May 1, 2024

Tags: Employers Report

An increasing number of employees are recording their termination meetings with HR representatives, managers and supervisors and posting them on various social media platforms, including TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter. These videos, commonly called “Watch Me Get Fired” videos, have become a trend among workers in various industries, including fast-food employees, office workers, and teachers. In some cases, these videos have gone viral, exposing businesses to heavy reputational backlash and sometimes legal consequences due to substandard termination practices. Despite the high stakes organizations face, some employers are still mishandling terminations.

This article provides an overview of viral termination videos and what employers can do about them.

“Watch Me Get Fired” Videos Explained

“Watch Me Get Fired” videos are videos in which employees film themselves getting terminated or laid off. These videos often show private conversations between employees and supervisors, managers and HR representatives. Workers then post these videos to social media, publically giving light to a private moment that many individuals have attempted to hide in the past. Some videos receive millions of views.

In many cases, remote work has allowed workers to feel emboldened to speak out about their employers online. These videos may also be driven, in part, by Generation Z and millennials’ desire to share more of their lives on social media. “Watch Me Get Fired” videos demonstrate how younger generations turn to social media to speak out when they think they’ve been treated unfairly or when they want feedback or support.

Best Practices for Employers

Implementing certain practices and procedures can help employers limit their potential legal exposure and liability when addressing this recent trend. Employers should consider the following best practices to limit legal exposures and reputational consequences stemming from “Watch Me Get Fired” videos:

• Limit legal pitfalls. Before conducting termination meetings, ensure you avoid saying anything that could increase the risk of or lead to legal liabilities. Train those involved in termination meetings to be aware of workers’ rights and legal protections.
• Be prepared. Anything that happens in the workplace can easily be recorded and shared online. It’s important to consider how a termination conversation will be perceived by the employee and, potentially, others. Thinking about the message and how it will impact employees can help ensure that such conversations are conducted in a professional manner. This may include developing talking points, anticipating what questions the employee will ask or determining what information is necessary to share with the individual.
• Stay professional. Recorded termination meetings that go poorly or are conducted in an unprofessional manner can damage an organization’s reputation and brand. Lacking empathy, being unprepared or not involving a worker’s direct manager can send the wrong message to the worker and general public, causing the company to appear overly harsh or insensitive. Individuals participating in termination meetings should conduct themselves professionally, whether the meeting is in-person or virtual.
• Avoid false statements. False statements can show bad faith and lead to legal troubles and reputational harm. Employers should avoid making statements during termination meetings, including promises of benefits or privileges to which an employee would not be entitled.
• Establish workplace policies. Employers can implement policies addressing audio, video and other recordings in the workplace. This may include a general prohibition against recording workplace meetings and conversations without the consent of all participants. However, in some circumstances, employees may have the right to make recordings at the workplace (e.g., engaging in protected concerted activity under the National Labor Relations Act). Therefore, employers should first speak with counsel to ensure that any workplace prohibitions against recordings are consistent with federal, state and local laws.
• Avoid surprises. Lack of performance management can lead to a negative termination experience or even surprise, which can often increase the odds of an individual taking legal action or cause reputational harm. This is especially true if an individual hasn’t been made aware of their performance issues before the termination meeting. Conducting regular performance evaluations and proactive employee management can help lessen the surprise when an employee is terminated for performance issues. Employers should establish a transparent work culture where issues, concerns and goals are discussed openly and often.

Summary

Leaders should do their best to deliver termination messages in a compassionate and dignified manner. Conducting termination meetings as if the world were watching can help organizations reduce the risk that they’ll find themselves on the negative end of a viral sensation. By establishing best practices for terminations, employers can improve their offboarding processes, strengthen their brands and limit legal risks. CEA members may call us at 800.399.5331 for additional guidance.

Posted by Mari Bradford, HR Director on May 1, 2024

Tags: Employers Report

Have you recently been hired or promoted into a Human Resource role in California? Are you located in another State, but need an overview of HR laws for those employees in California? Perhaps you wear multiple hats-Office Manager, Team Lead, etc. and need an HR refresher? If so, CEA has designed the class for you!

Our HR 101: HR Essentials Series covers the key areas that every person who handles HR functions can benefit from taking. This four session course covers the essential functions of human resources to help you confidently manage the personnel process in your business. Course topics include Hiring Fundamentals, Wage & Hour, Employee Handbooks, Leaves of Absence, Performance Management and Terminations. Each class is 90 minutes and covers the key areas that every HR professional needs to know.

Class 1: Hiring and Onboarding Essentials

• Recruiting best practices
• Job descriptions
• Interviewing skills
• Pre-employment best practices
• Onboarding for long-term success

Class 2: Wage & Hour and Employee Handbooks

• Minimum wage essentials
• Exempt classifications
• Meal/rest periods and other tricky issues
• Handbooks – Your sword and shield
• Required policies

Class 3: Leaves of Absence in California

• Determining leave eligibility
• Employee’s rights under the law
• How to properly designate and document leaves
• How leaves can affect PTO, vacation, sick, and wages

Class 4: Performance Management and Terminations

• How coaching and discipline work together
• Documenting behavior before acting decisively
• California’s required paperwork when ending a work relationship
• Avoiding legal problems when exiting employees

Whether you are expanding your HR responsibilities, looking for a comprehensive guide to the core role of HR or need a reminder of best practices in the ever-changing HR world of California, this is the series for you!

You can find more information and purchase the entire four-series recording in the CEA store. The price for the entire series is $449 for members, $649 for non-members.

Already Taken HR 101?

Stay tuned to future Employers Reports for an announcement about HR 201 coming this fall!

Posted by Eli Nuñez, HR Director on May 1, 2024

Tags: Employers Report

The Summer of 2023 went on record as the hottest of all time according to NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other members of the scientific community. Whether you blame global warming, El Niño, Zeus, or no one in particular, Summer 2024 is nearly upon us and chances are it will be hot in the Golden State.

Heat Illness Protection requirements recently made national headlines when Florida joined Texas in rolling back protections for people who work outdoors. However, California continues to be at the forefront of employee safety, after being the first state to put outdoor heat illness prevention measures into law almost two decades ago.

Cal/OSHA has renewed its focus on Heat Illness Prevention in indoor places of employment. As recently as March it appeared that Cal/OSHA was ready to adopt rules requiring employers to provide protections against excessive heat in indoor workspaces before the process was halted by state financial officials asking for more time to analyze the financial impacts of those rules.

Some of the highlights of the proposed-but-still-pending rules for indoor heat illness protection include:

1. Monitoring employees and providing cooling areas when indoor temperatures reach or surpass 82 degrees
2. Cooling the broader work site, allocating more breaks, rotating workers or making other adjustments when temperatures climb to 87 degrees or workers are made to work near hot equipment

Traditionally, agriculture, construction and landscaping have been the focus of heat illness prevention measures, but other industries should take precautionary measures as well. Knowing the signs of heat illness and how to react are essential in preventing a workplace tragedy.

Warning Signs

Whether it occurs indoors or outdoors, Heat Illness can present itself as either heat exhaustion or heatstroke. Heat exhaustion occurs when a person cannot sweat enough to cool their body. This is usually the result of not drinking enough fluids during hot temperatures. Heatstroke is the result of untreated heat exhaustion and is a serious medical emergency which often requires medical treatment.

Early symptoms of heat illness can include dizziness, nausea/vomiting, confusion, cramps, red dry skin, elevated heart rate and convulsions or fainting. Ignoring the early warning signs and not providing adequate care may lead to brain damage, as well as damage to other organs or death.

Outdoor Heat Illness Prevention Requirements

Cal/OSHA requires that employers with outdoor workers in all industries take the following steps to prevent heat illness:

1. Plan: Develop and implement an effective written heat illness prevention plan that includes emergency response procedures.
2. Training: Train all employees and supervisors on heat illness prevention.
3. Water: Provide drinking water that is fresh, pure, suitably cool and free of charge so each worker can drink at least 1 quart per hour, and encourage workers to do so.
4. Rest: Encourage workers to take a cool-down rest in the shade for at least five minutes when they feel the need to do so to protect themselves from overheating. Workers should not wait until they feel sick to cool down.
5. Shade: Provide proper shade when temperatures exceed 80 degrees. Workers have the right to request and be provided shade to cool off at any time.

CEA can help employers comply with Cal/OSHA requirements and keep their employees safe. We offer onsite training for your workforce in both English and Spanish to help keep your employees safe and your company out of trouble. We also have safety partners with years of knowledge that can help with your Heat Illness Prevention Plan, IIPP, WVPP or any other safety concern.

Posted by Giuliana Gabriel, J.D., HR Compliance Director on May 1, 2024

Tags: Employers Report

California employers often don’t need to pay attention to federal employment rules because we have more stringent requirements. However, California employers must now pay attention to the new federal EEOC regulation for the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA). This regulation is even more protective in some ways than California’s Pregnancy Disability Leave law and FEHA/ADA requirements.

PWFA History

Last year in June 2023, the U.S. legislature passed the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), and the EEOC published a proposed rule interpreting the PWFA in August 2023. On April 19, 2024, the EEOC’s rule became final and it will go into effect 60 days from April 19. That means the regulation goes into effect on June 18, 2024. You can find a summary of the regulation at the EEOC’s website.

The PWFA applies to employers with 15 or more employees. Modeled after the ADA, it requires employers to engage in the interactive process and reasonably accommodate known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, unless accommodation creates an undue hardship.

The PWFA goes one step further than the ADA and requires accommodations for pregnancy-related limitations that do not necessarily arise to a disability status (e.g., occasional morning sickness, needing to attend health care appointments, etc.). Notably, pregnancy itself is not a disability under the ADA.

What California Employers Need to Know

Current laws in California already require employers with five or more employees to reasonably accommodate pregnant employees, and provide up to 17.3 weeks (88 days) of Pregnancy Disability Leave when an employee is “disabled” or “affected” by pregnancy, as certified by their health care provider. Pregnant employees also have protections under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA).

The additional new requirements will require employers with 15 or more employees to:

• Temporarily suspend essential job functions
• Provide certain “predictable assessments” (e.g., accommodations such as carrying water, additional or longer meal and restroom breaks, etc.)
• Prohibit a request of medical certification in certain instances, such as the “predictable” accommodations noted

Temporary Suspension of Essential Job Functions as Reasonable Accommodation

The PWFA regulation requires employers to temporarily excuse essential job functions, if the employee would be able to perform the essential functions in the near future. The EEOC defines in the near future as generally up to 40 weeks, unless it would impose an undue hardship.

What this means, according to the EEOC, is that “an employee who is temporarily unable to perform one or more essential functions of their job, and who therefore needs light duty or a change in their work assignments, may be able to get such a change as a reasonable accommodation.”

Predictable Assessments

The EEOC’s regulation also lists certain accommodations deemed reasonable in virtually all circumstances. The EEOC takes the position that these accommodations (termed predictable assessments) do not cause an undue hardship in almost all cases.

• To carry or keep water near and drink as needed
• Additional restroom breaks
• To sit when work requires standing, and to stand when work requires sitting
• Breaks to eat and drink, as needed

While the EEOC does not go quite so far as to say these accommodations must be “automatically” granted, they state, “the individualized assessment should be particularly simple and straightforward” in these circumstances. As discussed further below, employers should not request documentation beyond self-attestation for these assessments.

Unfortunately, the regulation does not include any parameters on predictable assessments. For example, if an employee claims that due to pregnancy, she needs to visit the restroom every 10 minutes or have continual access to food, the EEOC has not provided any guidance on if or when employers may draw a line.

Limitations on Supporting Documentation

The EEOC also provides several examples when it is not reasonable for an employer to request supporting documentation or medical certification. These include:

• When the known limitation and need for reasonable accommodation are obvious
• When the employee or applicant has already provided sufficient information, such as prior medical certification
• When the employee attests to being pregnant and requests one of the predictable assessments above
• For lactation/pumping accommodations

Employers should train supervisors on the new requirements and update reasonable accommodations policies, as needed before June 18, 2024.

For more information, employers may refer to the EEOC’s Summary of Key Provisions, and CEA members may call us at 800.399.5331.

Posted by Giuliana Gabriel, J.D., HR Compliance Director on May 1, 2024

Tags: Employers Report

Do employees need a right to disconnect from work? The California legislature may think so. AB 2751, an unprecedented bill modeled after European countries, would require employers to define employees’ nonworking hours and prohibit employers from contacting workers during those hours, except for scheduling changes or emergencies. As of right now, the bill has many open questions and ambiguities.

At CEA, we remind employers that when it comes to proposed bills, it isn’t over until it’s over, so don’t get too tied up in the weeds before a bill actually passes. However, AB 2751 does raise some interesting questions for employers to consider about work culture and wellness.

What is Your Work Culture?

Employers should consider whether they truly allow employees to create boundaries between their work and personal lives. After all, we are not robots (at least not yet), and you will get the best out of a happy employee, rather than a disengaged or resentful one.

In your workplace, are employees expected to respond late at night and on weekends? Are they receiving work emails around the clock? While this may be allowed for exempt employees without having to worry about timekeeping and overtime, it still often creates a cultural problem.

In fast-paced environments where employees are expected to respond constantly, with no predictable personal time, the employer will experience employee burnout, retention issues, and a general lack of loyalty from employees, especially when they find higher paying opportunities. Staff may also become cynical and fail to form bonds with their coworkers, expecting that everyone eventually leaves that type of environment.

If this is the culture in your workplace, it is important to assess whether the nature of your business or the nature of the position truly requires around-the-clock work. Maybe this is true of higher-level executives responsible for running national companies, but for most positions, there are opportunities to create win-win boundaries. Consider whether you are able to create general guidelines for management about when it is appropriate to contact employees, or what types of issues take priority outside of business hours. You may also find that managers’ expectations on employee communication outside of work vary greatly, so it may be important to have your leaders first reach consensus on communication during “non-work” hours, as well as expected employee response times.

Where Do You Land on Benefit Offerings and Wellness?

For employees in high-demand positions, it is especially important to consider how you provide time for rejuvenation and personal endeavors, so they will give you their 100% at work. Some ideas include:

• Offering holidays, vacation, or paid time off
• Including a personal leave of absence policy
• Flexible schedules or alternative workweeks
• Offering an Employee Assistance Program
• Allowing for remote and/or hybrid work
• Providing a stipend for wellness (e.g., gym membership, art classes, pet supplies)

When you do provide benefits, make sure employees understand the full value. You may consider providing the employee a benefits summary, which breaks down the monetary cost of health benefits, vacation, etc.

Want additional tips? Reach out to your CEA team at 800.399.5331 or email CEAinfo@employers.org!

Posted by Kim Gusman, President & CEO on May 1, 2024

Tags: Employers Report

One of my friends recently made the decision to sell her home of 20 years, and downsize into a smaller home in a beautiful new retirement community. Before making the decision she was consumed with anxiety, fearful that she might not be making the right decision. After ruminating for several weeks, listing all of the pros and cons, consulting with her financial advisor, and processing with family and friends, she was finally able to make a decision, drop off a check, and turn her anxiety into excitement.

According to ComPsych, a mental health provider, my friend is not alone. Nearly a quarter of the 300,000 people who reached out for mental health assistance in 2023 did so to get help with anxiety. Richard Chaifetz, founder of ComPsych, said the rise of anxiety isn’t particularly surprising considering the series of stressful occurrences over the past few years.  “From the pandemic to ongoing conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, civil unrest, an unpredictable economy and increasingly polarized political rhetoric surrounding elections, there is a persistent underlying feeling of apprehension and worry,” he said.

ComPsych also reported that employee leaves of absence for mental health issues are up a staggering 300% from 2017 to 2023. We all have to make thousands of decisions each day, at work and at home, so it’s important that we find ways to reduce anxiety for ourselves and our employees.

Tips to Relabel Anxiety As Excitement

An article in Forbes suggests one solution that may help out some of the time. The article, which I will briefly recap, explains how feelings of anxiety are nearly the same, physiologically, as the feelings of excitement. These feelings are different, however, they both produce an elevated heart rate and butterflies in your stomach, because your body is readying itself for action. However, excitement is connected to the emotion of joy, while anxiety stems from fear. When we feel stressed out, or out of control, it’s important to distinguish what we are feeling and why. It’s not healthy to operate our life from a place of fear and survival, if we can instead operate from a place that allows us to take advantage of opportunities and possibilities, such as when we are excited.

Our emotional intelligence can identify the triggers of excitement versus anxiety and allow us to determine how to respond to a situation. Instead of living life on automatic, we can use our feelings for positive change. And, good news, in many instances, we can turn our anxiety into excitement!

In a recent study conducted by Alison Wood Brooks, a Harvard professor, people who tried to convert their anxiety into excitement performed better than those who didn’t. The study asked people to speak out loud before having to perform or speak in public. They were asked to announce whether they felt anxious or that they felt excited or they said nothing at all. The study found that those who said they were excited performed better than the others. Thus, positive self-talk is good for us. By changing the way we think, we can change the way we feel. Here’s how:

Practical Steps  

• Take a moment to think about your situation.
• Tell yourself out loud that you are excited.
• Focus on positive outcomes.
• Alter your diet.
• Don’t calm down.
• Take time out to relax.

Check out the full article to dive deeper on these bullet points. If you found this information interesting, CEA has an Emotional Intelligence workshop that will heighten your awareness and allow you to identify the feelings that lead to anxiety and excitement. By relabeling anxiety as excitement, you access a source of energy that you can harness to achieve your goals and further your personal and professional development.

Here’s to an exciting May for you all!

Posted by California Employers Association on April 1, 2024

Tags: Employers Report

This month we’d like to introduce you to two more people who help improve the experience for all CEA members! Shadi Kanaan, Executive Director of the Santa Clara County Dental Society recently joined CEA’s Board of Directors; and Karen Smith Olson, CEA’s Vice President of Sales & Marketing.

Shadi Kanaan, Executive Director, Santa Clara County Dental Society, CEA Board Member

1. How long have you been with CEA?

I am a recent addition to the Board of Directors, but the Santa Clara County Dental Society (SCCDS) has been a CEA member since 2011.

2. What advice would you give to someone who is just starting their career?

Do EVERYTHING. Don’t limit yourself to what is in your job description.

3. What is something that most people don’t know about you?

I run one of the largest Youth Basketball Programs in Northern California, Youth Basketball Academy in Rocklin (with 70+ youth teams from 2nd grade to Varsity for boys and girls teams)

4. What is your favorite quote, motto, or words you live by?

You miss all the shots you don’t take.

5. What’s one thing on your bucket list?

To eat an authentic Philadelphia Cheesesteak in Philadelphia, PA!

Karen Smith Olson, Vice President, Sales & Marketing, CEA

1. What has been your favorite project at CEA so far?

Developing a search marketing strategy so that the services CEA offers can be found by the businesses who need them.

2. When you are at work, how do you motivate yourself?

Through collaboration. Working within a team there is always the opportunity to learn something new.

3. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?

Don’t be afraid to fail, just fail fast and cheap.

4. Where did you grow up?

Olathe, Kansas. It’s a suburb of Kansas City.

5. What one thing on your bucket list?

To go on safari in Africa.

Posted by Giuliana Gabriel, J.D., HR Compliance Director on April 1, 2024

Tags: Employers Report

Pay data reporting deadlines are just around the bend. Is your company required to report your pay data to the Civil Rights Department (CRD) and/or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)?

California law requires private employers of 100 or more employees and/or 100 or more workers hired through labor contractors to annually report pay, demographic, and other workforce data to the CRD.

For 2024, the deadlines for 2023 data are as follows:

• California’s CRD: May 8, 2024
• Federal EEOC: June 4, 2024

California’s CRD has some important announcements for upcoming reporting. Key updates include:

• New versions of the pay data reporting Excel templates, CSV examples, user guide, training slides, and portal are available at: calcivilrights.ca.gov/paydatareporting.
• Frequently Asked Questions can be found here
• In 2023 the Pay Transparency Act in California (SB 1162) also added the following requirements:
  • Employers with 100 or more workers hired through labor contractors in the prior calendar year (with at least one worker based in California) must file a separate Labor Contractor Employee Report that covers workers hired through labor contractors in the prior calendar year.
  • Employers must additionally calculate and report mean and median hourly rates.
  • The bill also increased penalties for non-compliance, up to $100 per employee for any employer who fails to file the required report, and up to $200 per employee for subsequent failures.

Need a refresher on coverage and requirements? Keep reading below!

Why is Reporting Required?

The purpose is to ensure employers are paying people fairly based on their skills and contributions, and not discriminating based on race, ethnicity or sex. The report consists of a “snapshot” of one pay period of pay data identifying the number of employees by race, ethnicity, and sex who work in different job categories. The employer may choose any one pay period between October 1 and December 31 of the prior year.

How Do We Gather Information?

The CRD states: “employee self-identification is the preferred method of identifying race/ethnicity information. If an employee declines to state their race/ethnicity, employers must still report the employee according to one of the seven race/ethnicity categories, using (in the following order): current employment records, other reliable records or information, or observer perception. CRD recognizes the risk of inaccurate racial identification based on observer perception alone; this method should only be used after making a good faith effort to obtain race/ethnicity information from the employee or from other reliable records.”

Yes, you read that correctly. The CRD says that the last resort to obtain this information is through observer perception (meaning make your best guess) yikes! Here is a sample form for employees to voluntarily self-identify.

Need Assistance?

If you need assistance with the process of compiling and performing the required calculations in preparing to submit your pay data reports, the best bet is to consult with an employment law attorney. View CEA’s attorney partners.

CEA is here to answer our members’ general questions related to information about pay data reports. Call us at 800-399-5331 or email at ceainfo@employers.org.

There are many nuances related to both the CRD and EEOC (EEO-1) reporting. Please visit the CRD FAQs and/or the EEO-1 home page to learn more about pay data reporting requirements.

Posted by Giuliana Gabriel, J.D.. HR Compliance Director on April 1, 2024

Tags: Employers Report

As a reminder, fast food chains must implement the new minimum wage of $20/hour, effective April 1, 2024, and post the Supplemental Required Poster in a conspicuous location in the workplace. Read more about AB 1228 in our previous blog article here.

New Developments

The Department of Industrial Relations provided much-needed clarification to some unanswered questions in the law, in their Frequently Asked Questions updated March 2024. Key highlights include:

• The law applies to all “limited-service restaurants” that are part of a chain of at least 60 establishments nationwide. The FAQs clarify that an establishment is a single restaurant location offering food or beverages to customers. Business locations performing only administrative, warehouse, or food preparation work are not counted as “establishments” toward the 60 establishment minimum.
• AB 1228 applies to employers of “fast food restaurant employees” regardless of whether the employer is the business entity that owns the national brand or a franchisee or licensee of that national brand.
• In describing the term “immediate consumption,” the DIR notes: Typically, customers at a fast food restaurant will eat at a table inside or outside the restaurant, in their car, or as soon as they get back home or to work with their order. Food sold to be baked, cooked, or heated at home is not for immediate consumption.
• The term “primarily engaged in” means the business earns more than 50% of its gross income from selling food or beverage items that are for immediate consumption.
• For example, if a fast food pizza restaurant earns 30% of its revenue from “take and bake” pizza to be baked at home, but earns 70% of its revenue from sales of fully-cooked food and beverages for immediate consumption, the restaurant is primarily engaged in selling food and beverage for immediate consumption and would be covered by the new law (provided no other exemption applies).
• If you have a fast food restaurant that is located inside another store (e.g., a McDonalds inside a convenience store), and you have an employee working for both the fast food restaurant and the convenience store, the DIR provides an example clarifying that the fast food minimum wage applies only to “hours perform[ed] in the fast food restaurant.” (This example assumes that the employer does not meet the grocery store exemption outlined in AB 1228.)
• To qualify as an exempt employee at a covered fast food restaurant, the employee must earn two times the fast food minimum wage. That is, $83,200/year.

Next Steps

If this change applies to you, make sure you have taken the following steps to ensure compliance:

• Upon the effective date, update your payroll system
• Notify your affected employees within seven calendar days of the change (or earlier). Employers may do this by updating the Wage Theft Form and retaining a copy for the employee’s personnel file.
• Ensure your wage statements reflect the correct pay rates, including overtime rates.
• If the change impacts your pay scales, including for job postings, be sure to update those as well.
• Consider any personnel restructuring and/or shift adjustments as needed.

Posted by Astrid Servin, PHRca on April 1, 2024

Tags: Employers Report

When employees are spoken to in a language they comprehend they feel more valued, respected and appreciated at work. This generally results in increased productivity, loyalty and contribution to your company culture.

If you have hired employees who prefer to communicate in Spanish, it is imperative that your human resources services be translated into the language they best understand, not only as a courtesy, but because it can lower your Company’s liability during an employee dispute. In fact, if 10% or more of employees speak a language other than English, California employers are required to have certain policies translated for those employees.

CEA takes pride in offering specialized human resources services in Spanish, designed to meet the specific needs of your company. Our highly trained HR team can communicate directly with your employees and with leadership in Spanish or in English-whichever is their preferred language. We understand that privacy is essential in human resources, so we are committed to ensuring that all interactions are treated confidentially and in compliance with relevant regulations.

Whether in person or through our virtual training platforms, we are prepared to:

• Draft your employee handbook- purchase one in English and receive half off of a Spanish handbook
• Conduct internal investigations
• Create human resources policies or other documents
• Conduct individual or staff meetings
• Train your staff with compliance or essential skills training sessions
• Provide required Harassment Prevention Training

CEA members already have access to certain Spanish documents under our HR Forms section. In addition, we have several other resources to help you with everything from Mandatory New Hire Notices to Reasonable Accommodation Requests.

CEA University also provides members and their employees with an extensive content library in several different languages. Visit our Spanish Services section of our website to see how we can support you every step of the way.