Hiring

Making The Grade: Ensure Your School is Following Best Hiring Practices
Candice Pinares-Baez, Fisher & Phillips LLP
(Education Update, No. 1, January 2013) 

The holiday break is over. Classes are back in full swing. For most schools across the nation, this is the time to evaluate current staffing needs and begin the recruitment and hiring process for the upcoming school year. The ultimate goal when embarking on a mission to hire is always to find the best teacher or individual for the job.

But from a legal and practical standpoint, the process used to hire a new employee can be just as important as the employee who is ultimately hired. In order to minimize the legal exposure which may arise as a result of the hiring process, every school should look closely at the three main areas of the hiring process - job application, interview process, and criminal background checks - to ensure that it is following best practices.

Risks Of "Internship" Claims And Liability Still Increasing  

John E. Thompson, Fisher & Phillips LLP 

We have warned for some time now that businesses and other organizations should think carefully if they are considering the possibility of permitting unpaid internships. What might be described as the internship "season" is fast-approaching, so the time to consider whether and under what circumstances to get involved in these relationships is now.

2012 Employment Law Year In Review
Richard Meneghello  (Labor Letter, December 2012)  

The End of the World As We Know It?

If you're reading this after December 20, that means the Mayans got it wrong and the world isn't going to end in 2012. That's the good news. The bad news is that you still have to go to work tomorrow, and you've been putting off dealing with all of those labor and employment problems in the hopes that the end of the world would have happened by now. (Oops!)  

Or have you been hunkered down deep in an underground bunker for the better part of the last year ignoring your human resources duties, and now you feel out of the loop about what happened over the past 12 months?  

Either way – fear not! Fisher & Phillips once again presents you with our annual review of the last year in the world of labor and employment law. This time we’re handing out awards based on one of the most popular genre of movie – the end-of-the-world variety.

Is It OK to "Round" An Employee's Worktime? 
 John E. Thompson, Fisher & Phillips LLP

For many years, some employers have chosen to "round" non-exempt employees' time entries in computing their wages. News items in recent days have reported on a California appellate court's ruling in See's Candy Shops, Inc. v. Superior Court and Silva that a properly administered "rounding" practice does not violate California wage-hour law.

Here is good information from the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development

Moving From the Classroom to HR  

We are pleased to highlight Gary Culbertson, Dean of Faculty/Human Resources Director at Miami Country Day School in Miami, Florida. In 2000, Gary relocated from Napa, California to be a fifth grade teacher at Country Day. In his first year, the head of school appointed him to a committee to review the school’s current evaluation system. Although new to the school, he had a master’s degree in Educational Leadership and Management.  

Over 18 months, the committee redesigned the evaluation model, moving it from a checklist to a performance-based system that emphasized professional development. Shortly after completing the new evaluation model, Gary was appointed the school’s first Dean of Faculty. In 2007, he returned to college, receiving his HR certification from the University of Miami, and in 2008, he was given the additional responsibility of HR director for the school. We caught up with Gary the other day:

HRMS — Efficient Tool or Expensive Toy?  It depends. Who’s really going to use it?

Increasingly, businesses are considering HR services to help improve their efficiencies in handling employee information? But are these services appropriate for schools?  EJ Herring reviews two services: Employee leasing and human resources management systems (HRMS).

FLSA Questions In Wake Of Hurricane Isaac
By John E. Thompson, Fisher & Phillips LLP August 29, 2012 

Recurring wage-hour issues tend to arise during the recovery from a natural disaster.  We posted the following item last year in connection with Hurricane Irene, and the points are equally relevant this time around: 

Sample Procedure for Responding to Suspected Abuse by an Adult

Employee or Volunteer Response to Abuse

As required by mandated reporting laws, school employees and volunteers must report any suspected abuse or neglect of a child—whether on or off school property or whether perpetrated by employees, volunteers, or others—to state authorities.  Reports may be made confidentially or anonymously.  A person who mistakenly reports suspected abuse is immune from civil or criminal liability as long as the report was made in good faith and without malice.  *Refer to your state’s specific mandated reporting requirements for more information.