Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis LLP
In This Issue:
- Dispute Resolution Symposium Focuses on Improving Business Performance By Managing Disputes »
- Implementing Work Life Policies While Avoiding Legal Pitfalls »
- The Legislature Expands Employer Liability Under CEPA »
- Supreme Court Expands Warranty Protection to Lessees »
- Raymond M. Brown Joins GRS&D as Chair, White Collar Defense & Corporate Compliance Practice Group »
- David A. Roth Joins GRS&D as Chair, Environmental Practice Group »
- Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Holds that Computer Fraud and Abuse Act Provides for Civil Remedies »
- BUSINESS FOR BREAKFAST SEMINAR - A Continuing Seminar Series »
- Digging Deeper: What You Need to Know About the Recently Expanded Grantee Fee (Mansion Tax) and the New Transferee Tax »
- The Employee’s Common Law Duty of Loyalty — Combatting the Faithless Employee »
- 30 GRS&D Attorneys Honored by Legal Directories »
- Highlights »
Implementing Work Life Policies While Avoiding Legal Pitfalls
By Galit Kierkut, Esq.
It is an undeniable truth that with an aging workforce, two working parent families, and technological advances, employers are facing greater demands for flexible work arrangements than ever before. It is also an undeniable truth that with an extensive framework of laws governing the workplace and a sophisticated, often litigious workforce, implementing such arrangements is not without risk. That is not to say that employers should walk away from the opportunities presented by such arrangements – they are too valuable. However, employers need to be savvy and understand how to protect themselves.
The percentage of employees demanding or desirous of flexible work arrangements is increasing on a yearly basis. When employees are interviewed, their employer’s sensitivity to work life issues consistently rates as a key component of job satisfaction and employee loyalty. Employers are beginning to recognize these realities. Many employees of both sexes have child care and/or elder care responsibilities. Many women will return to the workforce after childbirth only when provided with flexible work arrangements. There are increasing numbers of older people in the workforce - by 2015, people over the age of 55 will constitute 20% of the workforce. But, when interviewed, these older workers say that they want to, and sometimes for health reasons need to, work on a reduced hours or flexible basis. Instead of turning their backs on these potentially valuable employees, employers may want to try to accommodate their desire and need for balance between work and life.
Instituting work life policies ranging from reduced hours schedules, telecommuting, and job sharing, to flexible full time schedules (changing start and end times, compressed work weeks, ability to handle personal issues without being penalized), has also been shown to have a positive economic impact on companies. Studies have shown that employers who have such policies attract employees more easily, have better employee retention, less absenteeism, higher productivity, improved morale, and improved employee health. Separate and apart from job satisfaction and employee loyalty, implementing flexible work arrangements may just be smart business.
Due to these demonstrable benefits, both large and small employers are incorporating flexibility into their workplaces. Larger employers are more likely to have formal policies while smaller employers are more likely to approach flexibility on an ad hoc basis. This very flexibility by small employers, vital to the success of their more personal employment relationships, is where the legal risk comes into play. For example:
• A telecommuting employee does not properly handle confidential information on his home computer;
• An employee who is denied permission to work part-time, who is otherwise in a protected class (by race, disability etc.), complains of discrimination;
• An employee who occasionally works from home, and is a non-exempt employee, claims that she worked a significant amount of overtime while at home;
• An employee with a disability requests from an employer who does not regularly permit its employees to work at home or part-time, such permission as a reasonable accommodation; or
• A telecommuting employee is injured while claiming to have been working at home and files a workers compensation claim.
What are employers to do to protect themselves but still provide these benefits to their valued employees? The answers are clear and relatively simple, but require an investment of time and effort. Employers should:
• Require that the employee justify, in writing, why his or her job is compatible with the requested arrangement and ensure that each application is reviewed by both that employee’s manager and another individual responsible for review of all such requests;
• Create a list of compatible job elements for each type of flexible arrangement that it plans to offer to ensure uniformity;
• Implement trial periods;
• Institute a written telecommuting policy/written agreement that defines employer expectations, requires overtime approval in advance, implements confidentiality agreements and permits home safety inspections; and
• Involve its attorneys in decisions that are potentially controversial before a conflict arises.
The payoff to instituting work-life policies is clear: decreased costs due to a decline in absenteeism, training, hiring expenses, and health care costs, as well as the less quantifiable benefit of retaining valued employees and increased productivity. For most employers, the relatively small investment required to institute such policies is a sound business practice.