Important HR updates from Silvers HR

Bottom Line Human Resources Issues

Summer 2021

Read on for important updates from Cal/OSHA and the Emergency Temporary Standards, Kim Silvers shares her 20^th Anniversary musings, July 1st Minimum Wage changes, and a deadline reminder for CalSavers.

Revised Emergency Temporary Standards for COVID-19 in the Workplace

(This is an update to an article previously sent to our clients)

As you’ve likely heard, the Cal/OSHA Standards Board approved the revised Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS) on June 17, 2021. Whew! Well not a total WHEW. There’s still work to be done, including updating your written COVID-19 Prevention Program and the masking matters. We’re receiving lots of calls asking, “Can we remove the masks immediately?” The short answer is – almost. Keep reading.

The most critical items for employers to consider in the short term:

If you want to allow fully vaccinated employees to drop their masks when working indoors then the new ETS requires employers must document the vaccination status of fully vaccinated employees. (We have tools for this “documentation” on the HR Library for you to consider.)

And just in under our deadline: Cal/OHSA published an update to the COVID-19 Model Written Prevention Program on June 29, 2021. Check out the English version.

One Score… Including a Dog Year

By Kim Silvers, SPHR, PHRca

We’re celebrating our 20th anniversary in the HR consulting business this year. (Although I’m pretty sure the last year has been equivalent to a dog year in the life of an HR nerd.) I started this business in 2001 after many years in the corporate world. There were certainly many lessons I learned working for large organizations that spurred me on while “working for the man.” Today, I’ll share a few double-decade business owner musings for those of you who may wonder if I ever think about anything other than weaving through the maze of COVID-19 rules. Nothing earth shattering here – just five essentials that guide our values-driven business twenty years later.

We figured out our ideal client profile early on. To this day, our clients need to exhibit the following:

Minimum Wage Increases for July 1, 2021

(Local Ordinances)

The following cities/counties have a minimum wage ordinance that exceed the State minimum wage.

Berkeley Malibu

Emeryville Milpitas

Fremont Pasadena

Los Angeles (City) San Francisco

Los Angeles (Co.) Santa Monica

Links to the city ordinances and notices are in our HR Library.

State Run Retirement Plans

*We posted this article in Spring 2019 and again in Summer 2020--we are posting it for a third time to remind those of you with 50 or more employees you need to be registered in the program or offer another retirement plan by June 30, 2021.

As your efforts to retain good employees in the current labor market become more challenging, you might have considered offering a Retirement Saving Plan to your employees and for one reason or another decided against it. Well, the State of California beat you to the punch and will require such plans for employers beginning July 1, 2019.

In 2016, CA enacted the CalSavers Retirement Savings Program with the passing of SB 1234, which you may have read about in our 2017 Employment Law Overview. This bill gave the Board (California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Investment Board) three years to design and implement a program for those employers that do not currently offer a retirement plan and have 5 or more employees. If you do not offer any sort of retirement plan (i.e., 401(k), SIMPLE IRA, etc.), now’s the time to read on….

Silvers HR, LLC

This ezine is intended as a communication and thought provoking tool for our clients and friends.

It is not legal advice.