United States businesses and their workforce have been waiting for the final say in the overtime ruling since it was halted last November 2016. On August 31, 2017, the Overtime Final Rule was ruled to be invalid on the basis that the Department of Labor’s (DOL) authority level was exceeded in this regard. U.S. District Court Judge Amos Mazzant granted the summary judgment in respect to this matter. Originally, the… Read More »Overtime Rule Struck Down
Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-AL), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections and members introduced the “Save Local Business Act” (H.R. 3441) on July 7, 2017 in an effort to undo the 2015-2016 joint-employer rulings. These rulings changed the landscape of how joint-employer status is determined. The recent rulings shifted the precedent of “direct” control to “indirect” control to determine joint-employer status. The act aims to reshift the definition of employer… Read More »The Save Local Business Act and Joint Employer Status
Being software development geeks as we are, the development team at Snap Schedule decided to push out an update to Snap Schedule 365 in conjunction with the North American Lunar Eclipse. Here in Seattle, we’re expecting a 92% moon shadow, which will be very slick. So, donning our ISO 12312-2 certified solar glasses, we’ll be staring into the sun on Monday, August 21, 2017, and hoping that the Seattle clouds… Read More »Snap Schedule 365 Enhancements Eclipse All Other Solutions
Schedulers need to be able to quickly find information they need to create and maintain employee schedules. Snap Schedule 365 uses a “chooser” window to allow schedulers to drag and drop the shift, employee, task or position onto the schedule with ease. With the latest release of the software, those chooser windows have become even more powerful. The chooser window (on the right-hand side) can now be configured to display… Read More »Configurable Choosers
Snap Schedule 365 has always embraced the concept of both shifts and locations. Every shift must be anchored to a location so an employee knows where to go for his assignment. This approach works well for organizations that have very few workplace locations. For instance, a hospital might have locations defined as: Emergency Department, General Surgery, Labor and Delivery, etc. In such a case, shifts can be created for each… Read More »Contact Information for Shifts and Tasks
While the availability of employees is something that is fairly predictable from week to week, there are often times when an employee’s availability changes on specific days. Historically, in order for the scheduler to ensure an employee was not asked to work during a time when he is not available, the scheduler used specific time off assignments as place-holders. This, however, can be cumbersome, and a little confusing. With the… Read More »Improved Employee Availability
Washington state and Oregon have recently made headlines with changes they have enacted in regard to paid time off. Oregon made amendments to their paid-sick-time law, which more clearly defines some areas that rose questions, while Washington passed a paid family and medical leave program. Washington’s S.B. 5975 puts into place an option of providing paid leave for 12 weeks for employees that have a new child or need to… Read More »New Measures Taken in Washington and Oregon Regarding Paid Time Off
San Francisco, Emeryville, and San Jose are three main cities in California that have been a part of the local government trend in setting legislation surrounding employee scheduling. San Francisco enacted the Retail Workers Bill of Rights, which spawned similar legislation in other municipalities. A recent podcast by Littler Workplace Policy Institute (WPI) explored the increasing shift of municipality statutes regulating hiring and scheduling of workers. The WPI pointed out… Read More »Municipality Employee Scheduling Legislation Trends
Irregular shifts and on-call work schedules usually result in working variable hours throughout the week or even the month. Shift work is typically used to describe hours worked outside the regular 9a.m. to 5p.m. time frame, and includes evenings, nights, overnight, and on-call. Split shifts and rotating shifts also contribute to the irregular employee scheduling pattern across industries. The causes of these irregular shifts and irregular employee schedules vary, but… Read More »Effects of Irregular Shifts and Work Schedules
Dispatch operations, medical facilities, hospitals, transportation, manufacturing plants, utility companies, and other businesses that operate 24/7 or schedule maintenance after hours must schedule employees to work night shifts. There are many factors to consider to ensure that employees are scheduled correctly to provide the needed shift coverage, don’t have conflicting shifts, receive the required rest period between shifts, and are properly compensated. There are federal and state laws to consider… Read More »Scheduling Tips for Night Shifts