In the lead up to the Third Annual Cleveland Internship Summit on Feb. 27, Mind Your Business will be running a series of articles previewing some of the sessions that attendees will have the opportunity to sit in on. Today’s preview focuses on the legal aspects of internships. Click here to view the other preview articles for this year’s Internship Summit.

The old stereotype of interns doing little more than making copies or performing other administrative work certainly is not the case at Westfield Group in Westfield Center. Rather, interns who are brought on at the company can be expected to perform the same types of duties as other employees.

Westfield’s Christopher Paterakis, who will be speaking during the “Workforce Preparedness: How Employers Are Getting Interns and New Grads More Career Ready” session during the Third Annual Cleveland Internship Summit, explains that the intern positions at the organization reflect actual positions at the company as well as work on the organization’s projects or needs at the time.

The company views these internships as learning opportunities, providing valuable experience as it relates to working in teams and participating in shared ownership for positive outcomes. The goal is that these interns walk away from their experience with a unique insider insight and perspective that they won’t get elsewhere. And, of course, there is a real benefit to Westfield, too, as the company has the chance to have some exceptional work done for it and also gets a good look at these individuals for possible future employment.

Register today for the Third Annual Cleveland Internship Summit, taking place on Feb. 27, to learn more about internship program best practices, such as what is happening at Westfield Group. And for a deeper dive into how to create and manage your company's internship program, check out the Greater Cleveland Partnership's Internship Central page.

The pandemic has changed the way people work as many lost their jobs or worked from home. The stimulus payments helped, but it also seems to have had an unwanted and unanticipated effect of people not wanting to go back to work or deciding to change their vocation. It has been reported that almost 1 million people voluntarily left their jobs in June for many reasons including lack of good wages, COVID fears, childcare issues, and the increase in federal unemployment benefits. As a result, many small business owners are now finding that they are losing their employees, or struggling to find new employees.

Losing an employee can cost a small business valuable time and money. You now have to hire and train a new employee. You also may deal with mistakes, lost productivity and other costly business issues. Business owners and supervisors should be aware of the signs that an employee is about to quit and can possibly prevent it from happening. 

RELATED: Hiring contract remote workers can benefit a small business

There are some warning signs that can tell you if an employee is planning to quit:
• They are no longer active in meetings and have stopped suggesting new ideas or approaches
• They are reluctant to commit to long-term projects
• They begin acting more reserved or quiet
• They become less interested in advancing within the organization
• They no longer care about pleasing or impressing their boss
• They avoid social interactions with the boss and other members of management
• They are doing only the minimum amount of work
• They stop participating in training and development programs
• They become active on LinkedIn or other social media groups

RELATED: Read more by Tim Dimoff

• They show a sudden interest in attending conferences or workshops
• You notice an increase in their amount of time off or in their personal calls
• They may have been passed over for a promotion and are feeling undervalued
• They have gone through a major life change such as a marriage, divorce, children, new home, new educational degree, etc.
• Their work friends have left or they are having problems with other employees
• They have started complaining about issues at the company
• You just have a “gut” feeling that something isn’t right

If you notice any of these things, take the employee aside and talk with them. Listen to their issues with an open mind and try to resolve as many of the issues as you can. It can be more expensive to replace a good employee than it is to spend the time and resources to keep them, including paying them more money.

President, SACS Consulting & Investigative Services, Speaker, Trainer, Corporate Security ExpertTimothy A. Dimoff, CPP, president of SACS Consulting & Investigative Services, Inc., is a speaker, trainer and author and a leading authority in high-risk workplace and human resource security and crime issues. He is a Certified Protection Professional; a certified legal expert in corporate security procedures and training; a member of the Ohio and International Narcotic Associations; the Ohio and National Societies for Human Resource Managers; and the American Society for Industrial Security. He holds a B.S. in Sociology, with an emphasis in criminology, from Dennison University. Contact him at info@sacsconsulting.com.

When you decide to work with a recruiter, or even if you have been doing so for years, there are a number of things to consider in order to ensure the relationship and the results are the best they can be. Please read on for our tips and tricks.

Let’s get started!

Types of Recruiting Services

First, let’s review the different types of recruiting services:
• Headhunter - Very specialized, high-level roles
• Contingency - Most common; 20-35% of salary; can be very transactional, so you must be very involved to get effective results, or manage expectations and do a lot of due-diligence when choosing to hire someone.
• Screening services - Technology based apps; using AI and keyword searches; looking mainly for hard skills, experience, and education only.
• Staffing - Temp agencies and staffing firms
• Flat fee - Pay a single flat fee for full-cycle recruiting; not typically based on salary or how long it takes to find your person to hire
• Fractional - Newer on the market...great for when you have enough activity to warrant a deeper, trusted relationship with a firm who will act like your in-house recruiting department, but you don’t have enough volume to warrant hiring an in-house FT recruiter
• Hourly - Rare, freelance, unpredictable cost.

Tips for a Successful Recruiter Relationship

Now, let us share with you some tips for success when it comes to working with a recruiter:
• Have the right mindset. Working with a recruiter is a relationship/partnership, NOT a transaction.
• Be active in this relationship.
• Set expectations. Ask the recruiter, “What should my expectations be while we work together?” Be sure you communicate what you want and need as well. Mutually agreed upon expectations are key and is often the reason this relationship ends with poor results.
• Be realistic and set the recruiter up for success, including having a competitive salary, competitive benefits when possible, and developing a great place to work. Even the most skilled recruiter can’t convince an A-Player to take a salary cut, or downgrade for your position. Make it as easy as possible for your recruiter to market and sell your position to your IDEAL FIT™ job seekers.

RELATED: What is a RIGHT FIT employee?

• Do not ask for the impossible. Unicorns really do not exist. That does not mean your recruiter can’t find a great person for your unique role, however, if they tell you the person you seek is not possible to find, listen to them and make the necessary adjustments.
• Have a realistic budget (make recruiting a line item on your annual budget if it is not already). You MUST have a budget to spend on job boards, Facebook ads, and the like. It takes money, just like digital marketing and without a solid budget, you will not get the visibility you need.
• Give your recruiter everything they need, even if they don’t ask! (Especially if they don’t ask- that should be a red flag). Examples are job descriptions, employee handbook, benefit details, organization chart, scorecards, applicable KPI’s, your company’s core values, mission, and vision, a good description of core leadership and more.
• Develop a very clear profile of your IDEAL FIT™ employee. Go way beyond hard skills and experience, write it down and share it with your recruiter. (Tip: Think about things like strengths, weaknesses, core values, leadership style, attitude, aptitudes, etc.)
• Talk to them about your company culture. Use adjectives to describe what it is like to work at your company and with your team.
• BE HONEST and TRANSPARENT! Tell them the good, the bad, and the ugly.
• Be just as clear about who does NOT work well or fit into your organization. Don’t take this for granted, be clear. (Tip, think about those you have had to let go, what about those employees that did not work out.)
• Communicate with your recruiter frequently and openly. Ask for weekly reports and regular check in meetings.
• Develop a trusting partnership. This requires open communication.
• Trust your recruiter’s expertise. This is their career after all.

Important Questions for a Recruiter

When interviewing recruiters, these are some helpful questions to ask them to ensure you get the information you need as you evaluate who to go with:
• What is your process? Get a clear understanding start to finish so you know what to expect every step of the way.
• What is your goal? This can tell you a lot about the way they work and whether or not they will work for you.
• What should my expectations be while we work together? (REALLY listen here)
• How are you going to learn who is the best fit for this role and my company? (Tip: If it is not a deep dive process, you might want to go another route)
• How long will it take to find my next hire? (Tip: If they say a relatively short time frame, they may not be as committed to finding you a quality person, as they might be to getting your role filled with the first person they find that has the skills and experiencing a little deeper to find out more).
• How often will you communicate with me, and how?
• How will you go about determining who is an ideal fit for my company?
• Do you have any guarantees?
• What happens if we can’t find a good candidate?

RELATED: Read more by Erin Longmoon

• Is the position description competitive for my area? This includes pay and benefits.
• What reports do you provide? 

Things to go Over With a Recruiter

Once you’ve hired a recruiter, here are some important things to cover: 
• Set up the expectations you spoke about initially. Be very clear about these, ideally in writing.
• Communication. Frequency and best method (email, text, Slack, phone)
• What do they need from you (look at our suggestions above)?
• Who will you be working with and who do you go to if you have problems?

A few final words

The recruiting industry is a rocky one. Unlike many services that rely strictly on the provider’s skills and expertise, there are many factors that can’t be controlled by a recruiter, like the job market, the size of your candidate pool, the competition, and basic human behavior. However, with the right expertise, the time to dedicate and focus on filling your position and having a partner who knows you and your company well, can be a very powerful and successful relationship.

Working with the right recruiter can be the best thing you can do for your business. But the relationship must be the right one for you and your company.

We hope these tips help you and that even if you have had a poor experience in the past, that perhaps this tool has given you the confidence to try working with a recruiter. Like so many relationships in business, the best are those with mutual respect, trust and are in partnership. 

Erin Longmoon is the CEO of Zephyr Recruiting, which she founded in response to her clients’ needs for help in with building effective and successful teams. Zephyr Recruiting serves the small business community—the mom and pop places that are the backbones of our communities and our economy.

In March of 2020 when COVID-19 became a global pandemic, the world was challenged with turning what we once knew as “normal” into a whole new way of doing business.

After months of navigating mask wearing, social distancing, zoom meetings and curbside pickups, businesses began to shift to a “new normal." Home kitchens, living rooms and dining tables became grounds for home offices, online learning classes and virtual boardroom meetings. Companies learned how to operate on less. Less spending from the budgets, less staff, less income. While traditional ways of doing business have evolved in the last several months, we cannot forget the stress this has created for middle market leaders and their employees. With so much focus on “how do we pivot?” the mental hardships of leaders and their teams were often overlooked.

Anxiety, stress, uncertainty, sustainability, and virtual fatigue – these all contribute to the overall well-being of a person and their ability to perform at their job.

GCP hosted a group of expert panelists leading in business, team building, and health to discuss the overall importance of well-being of company leaders and employees. 

Watch the webinar below:

If your business has ever been sued for alleged violations of wage and hour laws, or if you’ve otherwise ever been a party to litigation involving discovery of any kind of employee records, then you know just how important it can be for most businesses to accurately create and maintain employee files.

In some circumstances, the kinds of records that should regularly be maintained in employee files can help employers establish or refute claims and/or defenses in the unfortunate event that they find themselves in a dispute with a state attorney general’s office, a federal regulator, or their current or former employees (or any combination of these parties). Such disputes can represent nightmare scenarios for the unprepared. If your business’s records retention practices and policies keep you awake at night, then read on.

Many readers are probably already aware that federal and state laws require employers to keep a variety of records on both current and former employees and furthermore, that these different recordkeeping requirements can apply for varying lengths of time. See U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Comm’n, Record Keeping Requirements, https://www.eeoc.gov/employers/recordkeeping.cfm (last visited Jan. 1, 2019) (explaining some examples of federal recordkeeping requirements); see also, e.g., R.C. 4111.08, available at http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/4111.08v1 (Effective Date: July 1, 2000; April 4, 2007) (providing an example of an Ohio recordkeeping requirement).

Of course, depending on which statutes apply to the various records that an employer is required to keep, different recordkeeping requirements, including records retention periods, might apply. As a result, decisions on which records to keep, and how long to keep them, can frequently become sources of confusion. Employee recordkeeping requirements, and the potential consequences for failing to heed them, mean that effective and up-to-date records retention policies are a must for any business.

Wage and hour litigation is one of the most common circumstance wherein employee records are directly relevant to the parties’ claims and defenses. Thus, wage and hour recordkeeping requirements will be our main source of examples for this article, but we will try to include other examples as well. Keep in mind, however, that records contained in employee files can frequently be relevant in other situations such as, for example, where discrimination and/or wrongful termination are alleged, or where claims arise from a former employee’s alleged breach of a confidentiality, non-compete, or non-solicitation agreement.

The critical items to keep in mind when formulating a records retention policy are: which laws and regulations apply, the policy reasons given to justify the enactment of these laws and their underlying regulations, the identifiability of records to employees, and the formats in which records are generated and maintained.

Which laws apply?

Two federal statutes generally require employers to retain current and former employee records, including payroll records and biographical data. One statute is the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, 29 U.S.C. § 203, et seq. (“FLSA”). The FLSA provides, among other things, protections for workers’ rights to receive a minimum wage, as well as overtime pay for hours worked in excess of 40 hours in one workweek. The FLSA is administered by the United States Department of Labor (“DOL”).

The other federal statute is the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, 29 U.S.C. § 621, et seq. (“ADEA”). One of the main, overarching purposes of the ADEA is to protect workers over the age of 40 from discrimination in hiring, firing, and compensation decisions. The ADEA is administered by the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”).

• RELATED: Exempt vs. non-exempt: How to avoid the sinkhole of FLSA lawsuits.

Both the FLSA and the ADEA generally require records of terminated employees to be maintained for at least three years following the date of termination. However, both statutes (in addition to other federal and/or state laws that may apply) might also permit or require different records retention periods for other portions of a former employee’s file. For example, the ADEA requires private employers to retain “all personnel and employment records” about former employees for one year after the employee’s departure. See U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Comm’n, Summary of Selected Recordkeeping Obligations in 29 CFR Part 1602, https://www.eeoc.gov/employers/recordkeeping_obligations.cfm (last visited Jan. 1, 2019). Examples of “personnel and employment records” include (but are not limited to): “[R]equests for reasonable accommodation, application forms submitted by applicants, and records dealing with hiring, promotion, demotion, transfer, lay-off or termination, rates of pay, compensation, tenure, selection for training or apprenticeship, or other terms of employment.” Id.

Policy Justifications

The policy justification most frequently given for requiring employers to maintain accurate employee records is for the protection of employees’ rights, including rights to fair compensation. Records may also be used for a variety of other reasons, including to ensure that employers follow child labor laws and regulations, for example. Furthermore, employers should also be prepared to respond to records requests from employees.

Notably, in some jurisdictions an employer’s failure to keep accurate records may in some circumstances give rise to an independent cause of action—including class and/or collective actions. For example, the Ohio Constitution requires employers to “maintain a record of the name, address, occupation, pay rate, hours worked for each day worked and each amount paid an employee for a period of not less than three years following the last date the employee was employed.” Ohio Const. art. II, § 34a, available at https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/laws/ohio-constitution/section?const=2.34a (adopted Nov. 7, 2006). Ohio employers are required to provide these records to employees or their representatives upon request. See id.

Furthermore, employers can be sued by the attorney general, by an employee, or by a group of former employees “for any violation of this section [34a of the Ohio Constitution] or any law or regulation implementing its provisions within three years of the violation or of when the violation ceased if it was of a continuing nature, or within one year after notification to the employee of final disposition by the state of a complaint for the same violation, whichever is later.” Id.; see also, e.g., Clark v. Shop24 Global, LLC, No. 2:12-cv-00802, 2014 WL 60071, at *3, n.2 (S.D. Ohio, Jan. 7, 2014); Craig v. Bridges Bros. Trucking LLC, No. 2:12-cv-954, 2013 WL 4010316, at *4 (S.D. Ohio, Aug. 6, 2013). In other words, Ohio employers may be sued for a failure to respond to an employee’s records request, and/or for the failure to maintain accurate records.

Identifiability of Records

To be of any use, records obviously must be reasonably identifiable to the employees to whom they relate. In practice, this requires employers to track certain biographical data and ensure that it is all easily attributable to the relevant employees. The DOL presently requires all employers covered by the FLSA to keep certain records for all covered, nonexempt workers including, for example:

•             Employee's full name and social security number;

•             address, including zip code;

•             birth date, if younger than 19;

•             sex and occupation;

•             time and day of the week when the employee’s workweek begins, including the hours worked each day and the total hours worked each workweek;

•             bases on which the employee’s wages are paid;

•             regular hourly pay rate;

•             total daily or weekly straight-time earnings;

•             total overtime earnings for the workweek;

•             all additions to or deductions from the employee’s wages;

•             total wages paid each pay period; and

•             date of payment and the pay period covered by the payment.

DOL, Recordkeeping & Reporting, https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/wages/wagesrecordkeeping (last visited Jan. 1, 2019); see also DOL, Fact Sheet #21: Recordkeeping Requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs21.pdf (rev. Jul. 2008).

• RELATED: Read more from Max Julian.

Format

While the DOL does not require records to be kept in any particular format, see id., employers should generally ensure that they have ready access to employee records, and they should also be mindful that current and former employees may have certain rights to request and/or view information contained in their employee files. Employers should also carefully consider keeping a redundant set of employee files backed-up in a central, secure location in order to mitigate any risk of tampering or theft of information maintained in employee files.

Should I contact an attorney?

If you have questions or concerns about state and/or federal recordkeeping requirements that may apply to your business, you should contact an attorney. If properly implemented, records retention policies may help reduce risks associated with wage and hour claims or other disputes. You should contact an attorney for additional information regarding this area of the law.

This article is for informational purposes only, and it is merely intended to provide a very general overview of a limited set of examples of some recordkeeping requirements that may apply to some employers. Nothing in this article is intended to create an attorney-client relationship or provide legal advice. You should not rely on anything in this article without first consulting with an attorney. If you have questions about your particular legal situation, you should contact an attorney.

Max Julian can be reached at mj@gertsburglaw.com or by phone at (440) 571-7541. Max and the attorneys of The Gertsburg Law Firm can help you avoid the pain of lawsuits with CoverMySix, a one-stop legal audit for your business led by award-winning litigators and in-house counsel. Visit covermysix.com to learn more about how to protect your business, and check out the new pricing for CoverMySix for Small Companies and Startups.

As we approach the start of the 2019 policy year on July 1, it’s important to understand how the BWC calculates your premiums. The three driving factors in calculating premiums are your payroll, which the BWC uses to gauge your size; your industry/manual classification codes, which the BWC uses to gauge your exposure to risk; and your claims cost record/losses, which gives the BWC a snapshot of your specific experience.

Industry groups identified by the BWC include Manufacturing, Construction, Transportation, Commercial, Service, High Risk Commercial/Service, Office/Clerical, Agriculture, Extraction and Utility. COSE does not have group programs for Agriculture, Extraction and Utility at this time. Manual classification codes, established by the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI), are used to identify various jobs within each industry group. The BWC uses information from your application for coverage to assign manual codes, so it’s important that you review your manual codes and advise the BWC of any changes in operations or job functions.  The base rates assigned to each manual classification code are calculated by the actuarial department using industry and claims costs associated with each manual classification (exposure to risk).

The Experience Modifier (EM) is calculated using your four-year experience payroll and experience claims  and then applied to the base rate to modify the rate based on a comparison of risks within an industry.  Participation in discount programs such as Group Experience Rating or One Claim Program could also impact the EM. BWC administrative fees and DWRF are then added to the Modified Rate, resulting in a Blended Rate. 

Prior to the start of the policy year, the BWC will calculate your estimated annual premium using the last True Up payroll reported. This is usually done in late Spring for the policy year beginning on July 1^st. This will be broken down by manual code.  It’s important to review the estimated premium to avoid significant over or under payments in premium. 

At the end of each policy year, employers are required to report the actual payroll for the prior policy year in the True Up process.  The system will recalculate premium for the prior policy year based on the actual payroll and determine whether additional premium or credit is due.  This must be completed by Aug. 15. 

Additional resources

Download an overview of BWC premium rates.

Download a one-pager explanation from the Ohio BWC on how it calculates insurance rates.