Form I-9 Section 1 Overview - Part 1

Do you understand the basic sections of the Form I-9 and what you need to look for and complete?

Here's a general overview of what you need to know regarding each section of the Form I-9:

SECTION 1 - Completed by the EMPLOYEE

Employee Information

• Address must be a street name and number (current or most current residence).
• No PO box or work address.
• Must be legal name.

Social Security Number

• Social Security number NOT REQUIRED, Voluntary only (except for employers who participate in the E-Verify Program).

Citizenship Status

• Employee must have identified his or her citizenship status by checking appropriate box.

Signature & Date

• Employee must sign and date stating that the information they've provided is true and accurate.

Preparer/Translator

• NOT completed by employee
• Completed only if employee was physically unable to complete the form or needed a translator because they didn't understand English.

TrendHR can help! Contact us today at 1-866-582-1578!

HR Hot Topics Alert!

Immigration compliance is HUGE!

What you, the employer and HR professional, should be aware of:

I9 audits are still increasing which means its not a matter of IF but WHEN. These audits don’t require a disgruntled eployee to file a claim, these are random and/or requested audits. No one is immune.

In 2010 there wre 2,200 audits but since the heat has been turned up for 2011, there has already been 1,000 audits in February alone!

There have been 180 grand jury and criminal indictments and $50MM in civil fines due to non-compliance.

Example of 2011 Audit – Teen retailer Abercrombie & Fitch fined $1MM fine due to electronic system failure!

HR personnel must be aware that they are now being held personally liable / responsible for paperwork compliance. So if you are the one signing off on the forms and the forms were completed incorrectly…. you may be held liable for paper and hiring violations.

• Paper violations – $110-1100/violation (missing, incomplete, inaccurate)
• Hiring violations – $375-3200/EE
• No match SSN letter – not required to retain

Healthcare:

Nothing much has changed here and very little new information has been given to the public. There is still some uncertainty with all the provisions and there’s expectations leaning toward 2012 elections repealing or significantly limiting the actions as part of the legislation.

Whistleblower, investigation and retaliation issues:

Employers must not retaliate against any employee who may be a “whistleblower” by alerting state and/or government entities about employer practices. Understnad that “retaliation” leads all EEOC charges with 36.3%! Treat your staff consistently, fair and never retaliate against them as it will only lead to trouble.

The Department of Labor had a $10B increase in their budget which primarily will be spent to help claim filing easier and processing quicker.

Understand that you, the employer and HR professional, have the burden of proving that claims are not true and that your practices are compliant, fair and consistent.

Contact TrendHR today if you need help understanding how to be compliant! You can reach our friendly staff at 866-582-1578.

Safety in the Warehouse

Materials Storage

• Make sure shelves and racks are sturdy, in good condition, and can bear the weight.
• Place heavier items close to the floor and lighter/smaller ones higher.
• Don't block sprinklers or store items where they could contact overhead lights.
• Read the label and material safety data sheet (MSDS) before storing hazardous materials.

Good Housekeeping

• Keep all areas clean and neat, with everything in its proper place.
• Keep floors and aisles clear and well lighted at all times.
• Clean up spills immediately.
• Dispose of trash promptly in proper containers.

Powered Vehicles

• Operate powered vehicles only if you are trained and authorized.
• Forklift operators must follow safe operating procedures for loading, traveling, and unloading.
• Forklift operators should look out for pedestrians, being extra careful at blind corners, aisle intersections, etc.
• Pedestrians must watch out for forklifts and remember that the operator's range of vision may be limited when the forklift is loaded.
• Pedestrians should avoid forklift traffic lanes and cross only where it is safe.

Safe Work Habits

• Follow safe work rules and make safety a constant priority.
• Use ladders, not boxes, shelves, or chairs to reach high places.
• Always wear any assigned PPE.
• Use the safe lifting technique (bend your knees and lift with your legs) to save your back.
• Ask for help from a co-worker or use a mechanical aid to move a load that is too heavy for you to lift and carry by yourself.

Safety Daily Advisor

Top 10 Reasons Clients use TrendHR

1. Payroll Processing
2. Deposit & File federal, state and local tax liabilities
3. WC Insurance 
4. WC - Injury Management
5. Risk Management / Safety Inspections
6. Employee Counseling & Disciplinary Actions 
7. Employment Termination Practices
8. Benefits Enrollment
9. Benefits Consulting / Plan Management
10. Unemployment Claims

TrendHR also offers employment paperwork audits to ensure compliance to reduce your liability for having to pay penalties and fees before ICE, DOL or EEOC shows up at your worksite. Call us today before you get the notice, otherwise it’s too late.

We understand the importance and true impact of these types of audits on our clients and care about your risk of being next on the audit list. The penalties and fees posed on employers can put you out of business depending on the types of errors and number of errors. If it doesn’t put you out of business, it will definitely leave a mark that you’ll never forget.

Contact TrendHR today at 214-553-5505 for more information about our services and how we can help!

Motor Vehicle Safety

Motor vehicle-related incidents are consistently the leading cause of work-related fatalities in the United States. Thirty-five percent of occupational fatalities reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics are associated with motor vehicles. Between 2003-2009, on average:

• 1308 workers died each year from crashes on public highways. 
• 316 workers died each year in crashes that occurred off the highway or on industrial premises. 
• 347 pedestrian workers died each year as a result of being struck by a motor vehicle. 

Motor vehicle crashes have economic costs in addition to human costs. In 1998-2000, motor vehicle crash injuries occurring on and off the job were estimated to cost employers nearly US $60 billion annually. On average, a fatality occurring on the job cost a business over $500,000 USD in direct and liability costs, and each nonfatal injury cost nearly $74,000 USD.*

Risk of work-related motor vehicle crashes cuts across all industries and occupations. Workers who drive on the job may be “professional” drivers whose primary job is to transport freight or passengers. Many other workers spend a substantial part of the work day driving a vehicle owned or leased by their employer, or a personal vehicle. In the United States, companies and drivers that operate large trucks and buses are covered by comprehensive safety regulations. In contrast, there are no Federal occupational safety regulations that cover the workers who use smaller employer-provided vehicles or personal vehicles.

For all workers who drive on the job, employer safety policies are a critical element in reducing crash risks. Employer policies may be limited to supporting and reinforcing state traffic laws. However, many employers choose to manage road risk more proactively through programs and policies to promote safe driving behaviors, ensure that work-related driving takes place under the safest possible conditions, and ensure that worker vehicles are safe and properly maintained.

www.cdc.gov *Source: U.S. Department of Labor & NHTSA

How to Deal with Poor Behavior / Attitudes!

Managing personnel can be such a tricky job but failure to do so can lead to poor performance, poor employee/team morale and teaching others to act similarly if not controlled properly.

Managers are expected to "manage their people/staff" but time and time again fail to do so. Too many managers allow behavior to occur and continue. Only when the behavior is completely out of control do managers what to take action and its typically termination. Unfortunately, the manager failed to counsel the employee a couple times and has no documentation on the employees behavior which leads to even more problems.

Managers need to know what is considered poor behavior and how to correct them.

What is considered poor behavior / unacceptable behavior?

Insubordination

• Failure to follow company policy
• Failure or Refusal to follow instructions or orders from their manager/supervisor

Argumentative Reluctance

• Consistent questioning of manager/supervisor decisions and/or orders
• Consistent griping, moaning and sighs when given tasks / orders

Chronic Complainers

• Every action is criticized, not good enough and their never happy with anything

Hidden Poor Behavior (behavior out of site)

• Inform the employee that several reliable sources have observed XYZ.
• Employee may object or argue with the claims but enforce that its not open for discussion.
• Monitor the employee more closely and setup accountability processes to ensure proper behavior and a system of tracking actions.

How to correct behavior/attitude problems:

• Clearly define the behavior and how it specifically is creating a problem or is unacceptable.
• Explain how the behavior negatively impacts their work, relationships and/or the environment.
• Only comment on facts not assumptions. Give detailed examples of how and when they displayed poor behavior.
• Create an action plan for correction and a standard of appropriate behavior expected moving forward.
• Follow up with the employee to ensure correction / improvement.

If you're having issues with employee behavior that you feel is out of control that you've exhausted your efforts contact TrendHR today! We can help! Call us at 866-582-1578.

How can you control costs and mitigate while growing your business?

Consider working with a Human Resources Outsourcing (HRO) company! 
Whether your company is small, medium or large, one way to ease the burden of day-to-day HR management, control costs and mitigate risk is to allow a full service HRO provider to take care of it for you.

You may currently work with several vendors to process payroll, handle benefits administration, access an HRIS, recruit and more. You may also be managing an in-house HR employee, increasing or decreasing staff, making compensation changes, providing training, attending to workers’ comp and government compliance issues, keeping up on regulatory changes in law and staying up-to-date with the changes in healthcare reform. This is a lot to manage. Costs can spiral out of control when you have to rely on so many vendors to get the job done.

All HROs are NOT equal. What to look for when sourcing HROs. 
Find an HRO that is local to your business and offers comprehensive HR models including: Administrative Services Outsourcing (ASO), and Professional Employer Organization (PEO) which allows you to report employees under your HRO’s tax ID number helping you further mitigate risk.

An HRO that can provide you a dedicated client service team to answer questions and resolve issues is a plus, instead of directing you to a call center. To maximize employee retention, find one that affords your employees additional benefits like short-term and long-term disability, life insurance, access to a 401(k) plan, 529 college savings plan and Flexible Spending Accounts.

Implement HRO services now. 
You don’t have to wait until next year end to make a change. You can begin transitioning your HR responsibilities to an HRO now, especially if you choose one that has a client service team to assist you.

By: Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal

Shoulder the Responsibility for Preventing Shoulder Injuries

Shoulders are all too easily injured. And once they are, recovery might be slow, putting a worker out of action and creating production hassles. Here are some tips for preventing these injuries.

The shoulder is a ball-and-socket joint and is, in fact, the most mobile joint in the body, allowing 230 degrees of motion vertically and enabling us to reach out to either side or across the body in front.

If any of your workers have to reach, lift and carry, bend, or twist their bodies or perform other activities that place them in a nonneutral posture, they may be at risk for shoulder injuries.

Once you identify shoulder injury risk factors in your workplace, take these steps to prevent problems: 

• Minimize lifting. Provide mechanical assists, such as carts, slings, dollies, and jacks, to raise objects and hold them in place. Put materials as close to the area where they will be used as practical. For example, rather than piling roofing materials in a single spot, place them in different areas across the roof. 
• Lighten the load. When lifting cannot be eliminated, or when objects (such as tools) must be held at arm's length, ensure that the items being lifted are as light as possible. For example, a corded electric drill might be lighter than a battery drill. In some cases, lighter-weight building materials may be practical in construction. For heavy objects, a team lift can reduce the strain on individual workers. 
• Control motion. One of the most dangerous situations is a "save"—when a load shifts, or in a healthcare setting when a patient slips, and a worker attempts to prevent a fall. Minimizing the possibility of shifting or falling loads can help prevent these situations. For example, securing a load or using a jack or brace that holds a work piece in place may prevent not just shoulder injuries but crushing accidents as well. In a healthcare setting, using a patient-lifting device that secures the patient with a belt or sling before moving can save the patient from a fall and ensure that the healthcare worker doesn't have to risk a shoulder injury. 
• Improve the grip. Lifting requires more force, and is more difficult (and more likely to cause injury) when there's no easy way to grip an object—for example, drywall panels. Removable suction handles can be applied to flat surfaces in some cases. In a healthcare facility, gait belts and other devices can give healthcare workers an easy spot for holding unstable patients. 
• Encourage rest and stretching. Workers can minimize damage from lifting, overhead and arm's length work, and other jobs that put stress on the shoulder joints by taking frequent very short breaks (15-20 seconds) and gently stretching to relieve tension in shoulder muscles and ligaments. 

-- Safety Daily Advisor - blr-news.com

It's Never Been Easier to Start a Business: Outsource your HR

A decade ago starting a business was a daunting proposition. Payrolls, accounting, payment systems, supply-chain logistics – setting up all those back-office functions was expensive and time-consuming. Having a conference call required a lot of fancy equipment, and if there was any customer feedback, it came in the form of comment cards. What a difference 10 years makes.

Technology has dramatically lightened the load of entrepreneurs, and countless startups have sprung up with low-cost business models that capitalize on the potential of cloud computing, payment systems, mobile web applications, and social-media marketing.

Here are seven reasons why getting a business off the ground is easier than ever:

1. You Can Outsource HR
Having even a handful of employees can create a heavy administrative load for a fledgling business. Outsourcing a company’s HR needs – everything from payroll, benefits administration and tax compliance – can not just save time and money, but keep a new business from running afoul of the law. Outsourcing those functions can allow a business to save between 5 percent and 15 percent of payroll costs, depending on the company. There are professional employer organizations, or PEOs, like TrendHR, that offer a one-stop shop when it comes to handling HR tasks. A good place to get information on companies that do this is the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations.

2. The Cloud Lightens Your LoadCloud computing is a web service that remotely hosts all the data you can imagine, plus it can offer a myriad of related resources like IT support, or business software that also lives on the cloud. That allows entrepreneurs to get to their information from any device with an Internet connection. It saves money by helping avoid the costs of storing, maintaining, and updating a personal server. In fact, companies can expect to see a 25 to 50 percent savings in IT costs alone, according to one Microsoft study. And many cloud computing providers like Amazon or Dropbox provide data on how your cloud resources are being utilized, helping you better understand and plan for your company's needs.

3. Prototypes Are Now DIYIf your business makes a consumer product, you’ll need to design and manufacture a prototype, a scary prospect for many startups. Companies like Ponoko can make your concept into a digital model in a matter of minutes, which they can then produce using a global network of manufacturing facilities. Whether you're making a mobile app or a designer ring, you can select what materials to use, how many copies you want, and can even come back and make changes. Ponoko's co-founder, Derek Elley, says they have made more than 100,000 customer-designed products so far. The design files can be housed on Ponoko's server, allowing just-in-time manufacturing on even the smallest scale. If you'd prefer to have your own 3-D printer that whips up plastic models based on digital drawings, MakerBot Industries sells them for the starting price of $1,300.

4. Apple's iPad is Your New Virtual AssistantRent office space if you want, but these days your office is really wherever you are. The iPad takes that to the next level with a digital AV adapter that you can connect to a projector or TV for presentations. The iPad's video capabilities allow you to set up professional video conferences. And all those business cards you get during these meetings? The same video camera can double as a scanner and dump card information into your iPad's address book, which you can sync to other devices.

5. Apps Can Do Anything You Can't DoThere's almost nothing apps can't help you do, but some are better than others. Wufoo, for example, helps you create documents like order forms, online surveys, and employment applications, all without knowing a lick of html. Another great app, GoToMeeting, allows you to do everything from simple video conferencing to live interactive training. And if you need to take payments, apps like Square turn your iPhone into a credit card machine. Google Wallet takes this a step further: The app not only allows people to turn their phone into a credit card, but business owners can use that connection to offer up loyalty programs and coupons to customers via their cell phones. The bad news? For now, it's only compatible with Nexus S4G on the Sprint network.

6. You Can Geo-Target Your CustomersThe most recent Merchant Confidence Index found that Facebook ads are among the best way of getting to the locals because they offer location-based marketing. Google’s Small Business Network also offers Google Adwords, which means when someone Googles using one of your keywords, your ad can appear next to the search results. These services allow you to more easily scale your ad buys as your business grows, track exactly where customers are coming from, and in most cases spend far less money than you would on a traditional media ad.

7. Google Alert Your Way to a Better Customer ExperienceCustomers may not always tell you directly that they didn't like your product or service, but they rarely hesitate to write a nasty review online. You can set up Google Alerts to e-mail you every time someone mentions keywords, like your company's name. Nothing says you take your business seriously like addressing a customer's complaint directly.

By: Jessica Ramirez, The Fiscal Times