Category: Human Resources

To friend or not to friend, that is the question

Therapists and many other independent professionals need to keep a clear line between their professional relationship with clients, not stepping over the line into being friends.

Many therapists are asking how to draw the line on dual relationships when they are also active on social media, and a client sends them a friend request.

For a great resource on how to respond when clients send a “friend request” on Facebook, MySpace, LInkedIn, Twitter, or other social networking sites go to   http://www.zurinstitute.com/facebook_clinicalupdate.html.

Thanks to Pat Wicklund of Leading Your Organization of One for the notice.

Three Steps to Protect Data from Rogue Employees

Robert Grapes, Chief Technologist of Cloakware, Vienna, Va., posted these tips at Business Week’s, Today’s Tip:

1. Know who has access to privileged information. Assess who has access to what data so you can understand and manage access as appropriate.

2. Apply appropriate policies to protect sensitive information. Create an actionable plan and put it into place, applying privileged passwords and access management controls throughout each level of information.

3. Update security and access credentials regularly to monitor and maintain control. Implement a regimented program to automatically update access management and passwords so you can ensure that the right people have the right amount of control over critical information.

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Labor Day

Labor Day was established to honor American workers.  The form for the celebration of Labor Day was outlined in the first proposal of the holiday: A street parade to exhibit to the public “the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations,” followed by a festival for the workers and their families.

whd-bannerThe US Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division works to promote and achieve compliance with labor standards to protect and enhance the welfare of the of the nation’s workforce.  The FLSA establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, record keeping, and youth employment standards affecting employees in the private sector and in Federal, State, and local governments. Covered nonexempt workers are entitled to a minimum wage of not less than $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009. Overtime pay at a rate not less than one and one-half times the regular rate of pay is required after 40 hours of work in a workweek.

Independent Contractor or Employee?

The IRS has compiled the following top ten list of things every business owner should know before classifying a worker as either an employee or independent contractor  (IRS Summertime Tax Tip 2009-20, 8/21/09) :

(1) Three characteristics are used by the IRS to determine the relationship between businesses and workers: behavioral control, financial control, and the type of relationship.
(2) Behavioral control covers facts that show whether the business has a right to direct or control how the work is done through instructions, training, or other means.
(3) Financial control covers facts that show whether the business has a right to direct or control the financial and business aspects of the worker’s job.
(4) The type of relationship factor relates to how the workers and the business owner perceive their relationship.
(5) If you have the right to control or direct not only what is to be done, but also how it is to be done, then your workers are most likely employees.
(6) If you can direct or control only the result of the work done — and not the means and methods of accomplishing the result — then your workers are probably independent contractors.
(7) Employers who misclassify workers as independent contractors can end up with substantial tax bills. Additionally, they can face penalties for failing to pay employment taxes and for failing to file required tax forms.
(8) Workers can avoid higher tax bills and lost benefits if they know their proper status.
(9) Both employers and workers can ask the IRS to make a determination on whether a specific individual is an independent contractor or an employee by filing a Form SS-8, Determination of Worker Status for Purposes of Federal Employment Taxes and Income Tax Withholding, with the IRS.
(10) You can learn more about the critical determination of a worker’s status as an independent contractor or employee at the Small Business/Self Employed Tax Center on the IRS website at http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/index.html. Additional resources include IRS Publication 15-A (http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p15a.pdf), IRS Publication 1779 (http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1779.pdf), and IRS Publication 1976 (http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1976.pdf).
  1. Three characteristics are used by the IRS to determine the relationship between businesses and workers: behavioral control, financial control, and the type of relationship.
  2. Behavioral control covers facts that show whether the business has a right to direct or control how the work is done through instructions, training, or other means.
  3. Financial control covers facts that show whether the business has a right to direct or control the financial and business aspects of the worker’s job.
  4. The type of relationship factor relates to how the workers and the business owner perceive their relationship.
  5. If you have the right to control or direct not only what is to be done, but also how it is to be done, then your workers are most likely employees.
  6. If you can direct or control only the result of the work done — and not the means and methods of accomplishing the result — then your workers are probably independent contractors.
  7. Employers who misclassify workers as independent contractors can end up with substantial tax bills. Additionally, they can face penalties for failing to pay employment taxes and for failing to file required tax forms.
  8. Workers can avoid higher tax bills and lost benefits if they know their proper status.
  9. Both employers and workers can ask the IRS to make a determination on whether a specific individual is an independent contractor or an employee by filing a Form SS-8, Determination of Worker Status for Purposes of Federal Employment Taxes and Income Tax Withholding, with the IRS.
  10. You can learn more about the critical determination of a worker’s status as an independent contractor or employee at the Small Business/Self Employed Tax Center on the IRS website   Additional resources include IRS Publication 15-A , IRS Publication 1779 , and IRS Publication 1976 .

Advance Earned Income Credit (EIC) Payment

An employee who expects to be eligible for the earned income credit (EIC) and expects to have a qualifying child is entitled to receive EIC payments with their pay during the year.  To get these payments, the employee must provide the employer a properly completed Form W-5, Earned Income Credit Advance Payment Certificate. Employers are required to make advance EIC payments to employees who give them a completed and signed Form W-5.

Certain employees who do not have a qualifying child may be eligible to claim the EIC on their tax return.  However, they cannot get advance EIC payments. 

For 2009, the maximum amount of advance payments an employee can receive is a total of $1,826.  

Bullying in the Workforce

Courtesy of Accounting Web and the Texas Society of CPA’s:

If you thought you left bullying behind along with jump ropes and gym uniforms, think again. The Workplace Bullying Institute, yes there is such a thing, reported last year that 37 percent of the U.S workforce or 54 million employees are being bullied now or have been bullied at the workplace at some point during their careers.

“Organizations don’t realize that just rude behaviors, ongoing discourteous types of behaviors, have such negative effects on employees,” Sandy Hershcovis, assistant professor of business at the University of Manitoba, told livescience.com.

Although there are no laws on the books, several states have considered healthy workplace legislation to ban bullying behaviors, according to The Inside Training Newsletter. Since 2003, these states have included: California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Kansas, Massachusetts, Montana, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington.

A form of workplace aggression, bullying behaviors include incivility, yelling, spreading gossip or lies, insulting employees, as well as hostility, verbal aggression, and angry exchanges. Various proposed laws define abusive conduct in a broad sense as “conduct of an employer or another employee that a reasonable person would find hostile or offensive,” Susan K. Lessack, a partner with Pepper Hamilton’s Labor and Employment Group told The Inside Training Newsletter