Question: 
“What are whistleblower protections?”

Answer:
Whistleblowing occurs when an employee reports wrongdoing (dangerous, illegal, or unethical activity or practices by the company or its employees) either directly to the employer or to an outside authority. Many laws, including the Occupational Safety and Health Act, consider whistleblowing a protected activity, meaning you can’t lawfully retaliate against an employee for making such a report. If you were to retaliate, for instance, by disciplining the employee or excluding them from promotional opportunities, the employee could file a complaint.

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This Q&A does not constitute legal advice and does not address state or local law.

AI and HR: Accelerating Your Learning Curve

Wednesday, March 13, 2024
10:00 AM PT | 1:00 PM ET

Register: Link

We want to ensure that the offboarding process for former employees is carried out efficiently. The detailed steps in this checklist will guide you through the process and help ensure that all necessary tasks related to employee benefits are addressed.

Question:

A remote employee’s roommate has been disrupting their work to the point that their performance is suffering. How should we handle this?

Answer:

This situation should be handled the same way you’d manage most work disruptions affecting an employee’s performance. Start by having a conversation with the employee about the disruption and explaining your concerns and performance expectations. Remind them that it’s their responsibility to maintain a working environment where they can be successful.

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This Q&A does not constitute legal advice and does not address state or local law.

Question: 

“An employee says their manager told them to lose their accent if they ever want to be promoted. Could this be considered discrimination?”

Answer:

“Yes. Discrimination based on national origin is prohibited under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and includes treating applicants or employees unfavorably because they are from a particular country or region of the world, speak with an accent, or appear to be of a certain ethnic background. Even if the manager didn’t follow through on the lack of promotion, ongoing comments from the manager about the employee’s accent could also be considered harassment. We recommend that you take this situation seriously and investigate it immediately.”

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This Q&A does not constitute legal advice and does not address state or local law.

Wednesday, February 20, 2024
10:00 AM PT | 1:00 PM ET

We know HR professionals are tasked with a wide range of responsibilities – but we don’t think creating an employee training program from scratch should be one of them. Whether you’re exploring for the first time or need a refresher on best practices, join us for a crash course on how to create training tracks, assign courses, manage training progress and more – all within Learn and the Mineral Platform.

Join Evan Seleska, Customer Success Manager at Mineral, for a guided tour on how to leverage Learn to create and assign a personalized curriculum of employee training courses. In this webinar, you’ll learn:

Register: Link

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently released the federal poverty level (FPL) guidelines for 2024. This Compliance Bulletin summarizes how FPL guidelines may impact an employer’s liability under the ACA’s pay-or-play rules.

This month’s Compliance Tracker Newsletter provides a summary of compliance deadlines for February 2024 and highlights upcoming due dates.

Question: 
“We’ve had a request for a religious accommodation, but I think the employee wants to get out of following the policy for other reasons. How do I determine whether a religious belief is legitimate and sincerely held?”

Answer:

Ordinarily, you should assume that an employee’s request for a religious accommodation is based on a sincerely held religious belief, observance, or practice. The definition of religion is broad and protects beliefs, observances, and practices you may not be familiar with. That said, if you have an objective basis for doubting either the religious nature of the belief or that it’s sincerely held, you can request additional supporting information.

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This Q&A does not constitute legal advice and does not address state or local law.

The Battle of the Benjamins: How to Survive Pay Transparency

Tuesday, January 23, 2024
10:00 AM PT | 1:00 PM ET

Register: Link

Feeling overwhelmed about where to start with pay transparency? Or looking to learn more about how to incorporate pay equity into your company culture?

Join Kara Govro, Principal Legal Analyst at Mineral, for an expert dive into solidifying your understanding of pay transparency topics.