Cell phones are a way of life. We update our Facebook accounts, check e-mail, find a restaurant, text our significant others and even occasionally talk to someone. But increasingly, cell phones are becoming a vehicle for what is being labeled as “textual harassment” or harassment via text messages. It’s easy to discount, thinking that this is a simple issue and one that won’t ever affect you, but “textual harassment” is becoming a problem for all age groups and it is an issue that employers must deal with.
Employees today are using their cell phones as new weapons for sending threatening and abusive messages to co-workers. They are spreading non truths about others including their supervisors and/or the companies they work for. They are sexually harassing colleagues and employees alike and even bullying co-workers. Considering all of this, it is important for employers to have clear policies in their handbooks that detail what is and is not acceptable when it comes to texting. This form of harassment can also apply to social media posting. When drafting your policies, consider the usage of not only personal cell phones but also privacy issues related to company paid for and company reimbursed cell phones as well. Once your policies are in place, you should establish training for staff members that explains your position and outlines procedures for complaints to management. Dealing with reports immediately, documenting the complaint, investigating the claim and evaluating the evidence for potential corrective action will go a long way in defending you and your company should the EEOC get involved.
StaffScapes is experienced in dealing with claims of textual harassment and works with its clients to have clear policies established. For more information or assistance for your company, please call StaffScapes at 303-466-7864.
Last Thursday on February 24th, I sat through a four hour “Information and Outreach Forum” presented by the Department of Labor. This however was not a forum looking to help educate employers on doing business better and legally, it was “an information and outreach forum for workers, community based organizations, unions and advocacy groups in Denver.” The goal of this forum as stated by Dusti Gurule, regional representative for Secretary Solis in Denver was “that this outreach effort will increase workers’ awareness of the laws and arm employees with the information to file a complaint when their rights have been violated.” The attendees were made up of about two-thirds union representation and the other third being advocacy groups. There did not appear to be any individual employees/workers attending nor any other employers.
We were welcomed by a representative of the Interfaith Worker Justice and FRESC, a labor organization. He clearly had a bias that businesses are bad, and went on to excitedly tell us about a rally that they organized last November where they got 100 day laborers together to file claims against their employers. Oh boy, if this is the direction of this forum, I am going to have a great time this next three and a half hours!
The first presenter was from our own Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE). The CDLE presenter was clearly showing her labor support. There were multiple statements about how upset and sad they (I am assuming other workers at the CDLE) were that the state minimum wage actually decreased a couple of years ago, instead of constantly increasing. Continuing on she explained how happy they were that the minimum wage has gone back up and pleased that it is back to being greater than the federal minimum wage. After going on stating how employees deserve overtime she explained that the CDLE deal with over 7,000 complaints and written inquires annually and mediation takes around 35 to 45 days. This appears to be a large number; however the additional statistic that would help put this into perspective, how many complaints are found to be valid, was never given.
The next speaker was a representative from the federal DOL and he presented a basic overview of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). I have seen this representative speak before in a meeting of employers and his presentation did not change much but he did emphasize areas due to his audience. One particular area that I found intriguing was when he was explaining that paying cash for payroll was ok to do. As he was explaining this fact he was giving an example and stated that some employees do not have a checking account or bank so he said “it could be an undocumented worker, and that is ok”. I thought that it was illegal for an employer to hire and work “undocumented workers”. So it appears that this DOL representative is telling us that it is ok to work an illegal alien. I wonder how that made the union representatives feel?
The last presentation was from two representatives of OSHA. I actually found this last presentation pretty refreshing as the OSHA reps did not seem overtly biased on either side. There were several times when the union representatives seemed to get pretty excited over the fact that they could turn in other contractors and employers for potential violations that they see. However the OSHA representative continued to explain that OSHA’s main goal is to keep employees safe and that the union reps should first get the exposed employees to safety before worrying about how to file a complaint. OSHA also explained that they should try and let the contractor/employer know of the unsafe exposure before filing a claim. I really appreciated this explanation because we should all (union, employer, worker, advocate, etc.) work together to keep workers and the workplace safe, and not just look for ways we can penalize or shut down business.
I went into this forum with the purpose in mind to find out what the different divisions of the DOL had to say about employers when speaking to unions and advocacy groups. What I found was that there are still groups and individuals that absolutely believe that employers are innately bad. A couple of presenters clearly had this belief and that very much worries me. There are bad employers out there, however based off of the last 15 years that I have been working with small businesses, that is the extreme exception and not the norm. I sure wish someone could convince these anti-business believers that it is only the bad businesses that should be punished and not every business. I guess I am living in my dream world again.
The US Department of Labor has recently released their new smartphone application, and instead of explaining its advantages to employers, they state the reason for this app is so the employees do not have to rely on their employer’s records. What? Quoting DOL’s press release, “The first DOL application for smartphones is a timesheet to help employees independently track the hours they work and determine the wages they are owed… This information could prove invaluable during a Wage and Hour Division investigation” and “This new technology is significant because, instead of relying on their employer’s records, workers now can keep their own records.”
So my interpretation of the message the DOL is presenting is employers are no longer to be trusted keeping and recording time worked by their employees or to determine the wages they are owed. The current DOL Administration continues to show their bias against employers through this press release.
With that being said, I believe the actual application could be useful to employers and mobile employees. The application makes it pretty easy to track hours through a few pushes of buttons and at the end of the pay period can be emailed to the supervisor for approval, or for the purposes of the DOL to the employee’s attorney or DOL representative. Providing employers with a free application to improve recording time worked by employees would be very beneficial to the productivity of our country and economy. I do not know how the DOL thinks that economic recovery is going to happen by attacking employers at every turn. The DOL should have released the application with information going to employers getting “buy in” and stating the benefits to them provided by the app.
