By Jennifer A.
Leake, The Assessment
Pro

When training, I sometimes
find myself in a classroom full of eager students with
the realization that the training won’t make a
difference in the work performance of some of
them. The reason? They are a terrible “fit”
for the role or position they are in, something training
doesn’t address or fix.

Therefore, the
selection process is the most important point of action
to impact business profitability and production.
When you consider the true cost of hiring a below
average performer, the most thorough selection process
costs less than hiring the wrong person for one
week. The best way to avoid marginal performers or
to reduce people problems is to not hire them in the
first place.

At a recent meeting with a CEO
of a regional bank, I shared a handout with the
subtitle, “60% of a manager’s time is spent fixing
people problems.” Imagine my dismay when he
turned and said I had a typo on the page. When I
asked him where, he pointed to the subtitle. “That
number should be 95%,” he informed me. Not
surprisingly, they now use pre-employment assessments.

If you’re
in our retained client email loop you’ve been
notified that the California Court of Appeal issued
a recent decision that has several important
interpretations for California employers on how meal and
rest breaks are provided. (Brinker Restaurant
Corp. v. Superior Court of San Diego County (Hohnbaum),
(2008) ___ Cal.App.4th ___ , 2008 WL 2806613.)
This is a significant and helpful decision that allows
employers more flexibility in scheduling and managing
meal and rest breaks by only providing them
rather than enforcing
them.

However, as we predicted,
the Brinker decision has been appealed to the California
Supreme Court. The Supremes now have 60 days to
determine if they want to accept the case for review. If
so, the recent court decision will be vacated until the
CA Supreme Court rules on it (usually 1-2 years) and
employers will be expected to manage meal and rest
break enforcement as they have prior to this
decision.

Although this decision gives
employers more flexibility in allowing non-exempt
employees to “eat at their desk” or work through lunch,
we’re not ready to bring out the party hats. We don’t
believe employers should change their actions toward
ensuring meal and rest breaks are taken. Until
this court decision is finalized we believe it is
important to give non-exempt/hourly employees notice
that meal and rest breaks are “authorized and
permitted.” Meal breaks should be enforced
for non-exempt employees. (Rest breaks should be
authorized and permitted, but employees may choose
to waive the rest break only. This choice should
be documented on each time record.)

As
a California employer you have probably received
your first of two annual EDD reports mailed recently.
The first report is the “Notice of Contribution
Rates and Statement of UI Reserve Account” (DE
2088) for the calendar year 2008. This report
breaks down your UI reserve account balance beginning
with your previous year’s balance. Following that
balance are itemized credits to your account and charges
posted against the account.

The California UI Rate Schedule is
determined by the ratio between the UI Fund balance and
the total wages paid by all employers. All tax rated
employers are rated under the same schedule based on
their UI reserve ratio. The UI rate schedule
in effect for 2008 is Schedule “F+.” This is Schedule F
plus a 15 percent emergency surcharge, rounded to the
nearest tenth. (Can you see the high CA unemployment
rate reflected here?) Schedule “F+” provides for UI
contribution rates from 1.5 percent to 6.2 percent. The
taxable wage limit is $7,000 per employee. (The more
employees hired, the more UI taxes paid, get it?)

We encourage employers to verify all
calculations on their annual report (starting
with the previous reserve balance). Any item may be
protested within 60 days of the mail date. An
explanation of the report and rate schedule can be found
at: http://www.edd.ca.gov/pdf_pub_ctr/de2088c.pdf.
You can also view the Employer’s Guide (DE44) which
introduces valuable information at the following web
site: http://wwwedd.cahwnet.gov/pdf_pub_ctr/de44.pdf.

The
second EDD report you will receive is the “Annual
Statement of Charges to Reserve Account” (DE 428T) which
will arrive in mid September. This report lists all
former employees that your account has been charged for
in the previous fiscal year (July 1, 2007 to June 30,
2008). Any unemployment claim that you have protested
and received a favorable ruling for, if posted as a
charge to you on the Annual Report, should be protested.
Protests must be submitted to the EDD within 60 days of
the mail date. If your protest is accepted, you will
receive an amended DE 2088. Monitor your protests and,
if necessary, contact EDD for the status. Yes, it is
possible to get a charge
reversed!