FMLA military leave provisions allow unpaid time of for caregivers and family members of U.S. military personnel.

The U.S. Department of Labor is updating the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to include provisions authorized as part of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2010 regarding unpaid leave for caregivers to military personnel. The updated proposed regulations also incorporate the Airline Flight Crew Technical Corrections Act that clarified service eligibility for airline flight crew members.

The FMLA applies to all public agencies and to private-sector employers with 50 or more employees.

The FMLA military leave provisions allow two types of unpaid leave for eligible employees: one as a “military caregiver,” which allows 26 weeks to care for a family member who is a current service member who has sustained serious injury or illness in the line of duty; the second as a “qualifying exigency” for employees whose spouse, child, or parent is called up for active duty in the National Guard or Reserves. Click here for the Department’s FAQ for military family leave.

Some of the key proposed changes include:

• Expands military caregiver leave to cover eligible employees whose family members are recent veterans with a serious injury or illness.
• Allows FMLA military caregiver leave for eligible family members of veterans with serious injury or illness who were active members of the military (including National Guard and Reserves) within the past five years.
• Expands the definition of serious injury or illness for both current service members and veterans to include preexisting conditions aggravated in the line of duty.
• Includes hours-of-service eligibility requirement for airline flight crew employees based on unique scheduling requirements of the airline industry.

Changes to the FMLA language would affect the poster mandated by the Department of Labor. Once the new regulations are finalized, go into effect, and the poster is issued, employers must display an updated posting with the most current FMLA language that includes additions to the military leave provisions.

As of January 30, 2012, the Department’s proposal is undergoing a 60-day public comment period before final approval of the changes. The GovDocs research team will continue to monitor the department – along with over 500 other state and federal agencies – to make sure that GovDocs customers remain first to know. That diligent research is another great reason GovDocs’ automatic Update Service is so useful for staying on top of your labor law compliance.

Texas is just one state facing poster compliance scams. What do you look for in a reputable vendor?

Every so often, we hear about people or companies using less than scrupulous methods to increase their poster sales. Notably, a handful of companies have sent official-sounding warnings that insist companies buy unneeded labor law poster updates or face fines. Even more brazen, some people impersonate government agents or contractors, claiming to perform spot inspections on labor law posters.

This is the meat of a pending case from Houston, Texas, against a woman accused of posing as a Texas Workforce Commission compliance enforcement contractor. According to the allegations, she approached multiple businesses, asserting they were out of compliance because of their postings and then offered to ignore the “violations” if they purchased her posters – of which she apparently had a truckload.

Clearly, employers should exercise a healthy amount of skepticism towards door-to-door compliance sales. Situations like these can create confusion about an issue important to business owners: labor law compliance.

GovDocs sees labor law compliance as more than just “selling posters.” Maybe that’s one reason GovDocs gets an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. In fact, we are constantly finding new ways to help customers maintain compliance – easily and affordably – including cool new tools like Compliance Check. We offer a dedicated research team who constantly monitor changes in labor law so that we can alert our customers when required changes happen. Further, GovDocs’ mission is to rid the world of fines for non-compliance. We believe so strongly in that mission that we back it up with a guarantee for our customers as part of our update service. These are just some of the reasons why GovDocs’ is proud of the services we provide to our customers.

GovDocs helps customers keep up to date with changes to Federal laws, like the FSLA.

Applebee’s is getting its day in court to address charges by its employees who claim the restaurant chain violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by paying non-waiter workers $2.13 an hour, which is the minimum wage for workers who work for tips. The FLSA states that workers engaged with work that leads to tips in excess of $30 a month can receive the $2.13 hourly rate. At issue is the definition of  “engaged.” The U.S. Supreme Court refused to stop the case from moving forward, and it is set to go to trial this September at the U.S. District Court of Western Missouri.

With 1,900 franchise locations across the U.S., Applebee’s is among many large employers who may find managing labor law compliance challenging. GovDocs can help make multi-location compliance easier by helping you manage compliance updates in multiple locations when changes to labor law affect your business. Click here to learn more about how GovDocs can help you maintain enterprise-wide compliance.

Compliance Check puts the power of poster compliance in your hands.

Quick-Response (QR) codes are just about everywhere, on product packaging, magazine pages and even boarding passes at the airport. GovDocs is unveiling another practical use for QR codes that will help businesses make sure that all of their locations are compliant with labor law posting requirements.

First launched in June 2011, and now available on all GovDocs posters,  Compliance Check is the first labor law compliance program to integrate Quick-Response (QR) codes on mandatory labor law postings and a useful interface to quickly determine poster compliance. GovDocs customers can use their smart phones to scan the QR codes on each GovDocs poster. The QR code instantly determines whether the posting is the most current with a “compliant” or “non-compliant” message, eliminating the need to verify updates by cross-referencing print dates.

Compliance Check: Ideal for Multiple Locations

Compliance Check makes managing compliance at multiple locations easier by letting locations check their own posters. A user-friendly interface makes it easy for users across an enterprise to perform spot audits on postings in their respective locations, streamlining the compliance audit and update process. Compliance Check reduces the burden on corporate HR and legal departments and unnecessary poster purchases.

Learn more about the GovDocs Multi-Location program or request a quote.

Twenty-seven U.S. states currently prohibit smoking in enclosed public places, and soon another state legislature may snuff out smoking in most public places in Indiana.

Some companies are going even further. Beyond just enforcing no-smoking policies in the workplace, they are refusing to hire smokers altogether, citing the higher costs associated with providing healthcare coverage to employees who use nicotine.

Many businesses are required to post no-smoking  announcements by law or have policies that prohibit smoking on company property. GovDocs offers a variety of  No Smoking signs to choose from, many tailored to the appropriate legislated language specific to state law.

Easy-to-follow instructions for choking emergencies.

University of Oregon football lineman Mark Asper lived up to the Scout motto “Be Prepared” when he performed the Heimlich maneuver on a fellow diner at a Beverly Hills, California restaurant.  Asper attributed his life-saving response to Eagle Scout training, but what happens if there is no Eagle Scout – or medical doctor – in the restaurant?

It takes quick thinking and appropriate action to respond to a choking emergency. With the flow of oxygen blocked, a choking victim’s brain begins to die within four minutes according to the National Institute of Health.

GovDocs offers our best-selling, American Red Cross choking posters to display in your workplace to help you save lives with clear emergency instructions. The posters feature full-color graphics, sturdy paper stock, and durable lamination.

Most employers must display a Federal poster updated with the NLRA Final Rule by April 30, 2012.

2012 is already shaping up to be an active year for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). President Obama’s recent recess appointments include three to the NLRB, which fill the seats on the five-member board. The new appointees include two Democrats (Deputy Labor Secretary Sharon Block and union lawyer Richard Griffin) and one Republican (counsel to the NLRB, Terence Flynn).

Additionally, the NLRB has posted a Final Rule for communicating with employees in accordance with the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The Rule mandates that most employers post a notice in the workplace effective April 30, 2012. GovDocs is now taking orders for the new Federal-on-One poster with NLRB. Please read our NLRB Notification of Employee Rights FAQ for more information on what the NLRB ruling means to your workplace.

For more information on the latest postponement see the NLRB release. The new poster is included on the GovDocs Federal-on-One poster with other mandatory federal labor law postings.

GovDocs has been tracking state minimum wage updates along with current and updated wage levels. Updated postings are available for the following states:

Arizona  2011: $7.35.  2012: $7.65.

Colorado 2011: $7.36  ($4.34 tipped).  2012: $7.64 ($4.62 tipped).

Florida 2011: $7.31.  2012: $7.67.

Montana 2011: $7.35.  2012: $7.65.

Ohio 2011: $7.40 ($3.70 tipped).  2012: $7.70 ($3.85 tipped).

Oregon 2011: $8.50.  2012: $8.80.

Vermont 2011: $8.15 ($3.95  tipped).  2012: $8.46 ($4.10 tipped)

More information about the implementation date change is available on the official NLRB release. The new poster is included on the GovDocs Federal-on-One poster with other mandatory federal labor law postings.