How is the California Wage and Hour Law Different from Other States?

A majority of multi state employers often find themselves doing business in one way in forty-nine other states of the USA and entirely different way in California as the compliance obligations enforced by the wage and hour law in California is unique and varies from other states. So a California employer requires to identify and bond with an expert HR professional in order to avoid the many traps posed by state and federal wage and hour law compliance obligations.

As per the California law, an employer can offer "comp" time in lieu of overtime; but Federal law does not. Federal wage and hour law does not "preempt" state law on the same subject; the employers in California are required to follow the applicable legal provision favorable to employees in any situation.

The Federal law and California law, both create a lot of specific "exemptions," but the requirements of Federal and California law often differ from one another in describing the requirements needed for an employee to qualify for a particular exemption. As per California's laws an exempt employee must exercise discretion and independency in judgment in "matters of consequence" of "real and substantial significance to policies or general business operations."

California law provides all employees who are state licensed or certified and primarily engaged in the practice of law, accounting, medicine, teaching, architecture, optometry, dentistry and engineering can be considered exempt professionals. Taking into consideration the modern day Computer Professional exemption, a California employee may be exempt in case he/she is involved in executing duties including application of systems analysis techniques and measures to determine hardware, software, or functional specifications. An exempt computer professional may also be involved in the development, design, documentation, creation, analysis, testing, or modification of computer systems or programs based on user specifications or design specifications. Another aspect of California wage and hour law which differs from Federal law is the requirement that all non-exempt employees and employees classified under limited exemptions such as inside sales, receive daily meal and rest break periods.

FDA PAT-Concept, Regulatory Impact

What is FDA PAT Initiative and how to comply with innovation requirements? Process Analytical PAT approach allows better focus to be placed on relevant multi-factorial relationships. It also serves as a basis for identifying and understanding relationships among critical formulation and process factors and for generating effective risk mitigation strategies (e.g., product specifications, process controls, training). The PAT mechanism for producing product quality & reducing waste presents a good case for utilizing continuous manufacturing technologies. What are the fundamental concepts behind the FDA PAT initiative and how PAT provides a good source of information for anyone involved in risk mitigation and regulatory compliance? Expert speaker Michael Levin provides answers to these queries in his webinar http://bit.ly/ProcessAnalyticalTechnology

How to Use Features in Excel to Minimize Data Integrity Risks

Dashboards empower Excel users to condense large amount of information into easy to read summaries while preserving the ability to dive deep into the details when needed. Dashboard reports provide the managers with high-level overview of the business. Excel is the best tool to create powerful dashboards that can provide analysis and alert managers on a timely manner. Excel dashboards are extremely modular and it is very easy for users to replace a chart or table that requires to be removed or replaced.

 Dashboard reports permits managers to gain high-level overview of the business and help them make quick decisions. Dashboards are often called as information dashboards or management dashboards or dashboard reports.

A Dashboard could be created using many tools. However, Microsoft Excel is the best choice for creating and distributing dashboards because it is easy to use and available universally. Using Microsoft Excel, users can monitor, and visually display vital information for quick response or feedback. Excel is an exceptional tool for data reporting. Excel Reports permits users to resolve the effect predictions using the receiving data. The performance point dashboard platform can cause sophisticated charts, and allow for a common look and feel that users will be comfortable with in the beginning. Register for this Excel crash course to learn indept: http://bit.ly/MSExcel-OnlineTraining

How to protect your organization from penalties and exclusions?

The Civil Money Penalties Law (CMPL) gives the authorization power to the Secretary of Health and Human Services to enforce civil money penalties, an assessment, and program exclusion for different forms of fraud and abuse, which includes the Medicaid and Medicare programs. The monetary sanctions imposed usually exceed the damages sustained by the government.

As a health care executive, physician or other health care provider, one should be very concerned about the potential for liability under the fraud and abuse laws. Under recently enacted health care laws, enforcement activity and health care fraud task forces have been greatly enhanced. This raises the specter of being charged with false and fraudulent activity and being sanctioned and or being excluded from these programs under the Civil Monetary Penalties Law. Learn more on Civil Monetary Penalties Law at  http://bit.ly/CivilMonetaryPenaltiesLaw

Dos and Don’ts while engaging in social Networking: NLRB

Recently the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decided that disciplining employees for social media posts that constitute "concerted activity" violates the National Labor Relations Act. This is true even in non-unionized workplaces. The NLRB has also determined many clauses that in employer's social media policies violate the National Labor Relations Act.

Here are a few dos and don’ts that must be adopted by any employee while engaging in social media. Since social media is mostly on engaging people always remember to us a warm and mild language. The tone must be set in such a way that it encourages others to respond to your postings. Be professional while choosing the words. Never make defamatory statements.

An employer can prohibit employee from posting anything on the Internet in the name of the employer without prior written authorization from the president or a designated agent.  The basic enforced requirement is that  employees must be respectful, must be aware of the rules and follow the same, be honest and accurate, not retaliate, and post only appropriate and respectful content. The employer could request the employees to respect financial disclosure laws on social media and to not create a link from their social networking site or blog to an employer website without adequate notice or  identifying himself or herself as an employer associate.

To learn more visit The NLRB and the Social Media .

How to implement an EHS Plant Operating Manual

All elements of managing Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) at the plant level and placing them into an easily understood and usable manual are highly recommended for all organizations. The manual breaks all activities and requirements into various tabs. With the help of these tabs the manager can move from area to area to ensure issues are being addressed and satisfied. The manual is the ideal training document for those entering EHS. It takes the massive amount of paper associated with carrying out the EHS function and provides easy access and understanding. To learn more click Developing-EHS manual- EHS management system.

Fair Hearings from a Hearing Officer's Perspective

Generally, every medical staff member has the right to a fair hearing in case they are accused of technical incompetence or unprofessional behavior, but ensuring a truly fair process can be difficult. There are certain key dos and don’ts to help make your fair hearing process just.

Too often, organizations fail to follow their own procedures, leading to sometimes catastrophic
circumstances. There is no excuse for failing to provide the affected practitioner due process because clear directions were not followed.

In order to apply for a fair hearing, you need to understand how to develop the application process to take into account what information is required to support the application with regard to education and training, references prior practice, and prior adverse actions and liability settlements. Other vital information to be aware of are: what information should be solicited from other hospitals where the applicant claims to have privileges. It is important that the information solicited be specific, leaving no room for gaps. What are the elements of good, clear and concise bylaws, fair hearing plans and other policies. The importance of not only having these documents but following them to the letter will be emphasized. Click to learn everything about Medical Staff Fair Hearings from a Hearing Officer's Perspective.