The IRS recently added some clarification to the Treasury guidance issued on August 28th (read about the Treasury guidance here).

No one knows what the workplace is going to look like in three months. COVID-19 continues to spread. School reopening and attendance plans remain tenuous. Further action from Congress is uncertain. Official rules from the Department of Labor might even be struck down in court, further adding to the confusion about what employers are supposed to be doing.

A federal court in New York recently struck down four federal Department of Labor rules related to the leaves provided by the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). As a result, certain aspects of the FFCRA are now more favorable to employees. Unfortunately, it’s not clear if the ruling applies nationwide or only in the Southern District of New York, where the court is located. Until there is further activity in the case—which may clarify whether the rules remain intact throughout the rest of the country—we recommend that employers err on the side of caution when administering FFCRA leaves and assume these particular rules no longer apply.

If you receive an anonymous complaint, it is important to remain calm and review the complaint objectively regardless of how egregious the accusations may seem. Although the complaint was received anonymously, the company still has an obligation to take action, if necessary, to ensure that employees are provided a workplace that is safe and free from harassing or discriminatory conduct.

We are going to talk for just a couple minutes about the magic formula for documentation. Why are we talking about documentation at all? Well, one of the most common questions we get is, “Can I terminate this employee?” The first thing we say in response is, “Do you have documentation of the poor performance or the behavioral issue?” Sometimes the answer is “yes,” often the answer is “no.”

It is really important that employers have documentation to back up their employment decisions. That documentation should have a few elements. So, let’s talk about those.

ANSWERED BY THE PROS: