In latest edition of The Wright Toolbox:

• Sweetening the Pot: How Employers can Properly Execute Signing Bonuses –read now
• OSHA Issues Modified COVID-19 Guidance – read now

Sweetening the Pot: How Employers can Properly Execute Signing Bonuses

Employers finding it difficult to fill vacant positions are turning to signing bonuses to entice applicants. This incentive might bring hesitation, though. Is it right for your business? What’s to stop an employee from accepting the bonus and jumping ship soon thereafter? How can you protect your company while successfully appealing to workers?

Signing bonuses can be an effective recruiting tool, if handled correctly.  Employers may offer signing bonuses so that they are paid out incrementally, over time, to incentivize employees to continue working.  Alternatively, employers who prefer to pay the total bonus up front may require employees to sign an agreement to return the bonus should they leave before a specified period of time. Many state wage payment and collection laws, including that of Maryland, prohibit deductions from employee wages except in specified circumstances. To facilitate repayment and avoid violating the Maryland Wage Payment and Collection Law, an employer also may require the employee to execute an authorization to deduct signing bonuses from the final pay of employees who do not work through a minimum commitment.

Any agreement or wage deduction authorization relating to a signing bonus should make clear any intent to retain at-will employment status. Additionally, depending upon the terms of the signing bonus, it may need to be considered in determining the “regular rate of pay” when calculating overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and state wage and hour law.

Employers who consider signing bonuses should confer with counsel to ensure that they are complying with all relevant laws and to avoid legal liability. If your business is looking to bolster its recruitment methods in this way, please contact our Employment & Labor Law Group. 

OSHA Issues Modified COVID-19 Guidance

WCS News Alert

On August 13, 2021, OSHA issued updated guidance under their COVID-19 Healthcare Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS). The statement was released in accordance with the CDC’s modified masking policies issued July 27^th as the Delta variant renews concerns of workplace exposure.

OSHA noted vaccines as being the “optimal step” in protecting workers, but in high volume fields such as retail, encourages the potential necessity of layered precautions to protect the unvaccinated and at-risk individuals.

The guidance outlines the following recommendations:

• Masks be worn in communal areas of substantial or high transmission, including by fully vaccinated workers in order to protect unvaccinated workers;
• Fully vaccinated workers that come in close contact with individuals who test positive for coronavirus wear masks for up to 14 days, unless they test negative themselves at least 3 days after said contact;
• Defines recommendations to protect unvaccinated workers and other at-risk workers in specialized industries including manufacturing, meat and poultry processing, seafood processing and agricultural processing.

You can read the full modifications, as well as all previously recommended measures that continue to stand, here.

If you have questions regarding your COVID workplan or addressing these modifications in your own workplace policies, contact our Employment Law Group.