Okay, I don’t even know what to say about this. Penthouse or not, the type of behavior described here is completely and utterly unacceptable, particularly in the workplace.

Essentially, prior to Penthouse ownership, Friend Finder had been a by-the-book, under wraps type of company. While the product itself was sexually motivated, the workplace was not. One person described it as being “NASA-like”. Once ownership hands changed and Penthouse took over, the workplace became anything but by-the-book. They started by firing their HR Executive:

Natalie Cedeno, the company’s former HR director, says that company executives retaliated against her for pointing out violations of labor laws. She was a top executive at the Internet side of the business, deeply involved in its operations for eight years, before FriendFinder fired her without cause in January, she says. She claims the company then tried to withhold the two years of pay she was owed under her contract unless she agreed to stay silent about FriendFinder’s misdeeds — a move her lawyer characterizes as “extortion.” Cedeno plans to file complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing next month.

Okay, definitely not a smart move to fire HR, but not immediately earth shattering to the company (though if I were Natalie, I’d be really pissed). The worst was yet to come:

When management announced that the venerable porn magazine’s stable of nude models would be stopping by the office to serve ice cream, one female employee objected, as Cedeno tells the story. When they arrived, one of the scantily clad Pets made a beeline for the dissenter. “They came into her office and placed her breasts on her head in an attempt to humiliate her, and they had someone ready to take pictures,” Cedeno says. The employee quit soon after the incident.

Whether or not the product of the workplace is sexual in nature, every employee should be treated with dignity and respect at all times. Somehow, a pair of someone else’s boobs landing upon one’s head doesn’t seem to fit the aforementioned description.

Oh, and there’s more:

Cedeno says new management was unresponsive to her concerns. When she pointed out violations of overtime law, the company’s VP of operations emailed her, “This garbage stops now.” (He meant her complaints, not the violations.) She says she was then ordered to lie and blame pay discrepancies on the company’s outside payroll vendor. She refused.

She also says that in January 2008, Rob Brackett, president of the company’s Internet group, told her that CEO Marc Bell had complained to him in December — the first day he came to visit Penthouse’s new acquisition — that the women in FriendFinder’s technology department were “ugly” and that Cedeno should get rid of them and replace them with more attractive workers to keep the male employees happy. Brackett pressed Cedeno, asking her how she was going to satisfy Bell. She refused the request.

It just boggles my mind that a company still feels that they can get away with such crap, attributing it to “shenanigans” and “naughty behavior”. I’m sure that Penthouse doesn’t care. Their coffers are as big as the breasts in any one of their magazines. Yet one would think that someone there would have a conscience.

Oh yeah, they did, but she was fired.

I know I’ve certainly had days like this. Recently. Very recently.

Well,, it looks like I got out of my previous company just in time. First there was a round of layoffs, now the employees are facing a 47% pay cut for the remainder of Q1 and a subsequent 20% pay cut for all of Q2.

From The Chicago Tribune:

The company, which supplies office products to such retailers as Office Depot Inc., told its U.S. employees Monday that it would impose a 47 percent pay cut for six weeks, beginning Feb. 23.
After that, some of the pay reduction will be reinstated, with employees seeing their paychecks trimmed by 20 percent at least through the end of June.

“It’s an alternative to permanent reductions in force,” company spokesman Rich Nelson said. “It allows people to stay employed, but we realize it imposes some hardships as well…

For Acco, which trimmed its global workforce by 500 positions through layoffs and attrition last year, the draconian pay cut is “a matter of making sure we meet our plan for the first quarter of 2009,” said Nelson.

To ease the pain, Acco executives told employees it would provide short-term financial assistance to employees put in the “most extreme circumstances” by allowing them to borrow from future earnings. The salary cut will affect about 2,000 U.S. employees, including 750 who work in the Chicago area, the chief executive among them..”

It’s a double edged sword. Yes, employees get to keep their jobs but at what cost?

Losing close to 50% of one’s pay can put an employee in fairly dire straits, even if loans are available. As long as the terms for repayment are fair and take the employee into account, then it may be a short term solution for those in serious trouble. But if the company enforces strict deadlines and/or repayment schedules, then it may just be prolonging the agony. Unfortunately, I do know more about this situation than I feel comfortable sharing. Let’s just say that I think the latter will be more true than the former.

Is it really better for employees to keep their jobs under these circumstances? Wouldn’t it perhaps be better to “get the misery out the door?” per Truman Bewley, Yale Economics Professor? Will people quit and collect unemployment? Will they suck it up and see it through? Will they take the advice of others?

I don’t know the answer here. Though I’ve been on just about every side of the employment equation, I’ve never been in a situation where I’ve been asked to work for half my wages. Nor have I ever asked this of any employee.

Yet, this pay cut situation is becoming more and more common. Again, from the Chicago Tribune:

In December, FedEx Corp. said it would cut the salaries of 36,000 workers by 5 percent. Last month, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. said salary cuts of varying percentages would be made throughout the company. And last week, General Motors Corp. said it would cut U.S. salaried workers’ paychecks by up to 10 percent.

A Watson Wyatt survey of 117 companies across a broad range of industries in December found that 19 percent planned to institute salary freezes during the next 12 months.

When that same question was asked in October, it was 12 percent. Salary reductions were planned by 6 percent of companies surveyed in December, as opposed to 4 percent in the October survey.

Bremen believes the salary-cut trend is on the rise and will be considered more quickly during the next downturn.

I can’t even bear to think about “the next downturn”. This turn is down enough.

First off, I apologize for the recent lack of posts. I took some time off to go visit my dad in Florida. It was wonderful, but really, really cold. Not cold for Florida, just cold. But it was really, really nice to see my dad. And his puppies.

As I’ve mentioned, my mother died in 2002 of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, a horrible disease that destroys the motor neurons that control muscle movement while leaving a person’s cognitive capacity intact (in most cases).

In other words, it’s a disease that traps a person inside a failing body but leaves a perfect mind aware of what’s happening. It is awful to watch the degeneration of a loved one’s abilities over time, but I’ve never come close to describing just how awful the disease is.

The ALS Society of Canada has developed this unbelievably powerful PSA that comes as close as one possibly can in describing the horror that is ALS. I warn you that this is very sad and jarringly realistic.

ALS Canada also has developed print ads. From AdFreak.com:

They show ALS sufferers with disintegrating chalk maze outlines superimposed on them, stretching from the head down one of their limbs—a simple, arresting and disquieting way to illustrate ALS’s slow-motion destruction of the motor neurons that allow the brain to control the body.

Here’s an example one such ad:

You can see the rest of the ads here.

Donations to ALS Canada can be made here here. Donations to the ALS Association of Florida in the name of Vera Dorn (my mother) can be made here.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that the I-9 form slated for today, February 2, 2009, has been delayed by 60 days, until April 3, 2009.

Please Note: Use of the new form prior to April 3 may subject employers to civil penalties.

From SHRM:

According to an interim rule published in December 2008, employers were supposed to begin using the revised verification form on Feb. 2, 2009. However, when President Obama took office, the White House issued a directive to all federal agencies asking them to review any regulations introduced by the Bush administration but had not taken effect before Jan. 20, 2009.

USCIS officials stated that the 60-day delay should provide adequate time to complete a full review of the new form and employment verification requirements. A notice announcing the delay was set to appear in The Federal Register. In addition, the USCIS will reopen the public comment period on the new rule for 30 days, until March 4, 2009.

The USCIS update can be found here and here.

The current I-9 form can be found here.

The first ever “Laid Off Camp” is taking place on Tuesday, March 3 at 10 AM and “is an ad-hoc gathering of unemployed & self-employed people (including entrepreneurs and startups) who want to share and interact with each other.”

Some session ideas include:

* Living on a budget
* Building your personal brand
* Finding a job / work in this market
* How to freelance / be a consultant
* Finding co-founders

Register here or here or here. Or you can contact Chris Hutchins at chris@laidoffcamp.com.

[via laughingsquid.com]

This is a very scary time in California. First we hear that the state is going broke. Then the UI rate goes up to over 7%. Then the California Budget fails and fails and fails yet again. California companies like Google, Logitech, Intel, AMD, Seagate and Williams-Sonoma layoff a good percentage of their respective staff. The new Yahoo CEO has frozen all salaries.

And now this.

Sigh.

This post is dedicated to Robert Scoble.

Please, oh please, tell me that someone really didn’t think it was okay to bring this to work.

At least I can be thankful that they don’t work for me.

Thanks to Rear Adm. Monteiro for sending this my way.

This one made me cry. In a good way.

I was browsing through HR jobs on Craigslist and came across this little nugget:

This is a part time, contract (read 1099) position. We are looking for a Human Resources Manager who will handle all Employee Relations and act as an HR resource for our offices. This position will establish a HR department which supports our companies strategic and business goals. The position will be based out of our corporate offices in Oakland; however occasional travel will be necessary. Some of this work may be done from applicant’s home…

Okay, what’s wrong with this picture?

In one of my very first posts in 2005, I (over)explained what determines an independent contractor. Rather than re-create the wheel, I’m just going to quote myself (or, rather, those I originally quoted back then):

So what makes an independent contractor different from an employee? California Labor Code, Section 3353 states the following: Independent contractor” means any person who renders service for a specified recompense for a specified result, under the control of his principal as to the result of his work only and not as to the means by which such result is accomplished.

I also went on to quote the DLSE site which gives additional factors to consider before establishing a contractor’s status:

• Whether the person performing services is engaged in an occupation or business distinct from that of the principal;
• Whether or not the work is a part of the regular business of the principal or alleged employer;
• Whether the principal or the worker supplies the instrumentalities, tools, and the place for the person doing the work;
• The alleged employee’s investment in the equipment or materials required by his or her task or his or her employment of helpers;
• Whether the service rendered requires a special skill;
• The kind of occupation, with reference to whether, in the locality, the work is usually done under the direction of the principal or by a specialist without supervision;
• The alleged employee’s opportunity for profit or loss depending on his or her managerial skill;
• The length of time for which the services are to be performed;
• The degree of permanence of the working relationship;
• The method of payment, whether by time or by the job; and
• Whether or not the parties believe they are creating an employer-employee relationship may have some bearing on the question, but is not determinative since this is a question of law based on objective tests.

And this time I’m also going to give you the IRS‘ agenda:

Independent Contractor (Self-Employed) or Employee?

It is critical that you, the employer, correctly determine whether the individuals providing services are employees or independent contractors. Generally, you must withhold income taxes, withhold and pay Social Security and Medicare taxes, and pay unemployment tax on wages paid to an employee. You do not generally have to withhold or pay any taxes on payments to independent contractors…

In determining whether the person providing service is an employee or an independent contractor, all information that provides evidence of the degree of control and independence must be considered.

Common Law Rules

Facts that provide evidence of the degree of control and independence fall into three categories:

• Behavioral: Does the company control or have the right to control what the worker does and how the worker does his or her job?
• Financial: Are the business aspects of the worker’s job controlled by the payer? (these include things like how worker is paid, whether expenses are reimbursed, who provides tools/supplies, etc.)
• Type of Relationship: Are there written contracts or employee type benefits (i.e. pension plan, insurance, vacation pay, etc.)? Will the relationship continue and is the work performed a key aspect of the business?

So, even though it’s been a few years, the information I gave at the time still stands true:

The questions you need to ask yourself (as an HR professional) are:

• Are we requiring the consultant to work onsite?
• Are we requiring the consultant to only work during certain hours?
• Are we providing the consultant with equipment i.e. a computer?
• Are we requiring that the consultant manage any employees?
• Are we paying the consultant through our regular payroll?

If the answer is yes to any of these questions, well, then you’ve just hired yourself an employee.

Oh, and If you said that the job should not be based out of the company’s corporate offices in response to the question above, then you’d be right.

UPDATE 2/2/09: Please see this post regarding the 2/2/09 I-9. It has been delayed by 60 days to April 3 and employers could incur civil penalties if they use the 2/2 form before April 3.
————————————————————————————————–
New I-9 Rules for 2009! Beginning February 2, 2009, employees can no longer use expired identification to establish their identity or credentials to work in the U.S.

From SHRM

:In addition to the interim final rule narrowing the list of identity documents employers can accept from new hires, it also directs that expired documents are no longer acceptable forms of identification, USCIS says. “An expansive document list [that includes expired documents] makes it more difficult for employers to verify valid and acceptable forms and single out false documents compromising the effectiveness and security of the Form I-9 process,” USCIS says.

“Expired documents are prone to fraudulent use in the Form I-9 process by aliens seeking unauthorized employment,” USCIS says. Expired documents have made it into the hands of counterfeiters who will place an unauthorized alien’s photograph and other identifying information on the document, which the unauthorized aliens use to obtain employment, the agency says. Therefore, establishing a requirement that all documents must be unexpired closes that loophole and “sets a bright-line standard for U.S. employers,” the USCIS says. Moreover, requiring unexpired identity credentials respects the limits placed on the document by the issuing authorities and increases the “likelihood that such documents will contain up-to-date security features that will make them less vulnerable to counterfeiting and fraud,” USCIS says.

There are also new documents added to verify an employee’s eligibility. Again, from SHRM:

The interim final rule adds new documents that meet Form I-9 requirements for its three list categories. Those documents are foreign passports containing the I-551 permanent residence notation printed on a machine-readable immigrant visa; passports and certain other documents for citizens of the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands; and the new U.S. Passport Card.

Form I-9’s three list categories of acceptable documents, either alone or in combinations, to establish identity and employment authorization are categorized under lists A, B and C. The identity and work eligibility documents acceptable under each list are:

• List A—documents that establish both identity and employment authorization such as a U.S. passport, U.S. Form I-551, “Permanent Resident Card” and U.S. Form I-766, “Employment Authorization Document.”

• List B—documents that establish only identity such as a state-issued driver’s license or identification card.

• List C—documents that establish only employment authorization such as a state-issued birth certificate or Social Security card.

You can find the new form here.

Yes, another update.

From the DOL:

Family and Medical Leave Act

Overview

Covered employers must grant an eligible employee up to a total of 12 workweeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period for one or more of the following reasons:

* for the birth and care of the newborn child of the employee;
* for placement with the employee of a son or daughter for adoption or foster care;
* to care for an immediate family member (spouse, child, or parent) with a serious health condition; or
* to take medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition.

Key News

* The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division published a Final Rule under the Family and Medical Leave Act. The final rule becomes effective on January 16, 2009, and updates the FMLA regulations to implement new military family leave entitlements enacted under the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2008. It also includes revisions in response to public comments received on the proposed rule issued in February 2008. The Federal Register Notice and related documents are available at Wage and Hour’s FMLA Final Rule website. (November 17, 2008).

* The President signed into law H.R. 4986, the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2008 (NDAA), Pub. L. 110-181. Among other things, section 585 of the NDAA amends the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) to permit a “spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin” to take up to 26 workweeks of leave to care for a “member of the Armed Forces, including a member of the National Guard or Reserves, who is undergoing medical treatment, recuperation, or therapy, is otherwise in outpatient status, or is otherwise on the temporary disability retired list, for a serious injury or illness.” The NDAA also permits an employee to take FMLA leave for “any qualifying exigency (as the Secretary [of Labor] shall, by regulation, determine) arising out of the fact that the spouse, or a son, daughter, or parent of the employee is on active duty (or has been notified of an impending call or order to active duty) in the Armed Forces in support of a contingency operation.” By its express terms, this provision of the NDAA is not effective under the Secretary of Labor issues final regulations defining “any qualifying exigency.” Additional information and a copy of Title I of the FMLA, as amended, are available on the FMLA NDAA Web site. (January 28, 2008)

More information can be found here and the final regulations can be found here.

And let’s not forget the poster or the new and revised certification and designation forms.

Here’s to hoping that this will provide a bit more clarity than we’ve had in the past.

With the auto industry and the economy, failing left and right everywhere, there’s one company that seems to be responding to the needs of its customers, many of whom are finding themselves without a job. Essentially, Hyundai USA is offering to owners or lessees the chance to walk away should they involuntarily lose their job through a program called “Hyundai Assurance”.

From Hyundai’s Website:

Hyudai is the first automaker to offer a vehicle return program in the U.S. that allows you to walk away from your loan or lease without having to worry about negative equity. It lets you return your vehicle in case of certain life-altering circumstances…

Covering in case of:

• involuntary unemployment
• physical disability
• loss of drivers license due to medical impairment
• international employment transfer
• self-employed personal bankruptcy
• accidental death

Not quite enough to completely restore my faith in humanity, but I sense a glimmer of real compassion here.

Good for you Hyundai. This will not be forgotten.

Brought to you by the American Society of Shitcanned Media Elites, “a support organization for newly downsized members of the magazine, newspaper, book publishing, advertising, TV and web industries.”

This T-Shirt may be de rigueur in San Francisco within the next few months if things keep going the way they are.