De Novo HRConsulting & Business Advisory

Deadline approaching! #OSHA Form 300A needs to be electronically submitted by 3/2/2025. If you’re looking for assistance, we’re here for you! We also offer many other strategic and administrative HR services, including implementing a Health & Safety Program in your workplace and providing Risk Management services. Contact us at [email protected] or 610-340-1170 to learn more about what we can do for you.

Do you have questions about submitting #OSHA Form 300A for 2025? We have the answers. Contact us at [email protected] for more information.

March 2, 2025 is the deadline for electronically reporting #OSHA Form 300A data for 2024. Are your 2024 OSHA records in order? Contact us today at [email protected] or 610-340-1170 to learn more. #Form300A

Two of the top concerns for employers should be creating a secure work environment and protecting the privacy of company and customer/client information. To that end, some employers choose to ban the use of personal phone mobile devices by employees while they are at work. However, it’s important to understand the limitations of such policies. Invasion of Privacy is a common law tort that protects individuals’ privacy from intrusions or unwanted breaches of privacy. Similarly, under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), any electronic, oral, or wire communications are protected while they are made, stored, or in transit. For employers, this means that they are not permitted to listen to, or disclose, information stemming from personal conversations by employees, whether by cell phone or email. Employers are still within their rights to ban personal calls in the workplace and screen phone calls for compliance, but once it is determined that a personal conversation is taking place, employers are obligated to discontinue the monitoring of that communication. In general, the ECPA does not provide many protections for employee privacy with regard to communications carried out on employer-provided equipment. And so, many employers will opt to record phone calls made on employees’ work phones to use in gauging customer support efforts and customer satisfaction. Before recording any communication, please be aware of your state laws and follow guidance provided your attorney regarding the required consent and permission of the parties. Employers should disclose all policies about communication monitoring in their Employee Handbook to avoid any confusion and misaligned expectations about privacy. If you have any questions or would like to learn more about creating a communication policy for your company, please contact us at [email protected]. #ECPA #Employers #PrivacyRights

Happy holidays from De Novo HRConsulting & Business Advisory! We are grateful for your continued support and wish you a joyful and peaceful holiday season. #2024 #HolidaySeason

This year, our offices participated in a Cards for Hospitalized Kids volunteer event. If you are unfamiliar with this organization, we invite you to check them out at https://buff.ly/3WharCv and consider making holiday cards next year as part of your corporate volunteerism. #2024 #CardsforHospitalizedKids

Throughout history, companies have utilized mergers and acquisitions (M&A) to consolidate their businesses for a number of reasons. Whether it’s an opportunity to gain new product lines, customer bases, human capital, or even just to absorb some of the competition, M&As have been carried out for decades. In 2022 alone, over 18,000 M&A deals closed in the United States. Yet according to a recent report by Harvard Business Review, between 70-90% of M&A transactions fail. Why? Experts explain the reasons often fall into two categories: (a) an incorrect valuation or (b) inadequate integration. Two businesses attempting to join forces can be more complicated than one might think and brings some areas of vulnerability and risk, regardless of how thorough a business is in their due diligence and negotiations processes. Yet hidden financial problems can prove fatal when lofty projections and promising valuations can’t be defended, and the real financial state of the company is exposed. “Sunk cost fallacy” is a form of implicit bias in which an individual or team of individuals are so far along in a process, having invested so much time, effort, and resources, that they feel they simply can’t cut bait. Financial due diligence, therefore, is best undertaken with emotional independence and objectivity. Simply put: be willing to walk away. Integration is also a notable issue in M&A activities, as the combination of two entities is far less messy on paper than it is in real life. If there is no concrete plan in place for the integration of operations, workplace cultures, and personnel, a merger or acquisition becomes exponentially more likely to fail. M&A’s have also been known to diminish morale among employees, which can lead to diminished returns - in productivity, engagement, and efficiency. Integration issues are perhaps the most tricky obstacle of M&A activity, and thus should be planned for ahead of time and handled with care and intentional communication strategies. Leadership often considers the value of M&A from a financial perspective, and so the majority of diligence is financial. While financial due diligence is a key aspect of M&A activity, sometimes there's no one on the team coming at it from a "people perspective." That’s where we come in; at De Novo HRConsulting & Business Advisory, we work in concert with your financial advisors, so that the human capital component of pre-M&A due diligence and post-M&A integration is not neglected. As a member of your M&A team, we'll follow a critical path through each phase of the process. Contact us today to learn more about what we can do for you!

The FLSA establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, and youth employment standards. All employees in the private sector and federal, state, and local governments must comply with these standards. Regarding exempt vs non exempt status, and new as of July 2024, the salary threshold increased to $43,888 annually (approximately $844 per week) and, on January 1, 2025, that threshold will further increase to $58,656 per year (roughly $1,128 per week). Automatic three-year increases, otherwise known as the escalator provision, were part of the rule. Moreover, the highly compensated threshold increased to $132,964 in July 2024 and will increase further to $151,164 in January 2025. However, a Texas federal judge recently granted summary judgment against the salary threshold rule (Texas v. Department of Labor). Should the DOL take this to appeals, it will impact the other states, not just Texas (note: some states have different thresholds, such as New York). As always, we’re here to help you interpret the regulations and provide any assistance you may find valuable. Please contact us at [email protected] or 610-340-1170 to learn more. #FLSA #HR #DOL

There are many reasons why adequate insurance coverage is important, including vicarious liability. Vicarious liability describes the responsibility you hold as a business owner for the actions of your workforce. Generally speaking, you are held responsible for the actions of your partners, employees, contractors, volunteers, and agents. The idea of vicarious liability is especially important when it comes to potential legal claims against employee misconduct such as sexual harassment, fraudulent activities, health & safety, and more - even if you were not directly involved, you are liable if you reasonably should have had knowledge of it. For example, you could be held liable for failing to perform a criminal background check on a candidate if they are hired and commit an unlawful act. If your risk management strategy does not take vicarious liability into account, please contact us at [email protected] for more information.

Surety bonds function as a three-party contract between the surety, the principal, and the obligee. The surety promises to fulfill the debt, default, or financial obligations of the principal (or debtor) if the principal fails to pay or uphold the terms of a contract made with the obligee (or creditor). Surety bonds require that the principal repay the surety for any claims paid to the obligee, making surety bonds more like a credit line than a typical insurance policy. Contact us today at [email protected] if you have any questions or are looking for more information.