Daylight saving time is set to start Sunday, March 10. This will make for many a cranky worker next Monday morning, and lots of grumbling about needing extra coffee.

For most people, the time shift means adjusting various clocks around the house that aren’t smart enough to adjust themselves and losing an hour of beauty rest. 

But people who work the graveyard shift might lose something else. What should employers know about timekeeping practices for workers whose shifts are affected by the time change?

The Wall Street Journal’s At Work blog recently covered research showing that hiring and dating may not be that far apart.

The study, conducted by the Kellogg School of Management, found that hiring managers approached the candidate evaluation process in a manner that resembles selecting romantic partners.

The federal government is increasingly cracking down on employers who fail to verify employment eligibility, as required by law.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) audited more companies for illegal immigrants in 2012 than ever before. Audits of employer I-9 forms increased to more than 3,000 in 2012 from 250 in 2007. 

ICE also continues to collect more fines and penalties. From 2009 to 2012, the total amount of fines grew from $1,000,000 to nearly $13,000,000. 

ICE audits are expected to grow; immigration enforcement efforts focused on employers are one of the agency’s top priorities. Employers are required by law to verify the employee eligibility of all hires and complete a Form I-9. 

ICE agents can conduct audits and can compel employers to produce I-9 forms so the forms can be inspected for compliance. Employers determined to have knowingly hired or continuing to employ unauthorized workers will be required to cease unlawful activity, may be fined and, in certain situations, may be prosecuted. 

For information on complying with Form I-9 requirements, sign-up for HR That Works. 

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released updated income-tax withholding tables for 2013 reflecting recent changes by Congress to address the “fiscal cliff.”

The updated income tax withholding tables show the new rates in effect for 2013 and supersede the tables issued on December 31, 2012. The updated tables contain the percentage method income-tax withholding tables and related information that employers need to implement these changes. 

According to the IRS:

Voters in San Jose agreed this week to hike the city’s minimum hourly wage to $10 per hour — $2 per hour above the state minimum wage. 

San Jose is now the second city in California to set its own minimum wage. Three other cities nationwide set their own minimum wage: Washington, D.C., and Santa Fe and Albuquerque, N.M. 

The first California city to set its own minimum wage, San Francisco, did so in 2003. The current minimum wage in San Francisco is $10.24 an hour. The San Francisco rate increases to $10.55 an hour beginning January 1, 2013. 

The San Jose law applies to employers who either maintain a facility in the city of San Jose or who are subject to the city’s business license tax (Chapter 4.76 of the city’s municipal code). 

Like San Francisco, the new San Jose ordinance comes with a posting requirement for employers. Employers will be required to post a notice setting forth the current San Jose minimum wage rate. 

Hurricane Sandy is a looming emergency for much of the East Coast, causing the closure of many private and government offices and crippling transportation. 

It may be impossible to ever be completely prepared for catastrophic emergencies. But employers can take proactive measures and should also be mindful of employment law obligations.

The General Election is on November 6, 2012. Employees have certain rights to take time off to vote, and employers have posting obligations.

Time Off To Vote
If an employee does not have sufficient time outside of working hours to vote in a statewide election, the employee may, without loss of pay, take up to two (2) hours of working time to vote. The time off must be taken at the beginning or end of the regular working shift, whichever gives the employee the most free time for voting and the least time off from working.

You and the employee may mutually agree to a different part of the working shift when the time off can be taken. The employee must notify you at least two (2) working days in advance to arrange a voting time.

Posting Obligations
Employers must display a poster describing voting leave requirements at least 10 days before every statewide election. For a copy of the voting leave poster, and all required posters and notices, see the Required Posters for the Workplace page on HRCalifornia and visit the CalChamber store to purchase.

Sharing Information With Employees
Employers are within their rights to communicate with employees about issues, regulations, legislation or ballot measures that will have an impact on the workplace, jobs, the economy and the employees themselves.

But employers may not take certain actions: no paycheck stuffers; no coercion; no rewarding or punishing employees (or threatening to do so) for their political activities or beliefs.

For more guidelines on political communications to employees, see this brochureprepared by the CalChamber. Note the distinction between internal communications (to employees, stockholders and their families) and communications to external audiences (such as non-stockholder retirees, outside vendors, customers or passersby).

CalChamber Urges Members to Register to Vote for November Elections
The California Chamber of Commerce is urging its members to register to vote for the November 6 General Election before the October 22 deadline.

An online link to register is available this CalChamber site. Voter registration information is available at the Secretary of State website.

The last day to register to vote for the November 6 election is October 22, 2012. To register to vote, you must be a U.S. citizen, at least 18 years of age, a resident of California, not in prison or on parole for the conviction of a felony and have not been judged by a court to be mentally incompetent to register and vote.

See the CalChamber’s positions on November ballot measures.

The California Assembly passed a bill that would create a mandated leave benefit different from federal law. AB 2039 (Swanson; D-Alameda) significantly expands the type of individuals or circumstances under which employees can take a 12-week, protected leave of absence under the California Family Rights Act (CFRA).

Current Law
Currently, CFRA requires an employer with 50 or more employees to allow an employee who worked at least 1,250 hours to take up to 12 weeks of leave in a 12-month period for his/her own serious medical condition, for the birth or placement of a child, or to care for the serious medical condition of a child, (under 18 years of age or adult dependent), spouse, or parent.

The current definition of “parent” includes step-parents as well as individuals who stand in place of a parent, “in loco parentis,” to the child. 

Expansion of CFRA
AB 2039 seeks to expand CFRA by allowing an employee a protected leave to care for adult children, parents-in-law, grandparents and siblings.

Given that the individuals proposed by AB 2039 are not covered by the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), an employee could use his/her 12 weeks of CFRA to care for the serious medical condition of a parent-in-law, then take another 12-week leave under FMLA to care for the medical condition for his/her spouse, child or parent.

Leave Already Protected
The new burden that AB 2039 creates is unnecessary. The proposed category of individuals that AB 2039 seeks to include under the protections of CFRA is generally already protected. A grandparent or step-parent who stands in loco parentis to a child, can already take a protected leave of absence under CFRA to care for that child, and vice versa. There is no need to create another exception for the parent-in-law, daughter in-law, or son-in law to also be able to take leave. 

California’s presidential primary election will happen on June 5, 2012. Your employees may be entitled to time off for voting.

If an employee does not have sufficient time outside of working hours to vote in a statewide election, the employee may, without loss of pay, take off up to two hours of working time to vote.

The time off must be taken at the beginning or end of the regular working shift, whichever allows the most free time for voting and the least time off from working, unless otherwise mutually agreed. The employee must notify you at least two working days in advance to arrange a voting time.

In addition, employees may serve as election officials on election day without being disciplined, but you are not required to pay them for these absences.

A federal district court ruled that the Department of Labor (DOL) may not implement a final rule relating to H-2B visas. The H-2B non-agricultural temporary worker program allows U.S. employers to bring foreign nationals into the U.S. to fill temporary non-agricultural jobs.

HR Informant previously reported on the DOL’s controversial final rule that revised the processes that employers must follow when obtaining a temporary labor certification from the DOL and when petitioning the Department of Homeland Security to employ a non-immigrant worker in H-2B status.