There's so much to love about Halloween, like seeing toddlers in adorable fuzzy bunny costumes or watching older kids flaunt their own wildly inventive disguises. Carving pumpkins, drinking cider, trick-or-treating, attend parties, and eat yummy treats add up to an enjoyable fall holiday.

As Hurricane Sandy bears down on the eastern seaboard, employers should begin to plan ahead for any weather-related closures of their offices, factories or other facilities.  The effect of a storm closure on compensation requirements varies for different types of employees and also varies by state.

We previously reported that a San Diego Superior Court found See's Candy Shops violated California law by rounding employee time entries to the nearest-tenth of an hour, and that the California Supreme Court ordered the Fourth District Court of Appeal to review the case and decide the rounding issue.  On Monday, the Court of Appeal decided the issue of first impression in a published decisionand held that “the rule in California is that an employer is entitled to use the nearest-tenth rounding policy if the rounding policy is fair and neutral on its face and ‘it is used in such a manner that it will not result, over a period of time, in failure to compensate the employees properly for all the time they have actually worked.”  This comes as great news to thousands of employers across California who utilize similar neutral rounding policies.    

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 Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced cost of living adjustments affecting dollar limitations for pension plans and other retirement-related items for Tax Year 2013. 

In general, many of the pension plan limitations will change for 2013 because the increase in the cost-of-living index met the statutory thresholds that trigger their adjustment.  However, other limitations will remain unchanged because the increase in the index did not meet the statutory thresholds that trigger their adjustment.

The IRS adjustments make changes to:

The minimum wage in San Francisco will increase to $10.55 per hour, effective January 1, 2013:

In August, HRInformant blogged on the progress of proposed amendments to California’s pregnancy regulations and disability discrimination regulations. California’s Fair Employment and Housing Commission (FEHC) completed its changes to the regulations.

The FEHC filed the changes with the Office of Administrative Law (OAL), which can take up to 30 working days to accept or reject the proposed changes to the regulations. The deadline for the OAL to respond to the disability discrimination regulations is November 27, 2012, and the deadline to decide on the pregnancy disability regulations is November 30, 2012. 

If the OAL does approve the proposed regulations, the new regulations will be filed with the Secretary of State and become effective in 30 days. If the OAL does not approve the proposed changes, the changes would be sent back to the FEHC for revision and a new notice to the public. 

The proposed changes to pregnancy disability leave (PDL) regulations include:

California's Employment Development Department administers the State Disability Insurance (SDI) program, which is a partial wage-replacement insurance plan for California workers.  

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.