HR Workforce Solutions
By Nonprofits, For Nonprofits
Nonprofits play a vital role in society by indirectly boosting the economy. Just like their for-profit counterparts, they have payroll, pay mortgages and utilities and have overhead costs. Unlike for-profits, they rely primarily on grants, donors and the community for financial support – making it all the more important that they understand the financial risks they face.
Earlier this year, the findings from a study put out by SeaChange Capital Partners, Oliver Wyman and GuideStar, “The Financial Health of the United States Nonprofit Sector: Facts and Observations,” were released and the results signaled an urgency for improved risk management to reduce the likelihood of financial distress within the sector.
Some key takeaways from this report include:
If you missed it, download your copy today and learn how you can either put a holistic risk management framework in place or enhance your current risk management practices!
Question: Can we advertise for a specific gender for home health aide positions? (Some of our clients feel very strongly about having a same sex aide help them with their bathing and changing needs).
Answer: This question has been reviewed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as it relates to employment discrimination, particularly in service and health-related professions. And while the courts have consistently ruled that employers in personal service firms cannot discriminate based on “client preference” relating to race or national origin, this issue of gender preference has been open to more interpretation. Here’s why:
While Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of race (color), sex, religion and national origin, it does allow an employer to have hiring preferences based upon “bona fide occupational qualifications” (BFOQs).
Some employers have taken these BFOQs to mean that if a client or patient demands not to be taken care of by someone outside of the patient’s race or nationality, then the employer could use the client’s demand as a BFOQ. The EEOC and the courts have expressly said that race can never be a BFOQ and that there are very few instances where national origin could be a BFOQ (and those instances are generally around language barriers, not cultural or religious ones).
However, in the case of sex/gender, the courts have ruled that it is unlawful gender discrimination in employment for a healthcare employer to have a policy saying that female patients get only female caregivers while male patients may be assigned either male or female caregivers. However, a health care employer can honor a specific request from a patient for a same-sex caregiver, without violating the laws against discrimination, but only if the care to be given involves issues of intimate personal privacy, such as a patient’s preference not to have an opposite-sex caregiver assisting with toileting or cleansing the patient’s body. The courts have gone on to say, however, that there must be a request from the patient for a same-sex caregiver, rather than a blanket policy excluding opposite sex caregivers. The blanket policy initiated by the employer could lead to legitimate charges of gender discrimination.
We would encourage you to review the types of work your employees are doing for your clients and document the instances of intimate personal care where the client has requested an aide of a certain gender. Do not institute a blanket policy where female clients are attended by female aides and male clients by male aides. Review each situation on a case-by-case basis to ensure that there is no unlawful discrimination or discriminatory intent.
Q&A provided by ThinkHR, powering the UST HR Workplace for nonprofit HR teams. Have HR questions? Sign your nonprofit up for a free 30-day trial here.
Three questions—questions that could be solved with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’—determined who could, and who could not, collect unemployment benefits.
In recent years though, the question of which employees deserve to be able to collect has become a much more complicated topic as budgets have been restricted and more and more jobless workers apply for unemployment benefits.
But now, another complicated topic of discussion has arisen: Should millionaires that meet all other standards be allowed to collect unemployment insurance benefits?
First debated on the Senate floor after a Congressional Research Service report revealed that almost 2,400 people with annual household incomes topping $1 million, and another 954,000 with incomes topping $100,000, received unemployment insurance benefits in 2009 the question has received shocked attention.
While these groups only make up 0.08 percent of the 11.3 million U.S. tax filers who reported unemployment insurance income in 2009, the report was released after about 1.1 million people exhausted their jobless benefits during the second quarter of 2012. The timing of the release served to further drive home the importance of finding a long term solution for state unemployment insurance trust funds, many of which have run low, as another 4.6 million jobless workers filed for benefits.
As the nationwide jobless rate continues to remain around 8 percent, and more jobless benefits run out, the question of who collects unemployment benefits must be definitely answered. But, what other questions will the answer reveal?
Would you be surprised to learn that 1 in 10 people work for a nonprofit? Or that, the nonprofit sector makes more money–every year— than the economies of Saudi Arabia, and Sweden combined?
Sometimes we forget the incredible impact of the nonprofit sector overall, but this short video, made by YouTube contributor PhilanthropyGuy, did a good job reminding us at UST! Take a moment and watch it, and let us know what you think. Were you as surprised, and impressed, at everything nonprofits do?
Have you ever critiqued a coworker because of their overbearing tendencies or their abrasive personality? Don’t worr y; you’re not alone in your frustrations. However, learning to dissect and identify your own and others’ personality traits can actually increase work ethic and strengthen internal relationships—paving the way for a stronger organization overall.
For nonprofits, employees’ collaborative efforts are often the key element to mission advancement. But clashing personalities working toward the same goal can lead to resentment and impatience in the work place.
Learning to recognize and understand others’ personality strengths and weaknesses can help you appreciate the diverse environment you work in. Specifically, nonprofits can take advantage of their diversity when it comes to improving their employment procedures and ensuring ongoing structural soundness.
Basic working styles can often be separated into 4 broad categories:
Whichever working style team members possess doesn’t really matter by itself. What most affects a nonprofit’s success is the compilation of strengths your team brings to the table and your team’s ability to successfully work together as a cohesive unit. As long as you understand and utilize everyone’s unique abilities, pertinent to your team’s progress, your nonprofit will continue to flourish.
UST offers their highest attended webinar- learn more about the unique tax alternative provided to 501(c)(3) nonprofits.
UST, a program dedicated to providing nonprofits with dedicated HR support and educational tools, presents a short on-demand webinar to showcase some of the most common unemployment & HR risks that are costing nonprofits thousands of dollars annually.
UST shares insights into their many service offerings as well as best practices that can help reduce costs and streamline workforce processes.
This educational webinar also teaches nonprofits about:
“Whether your primary focus to protect your assets, ensure compliance, reduce unemployment costs or to simply allocate more time and money to your mission-driven initiatives, this webinar can provide invaluable insight that can help you to refocus your funding and employee bandwidth on the communities you serve,” said Donna Groh, Executive Director of UST.
This webinar will also explore UST’s holistic program, which is already helping more than 2,200 participating nonprofits lower their unemployment and HR liability. If you work for a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with 10 or more full time employees, be sure to watch this webinar today!
Nonprofits play a vital role in society by indirectly boosting the economy. Just like their for-profit counterparts, they have payroll, pay mortgages and utilities and have overhead costs. Unlike for-profits, they rely primarily on grants, donors and the community for financial support – making it all the more important that they understand the financial risks they face.
Earlier this year, the findings from a study put out by SeaChange Capital Partners, Oliver Wyman and GuideStar, “The Financial Health of the United States Nonprofit Sector: Facts and Observations,” were released and the results signaled an urgency for improved risk management to reduce the likelihood of financial distress within the sector.
Some key takeaways from this report include:
If you missed it, download your copy today and learn how you can either put a holistic risk management framework in place or enhance your current risk management practices!
Taking the time to alter employee handbook policies at least once a year can mitigate employment related lawsuits and ensure your nonprofit’s overall progression.
As milestone employment laws change, even laws not directly impacting employment– including state-by-state changes in regulations regarding medical marijuana and gun carry permits– your employee handbook must clearly identify and address your organization’s policies regarding legal changes that impact your organization.
If you don’t help keep your staff properly informed, you can’t expect them to decipher what’s work appropriate and what’s not. And if you do leave it up to individual employees to decipher what is an isn’t appropriate, your organization is left open to employment related lawsuits and expensive, improperly collected unemployment benefit claims.
Some of the most important policies you should re-examine, if you haven’t done so in the past 6 months are:
Remember, you need to be consistent and effective with employee handbook updates. Rather than completely changing everything, learn how to simplify wording and tweak pre-existing policies. (There’s no need to reinvent the wheel if you don’t absolutely need to.)
But the most important thing that you must do is educate your employees on their behavior and rights at the workplace; it’s beneficial to all parties involved.
Whenever the Handbook is updated, take the time to double check that you have proof of receipt from everyone since it’s imperative that you keep these easily accessible at all times. Without proof of receipt, your organization is open to improper unemployment claims, lawsuits, and all sorts of other slippery slopes.
When everyone at your organization shares the same views on organizational rules and expectations, you lessen the risk of confusion and unintended misconduct. An updated handbook leads to a consensus on expected behavior and attitude—paving the way for a more harmonious work experience for everyone.
Learn more about how to update your Employee Handbook here.
Question: Can we maintain a zero-tolerance marijuana use policy in our workplace if medical marijuana use is legal in the state?
Answer: Yes, you can. Employers have an absolute right to maintain a drug-free workplace and do not have to allow or tolerate drug use or intoxication in the workplace. Although some states permit the use of marijuana for both medicinal and recreational purposes, most state laws provide exemptions for employers to prohibit the use of marijuana in the workplace. If you maintain a drug-free workplace, then your employees may be subject to discipline and/or termination when working under the influence of marijuana (i.e., on-the-job intoxication). In states where marijuana use has been legalized for medical or recreational purposes, employers may elect to establish intoxication standards for marijuana metabolites, rather than imposing discipline for any presence of the drug. However, this standard must be applied consistently and regularly to all employees.
As of February 2016, marijuana continues to be an illegal drug under federal law (which trumps state laws), and employers are not required to permit on-the-job use of or marijuana intoxication by employees or applicants. You may discipline employees who are legally using marijuana under state law but who are in violation of your workplace policy, because under the law, employees are not protected from being fired for failing a drug test.
Alternatively, you may elect to accommodate your employee’s medical marijuana use, but the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) does not require you to reasonably accommodate current unlawful drug use. Employees who claim disability discrimination for their medical marijuana use may attempt to file under the ADA. However, the ADA excludes current illegal drug users from protection; therefore, employers are free to conduct drug tests on employees, subject to certain limitations, to detect the presence of illegal drug use.
Refer to your state’s laws on employer rights and medical marijuana law. Additionally, you may want to update your policies to ensure you are clear about whether you will accommodate marijuana use in the workplace and the subsequent action should an employee be found using marijuana.
Finally, keep in mind that this issue can be complicated. When in doubt, seek legal counsel to ensure compliance.
Q&A provided by ThinkHR, powering the UST HR Workplace for nonprofit HR teams. Have HR questions? Sign your nonprofit up for a free 30-day trial here.
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Your use of this site and the provision of basic information constitute your consent for UST to use the information supplied.
UST may collect generic information about overall website traffic, and use other analytical information and tools to help us improve our website and provide the best possible information and service. As you browse UST’s website, cookies may also be placed on your computer so that we can better understand what information our visitors are most interested in, and to help direct you to other relevant information. These cookies do not collect personal information such as your name, email, postal address or phone number. To opt out of some of these cookies, click here. If you are a Twitter user, and prefer not to have Twitter ad content tailored to you, learn more here.
Further, our website may contain links to other sites. Anytime you connect to another website, their respective privacy policy will apply and UST is not responsible for the privacy practices of others.
This Privacy Policy and the Terms of Use for our site is subject to change.
UST maintains a secure site. This means that information we obtain from you in the process of enrolling is protected and cannot be viewed by others. Information about your agency is provided to our various service providers once you enroll in UST for the purpose of providing you with the best possible service. Your information will never be sold or rented to other entities that are not affiliated with UST. Agencies that are actively enrolled in UST are listed for review by other agencies, UST’s sponsors and potential participants, but no information specific to your agency can be reviewed by anyone not affiliated with UST and not otherwise engaged in providing services to you except as required by law or valid legal process.
Your use of this site and the provision of basic information constitute your consent for UST to use the information supplied.
UST may collect generic information about overall website traffic, and use other analytical information and tools to help us improve our website and provide the best possible information and service. As you browse UST’s website, cookies may also be placed on your computer so that we can better understand what information our visitors are most interested in, and to help direct you to other relevant information. These cookies do not collect personal information such as your name, email, postal address or phone number. To opt out of some of these cookies, click here. If you are a Twitter user, and prefer not to have Twitter ad content tailored to you, learn more here.
Further, our website may contain links to other sites. Anytime you connect to another website, their respective privacy policy will apply and UST is not responsible for the privacy practices of others.
This Privacy Policy and the Terms of Use for our site is subject to change.
The phrase, “the world is shrinking,” symbolizes the global influence of technological growth and innovation. While most people stress over these ongoing changes, developing thorough and consistent change management procedures often restores a much needed sense of control in the workplace.
While change affects every work sector, nonprofits in particular often view change in two opposing viewpoints—either as opportunity for mission advancement or as a risk for total organizational downfall. By analyzing the most predominant changes seen throughout the nonprofit world, these organizations can better predict and prepare for such adjustments.
Changes prevalent throughout the nonprofit workforce include:
Though change can be difficult, it can be an asset used to further a nonprofit’s overall development, as long as proper procedures are followed.
Here are a few methods to help you cope with change:
While you can’t always control change, you can control how you react and integrate change within your organization. Because change is often unexpected, it’s important to learn from your mistakes and keep tabs on what was done right. Remember, without change, the world is static. And change is what gives your nonprofit the ability to move forward.
Read more about change management here.