But if you have a product or agency that was created to manage private and sensitive data, it is incumbent on YOU to create processes and tools to help users handle that information properly.

Since employer group plans need to offer the same coverage to everyone, employer-sponsored plans are sometimes the only way that people with serious or chronic health conditions can get any disability or life insurance at all. 

West Hollywood has two types of protected leave, each of which follows its own accrual schedule: Uncompensated Leave (what’s the point?) where you can take unpaid time off without getting fired; Compensated Leave that you can take for whatever reason you damned well please. Compensated Leave (CL) can fall under your combined/vacation policy, but it accrues much faster and has a higher limit than state sick time.  Which means that people can accrue up to 4.8 weeks of time off

To state the obvious: When you mess with people’s rights, sh*t gets real. And there are IRL consequences when you get the balance wrong.

Most states have regulations that fall into a few easy categories: Do you protect 12 weeks of leave, even if the company isn’t covered by FMLA? Do you have a state-paid program?

Every law tells a story. Something happened to make the legislature need to put a law in writing. This labor poster from Georgia is no exception. And the story it tells is pretty grim.

Every decision looks different in the abstract vs. when you have a real person sitting in front of you. If fairness requires that someone makes a decision that feels shitty, give your decision-makers the context that they need to follow the policy (and still sleep at night).

I’m launching a Substack where I’ll anthologize my more informational content into practical, educational posts that tell you how I actually GSD.  You can expect thrilling topics like state labor regulations, insurance regulations, payroll tax insights, deep dives into obscure payroll settings, workflow design, free practical resources, calls to action, and buttons to click.

The worst states to have a baby in are the ones with no state-paid programs at all. You'd be better off if you were laid off. At least then you’d be eligible for unemployment. But it would be illegal to lay you off for having a baby, of course. So I guess the people in these states are screwed.

I get that it’s expensive to pay someone not to work for several months, but there are strong business reasons why you should do it anyway. 

If you’ve been trapped in your workplace unable to leave, eating Doritos from the vending machine for dinner and sleeping under your desk, should you be paid for that time?

Here's a rule of thumb: The best states to work in are some of the worst states to work with.

Spybots... I mean, 'AI notetakers' freak me out. Not because I’m paranoid. Because I sit in on a lot of meetings that people wouldn’t want recorded. Luckily, I live in California, which is a two-party consent state.  Meaning those nosey little spybots need to announce themselves. 

These days, it seems obvious that workers should be able to demand an accurate accounting for their time. But it wasn’t always that way. 

But hang on, what’s the point of making someone find a printer, and a scanner, and a pen, and those little “sign here” stickies anyway? Why, crime, of course!

The most common reason to hold on to employment records is because at some point, someone is going to need them. You may get a zombie tax letter with a five-figure fine from a state where no one’s worked for years. An employee may go through a nasty divorce and need payroll records from several years ago. Someone could file a complaint of systemic bias, and you’ll need complete records going back years to defend yourself. You may want to run a report on long-term trends and n

When someone is paid for a day they didn't work, it MUST be entered into payroll as some kind of Paid Time Off type. Otherwise, there's no way to pay it. Most of the uncommon leave types don't allow negative balances in payroll systems. So if your time off isn't allocated to another bucket, it can't get paid. The discrepancy could even block payroll and prevent everyone from getting paid.

Your handbook should help people make decisions. Not just disciplinary decisions. The handbook should draw bright lines where possible, and give guidance for situations that are unclear. Your handbook should give guidance on the unspoken habits your organization runs on.

Most of the Louvre’s collection is literally priceless. Meaning that their value as historical artifacts is unquantifiable. You can’t take out an insurance policy on something that’s invaluable. The cost would be prohibitive.

Did you know that if your company has more than 50 employees (100 in CA, CO, NY, and VT), the employer sees all the prescriptions people take?  They don’t know who, but if there are fewer than 100 people it’s pretty easy to guess who needed a prescription to control their excessive underarm sweating. Or who's on Lithium.