Church Executive CHURCH EXECUTIVE NOV-DEC 2017 DIGITAL

BEST EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES FOR HOUSES OF WORSHIP Frank Sommerville, JD, CPA — in partnership with Church Mutual Insurance Company — discusses harassment, hiring practices, terminating employees, and wage/overtime rules compliance. Do common employment laws extend to every employee? Sommerville: Some of the laws that we’re going to talk about apply even if you have one employee, while other laws that we’re going to talk about apply only if you have 15 or more employees. Employment law is found in federal statutes, but it’s also found in state statutes and city ordinances and county statutes. So, there are multiple layers of regulation over employment law. I’m going to be addressing the federal law today. You need to talk to an employment lawyer in your locale to determine what the state and local laws are that will also govern your employment practices. How is ‘harassment’ defined by law? Sommerville: It is unwanted attention paid to you based on your gender. So, it can be extremely subjective. That is part of why it’s hard to fit a single definition into a policy or procedure. However, you should regularly inform your employees that harassment for any reason is not going to be tolerated, and you need to tell them about the procedure that should be followed if it occurs to them. What procedures should be followed in the event of a situation involving harassment? Sommerville: With a serious harassment — meaning inappropriate touching or a condition of a promotion or a raise being tied to them doing sexual acts — that needs to be reported immediately. Otherwise, you should at least try to deal with that with the harasser first. Frank Sommerville, JD, CPA Shareholder Weycer, Kaplan, Pulaski & Zuber, P.C. 28 CHURCH EXECUTIVE | NOV / DEC 2017 How should staff handle these reports? Sommerville: Many times, the person reporting it wants confidentiality, but you can’t guarantee that because sometimes you might have to interview other witnesses to determine whether harassment took place. You need to have a very prompt investigation after it’s reported.

Church Executive CHURCH EXECUTIVE NOV-DEC 2017 DIGITAL | Página 28