Comstock's magazine 0620 - June June 2020 | Page 16

EVIL HR LADY
DILEMMA OF THE MONTH
How Working Remotely
Can Be Effective for
Your Company
BY Suzanne Lucas
ILLUSTRATION: JOHN CHASE
We’re considering making the temporary measures
for people to work from home caused by the
coronavirus lockdown more formal to keep our
business going. What are our obligations as
employers? Do we have to pay for the internet? How
do we make sure our time cards are correct? How do
we keep people engaged?
Each one of these questions could merit
its own answer. Quick fixes were needed
to deal with the coronavirus crisis, and
everyone acted quickly and did the best
they could. But with the expectation that
working remotely might become more
widely adopted, it’s becoming obvious
that it would be easier if things had been
done right in the first place. So let’s sort
out as much as we can.
First, does an employer have to pay
for the internet? California law requires
businesses to reimburse employees for
all business expenses. Typically, everyone
thinks about things like business
travel and mileage reimbursement, and
no one worries about it when people
work from home to wait for the air conditioner
repair person to show up. But
with more people expected to continue
working from home full time, employers
are obligated to pay for their workers’
home internet access, since it is necessary
to do their jobs. The same goes for
any equipment they need to purchase to
do their jobs.
Time cards are another issue that
employers can’t get wrong. Nonexempt
employees must be paid for all hours
worked, regardless of whether they are
consecutive or done in between homeschooling
and toilet paper hunting. If an
employee works more than 40 hours in
a week or eight hours in a day, they get
16 comstocksmag.com | June 2020