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The Retail Employer

 December 2006

Reminder to Employers About Absences Due to Jury Duty, Court Appearances

by David E. Nagle

The Code of Virginia was amended last year to provide greater protection to employees who are absent from work due to jury duty or a court appearance.

Virginia Code § 18.2-465.1 provides, in part:

Any person who is summoned to serve on jury duty, or any person, except a defendant in a criminal case, who is summoned or subpoenaed to appear in any court of law … shall neither be discharged from employment nor have any adverse personnel action taken against him, nor shall be required to use sick leave or vacation time, as a result of his absence from employment due to such jury duty or court appearance, upon giving reasonable notice to his employer of such court appearance or summons.

What does this mean? It means that you cannot discipline or discharge the employee, nor can you require that the employee utilize his or her sick leave or vacation leave. However, it does not mean that you have to pay an hourly employee during the time that he or she is away from work. The employee can, of course, be paid for the time away from work if he or she voluntarily chooses to use accrued vacation or other paid leave that has been made available. An exempt employee, who is paid salary basis compensation, would be entitled to receive his or her full salary despite a partial day absence.

The Virginia statute also limits the requirements that an employer may impose with respect to requiring employees to work on a day when they have had jury duty. “No person who is summoned and appears for jury duty for four or more hours, including travel time, in one day shall be required to start any work shift that begins on or after 5:00 p.m. on the day of his appearance for jury duty, or begins before 3:00 a.m. on the day following the day of his appearance for jury duty.”

As good corporate citizens, employers should never discourage employees from serving jury duty. I encourage employers to have policies that minimize the financial impact of jury service upon an employee. Policies relating to compensation while an employee is appearing as a witness, however, require careful consideration and drafting. One local firm recognized this only when it discovered that its policy was written so broadly as to require that an employee receive full pay while she was out of work – during the trial of her lawsuit against her employer.

David E. Nagle frequently conducts seminars for members of the Retail Merchants Association, and has been retained by the Association to assist retail members through the Labor Law Information Program. David has advised and represented employers with respect to legal issues in the workplace for 25 years. Recently David joined Jackson Lewis, and opened the firm’s Richmond office. Jackson Lewis has 400 attorneys in 27 cities across the country, representing management exclusively in workplace law and related litigation. He may be reached at (804) 648-4077, or by email at nagled@jacksonlewis.com

Calls requesting information on the Labor Law Information Program should be directed to Preston Perrin with the Retail Merchants Association at 804-662-5500. << Back to top

Refresh Your Space Before the Ball Drops

Set Your Workplace Up For Success with These 5 Tips

The holidays bring merriment and celebration – and hopefully a few days away from work! Before you leave the office to celebrate with friends and family, take a little time to set things up for a fresh start when you return.

Set new passwords. Take time before this year ends to set new, secure passwords for each of your accounts. Avoid using personal information or a one-word password. These passwords are easy to hack, compromising your security. Instead, try using a password that includes letters, numbers and special characters. To help your memory, create a pass-phrase that consists of letters and numbers in a sentence. For example, use something you want to remember anyway, like “I must pick up my kids at 3,” using “impumk@3” as your password. Or, combine important words and numbers like your son’s name and age, alternating “Ryan” and “son,” adding the age of “6” to form “Rsyoann6,” a very secure password.

Organize your electronic files. Archive and file e-mail, documents and other electronic files that you no longer need to access regularly to free up space and make reference easy later on. Delete e-mail messages that you won’t need for future reference. If you have duplicate documents, keep the most updated one and delete unneeded extras. For computer files, create topical folders for each project and organize within those folders by year. Keep it simple and easy to navigate, creating desktop shortcuts to the folders you access the most.

Toss old documents. Do you really need to keep that interoffice memo about last year’s Valentine’s party or the three-inch thick manual for a computer program you stopped using years ago? Carve out a few hours of time before you leave for the holidays to sort through all your paper documents. Make a goal of throwing out 50% of your pile – you’ll never miss it. Research shows that people don’t touch most of their paper files again after they’re stored away. Go through every file, pile and folder, tossing anything you have saved electronically along with items you don’t need to keep for record purposes. Get every piece of paper off your desk and in its place so you can return to work without feeling overwhelmed by the paper mountain. Often, cluttered papers don’t require work, but they can make you feel buried in a sea of to-dos if they aren’t out of sight.

Record a new voicemail greeting. Chances are, you recorded your voicemail message the week you started and haven’t thought about it since. Taking a few moments to record a new, personalized voicemail message at the start of the year will encourage repeat callers to leave you messages since they will know you don’t ignore your message system. Add a personal message and speak with energy and enthusiasm to create a memorable, professional greeting.

Change your workspace. Changing up your work landscape can help you have a fresh mindset when you start work again after a break. Try rearranging your setup by moving your desk or computer or rearranging shelves and drawers. If you have a standard workspace setup you can’t change, add something new like an updated family photo or put a favorite photo in a new picture frame. Purchase a new office plant or coffee mug you can enjoy. Take down old, faded posters and documents and minimize the visual clutter in your space.

Share these tips with your staff and schedule a few hours for the team to de-clutter their desks. You will find that holiday joy will linger when you return to work with a clean, organized workspace set up for a productive new year .

This article is reprinted with permission of www.ExpressPersonnel.com. Contact Mr. Lars Nordin at Lars.Nordin@ExpressPersonnel.com if you would like to be added to their distribution list.

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The Power of Delegation

The reality is that we must delegate in order to have some peace of mind and grow our business successfully. We cannot be everywhere and do everything. You must believe in your people.

Here are some reasons why it is important to delegate:

  • It multiplies your ability to get things done.
  • It allows you to do more important priorities which you do not get to now
  • It improves employee morale by giving them value and your confidence.
  • It improves your quality of life.

Some delegation points:

Selecting the right person is one of the most important keys to being effective. The skill and desire to grow are critical. It is fully acceptable that they never had a project like this before.

Establish results that are clear, measurable and obtainable and give subordinates all relevant information to complete the task.

Your role is to coach and provide feedback to keep them on track. Have periodic reviews of progress; if you have a monthly goal meet weekly to have subordinate review results.

In Summary,

  • Delegation is essential for your success.
  • Be specific and clearly define your expectations.
  • Always measure result to be achieved and not the activity.
  • Your subordinates need coaching and feedback to perform well.
    — Give public praise when it is due
    — Provide constructive feedback to keep them back on track

Always remember to value subordinate’s involvement.

This article is reprinted with permission of Mike Dunleavey, mikedunleavey@iib.ws, Executive Associate - Business Support Center - Retail Merchants Association.

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Virginia Business Empowerment Conference

The Metropolitan Business League of Richmond, Virginia (MBL), is planning its annual Virginia Business Empowerment Conference Feb. 9–10, 2007 at the Richmond Marriott Downtown.  The MBL represents small and minority business owners and will be hosting several workshops throughout the day on Feb. 9th, featuring noted national speakers during the opening plenary and luncheon. They are inviting RMA members to promote their products in 250 conference attendee bags.  Please contact Tammy D. Hawley, HCI Consulting, Inc., 804-795-4322, 804-795-4396 (fax), 410-299-2782 (mobile) for more information.

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