HR Snapshot

Question: Can we discipline employees for complaining about the company on social media?

Probably not. Depending on what they said, and who responded to it, their speech may be protected under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act. Section 7 protects concerted activity by employees that relates to the terms on conditions of their employment. Concerted means “in concert,” so two or more employees must be involved, but this is easily achieved on social media if a co-worker even just “likes” the post. Terms and conditions could include pay, hours, work environment, treatment from managers, benefits, or violations of labor and employment laws. Answer from Sarah, PHR, SHRM-CP:

We understand that this sort of social media activity by employees can be frustrating. One way to reduce the likelihood that employees will air their grievances on social media is to establish a means for them to do so internally. Employee surveys, comment boxes (whether physical or online), stay interviews, and true “Open Door” policies are common ways to solicit this feedback. The key is to be willing to listen and act on the information you gather. If employees believe that taking their complaints directly to a manager will end in retaliation, or that it simply won’t lead to any change, they’re more likely to keep complaining on the internet.

Question: Our busy season starts next month. Is there anything we can do to help our employees reduce their stress?

Answer from Jenny, SPHR, SHRM-SCP:

There is! Here are a few things you can do to make the busy season run as smoothly and stress-free as possible:

Remove or reassign non-essential work duties: Before the busy season begins, ask employees to make a list of tasks that others could feasibly handle for them or that could be put on hold. Then work on reassigning those tasks or simply hold off on non-essential tasks until business slows down.

Allow for flexible scheduling: If employees need to work longer hours on some days during the week, consider allowing them to work fewer hours other days of the week. Be aware, however, that some states have daily overtime laws.

Budget for overtime: Employees may need to work extra hours to get their job done, so allow them to work overtime if you (and they) can swing it. If you’re pretty sure overtime will be necessary, try to make sure employees know that ahead of time, so they can plan accordingly.

Ensure all equipment is fast and reliable: It's important to identify, troubleshoot, and correct any slow or non-working equipment issues (whether laptops, cash registers, or vehicles) before employees gets slammed with extra work. Do preventative maintenance to take one less stressor out of the busy season.

Question: During an exit interview, a departing employee accused one of our managers of harassment. Should we investigate even though the accuser is no longer employed here? The manager has been with us a long time, and we’ve never heard any complaints about him before.

Answer from Celine, SHRM-CP:

Yes, I would recommend investigating the allegations even though the accusing employee has left the organization. If your investigation shows that harassment occurred, I would recommend taking disciplinary action as appropriate.

Federal law obligates employers to prevent or stop unlawful harassment. Harassment happens when behavior is unwelcome and based on a protected class such as race, gender, age, religion, national origin, or disability. It becomes unlawful when it is severe or pervasive enough to create a hostile work environment. In this case, since you’ve been made aware of alleged sexual harassment, failing to investigate the allegations could invite risk, especially if additional complaints are made against the same individual.

Cyber Security & Your Insurance Information

Almost everyone has some kind of insurance policy covering everything from their possessions, health, loss of income, or life. We depend on it to protect our financial well-being. And, we depend on those we trust with our personal information to ensure it remains secure.

Modern society relies on so many aspects of cyber infrastructure, data storage, and transmission in the insurance marketplace. I authored Assembly Bill 819 which creates data security measures for insurance in order to mitigate the potential damage of a data breach. The law applies to insurers, insurance agents, and other entities licensed by the Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance.

Under the bill, a licensee must conduct a risk assessment. The risk assessment must identify and analyze foreseeable threats that could result in unauthorized access, transmission, disclosure, misuse, alteration, or destruction of non-public information.

An analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau states: “the bill defines “nonpublic information” to mean nonpublic electronic information in the possession, custody, or control of a licensee that is either information concerning a Wisconsin resident that can be used to identify the individual in combination with another data element, such as a Social Security number, or certain health-related information that can be used to identify a Wisconsin resident.”

Based on their individual risk assessment, each licensee or third party provider shall develop, implement, and maintain a comprehensive written information security program. Included within each individual security program will be administrative, technical, and physical safeguards for the external and internal protection of nonpublic information and the licensee’s information system. insurer domiciled in Wisconsin and submitted to the Insurance Commissioner by March 1st of each year. If an insurer identifies areas, systems or processes that require material improvement, updating or redesign, it will be required to document the identification and the remedial efforts to address them. Their documentation must be available for inspection by the Commissioner of Insurance.

The Legislative Reference Bureau’s analysis additionally stated: “The bill also requires that a licensee develop an incident response plan to promptly respond to, and recover from, a cybersecurity event that compromises the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of nonpublic information, the licensee’s information systems, or the continuing functionality of the licensee’s business or operations.”

As chairman of the Assembly Committee on Insurance, I’ve been working with the Wisconsin insurance industry for the last 3 years in drafting Wisconsin’s redline version of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Data Security Model Law. Supporting the bill is a vast coalition including: Wisconsin Insurance Alliance, Wisconsin Council of Life Insurers, Professional Insurance Agents, Independent Insurance Agents, National Association Independent Financial Advisors, American Health Insurance Plans, Alliance of Health Insurers, and Office of the Commissioner of Insurance in both Governor Walker’s and Governor Evers’ administrations.

Wisconsin’s home to 346 domiciled insurance companies, employing about 82,000 people, including over 37,000 agents. Assembly Bill 819 creating data security measures for insurance protects not only the insurance industry and its place in Wisconsin, but protects you and your personal information collected by the insurance industry.

Additionally, individual plans must define and periodically reevaluate a schedule for retention of nonpublic information and a mechanism for its destruction when the information is no longer needed.