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Managing People I

  • Opening Considerations
  • Establishing the Employment Relationship
  • Administering the Ongoing Employment Relationship
  • Terminating Employment Relationship

Staff and Employees

Make sure that before you begin a nonprofit you have read and are correctly following all legal requirements. The information and resources listed on this site will help you become familiar with the laws about personnel and volunteer matters and about resolving any problems that may arise.

Click below for a specific item about staff and employees

Opening Considerations
Establishing the Employment Relationship
Administering the Ongoing Employment Relationship
Terminating Employment Relationships

Opening Considerations

Authority
In a small or start-up organization, the president will usually be in charge for most personnel matters. A good site to start with is the Employment and Training Administration
http://www.doleta.gov

Application of Legal Standards
Specific items such as the number of employees or the amount of income the nonprofit makes, determine the legal standards you must follow. Make sure you have read and are following all laws (Frierson, James G. "Preventing Employment Lawsuits An Employer's Guide to Hiring, Discipline and Discharge," The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc., 1994. 1-31). The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services can also assist you
http://www.jfs.ohio.com

For information on employment taxes
http://tax.ohio.gov/
http://www.columbustax.net/.

Equal Employment Laws
Important federal, state or local laws do not allow you to discriminate based on personal characteristics such as race, age, religion and national origin (Frierson 1-31) and (Pianko, Howard and Samuels, David G. "Nonprofit Compensation, Benefits, and Employment Law," John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1998. 245-320).

An Internet site with good information is the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's (EEOC)
http://www.eeoc.gov/.

Another good site is
http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/fs-race.html

Every employer should display this poster about federal harassment and discrimination laws
http://www.eeoc.gov/posterform.html

You may also want to look at information about the Americans with Disability Act which is at
http://www.jan.wvu.edu/links/adalinks.htm

Expressed and Implied Policies
A knowledgeable person should create employment policies and procedures. It could be a lawyer or an experienced employee of the nonprofit. These policies are written and often included in a personnel handbook.

Rules that the employer and the employee must follow can be created by patterns that have been followed in the past, such as the reasons why someone can take a personal day. Information about such policies can be found at
http://www.doleta.gov
(Employment and Training Administration)

http://www.jfs.ohio.gov/index.stm
(Ohio Dept. of Job and Family Services).

An index of employment policy issues can be found at
http://www.dol.gov/compliance/guide/minwage.htm.

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Establishing the Employment Relationship

Employee or Independent Contractor Relationship
How does the nonprofit choose whether to have work performed by a staff person or an outside contractor and what are the consequences? This is a complicated decision and requires careful planning (Frierson 57-60) (London, Sheldon I. "How to Comply With Federal Employee Laws, 1-17). For information about beginning and running small businesses
http://www.inc.com/partners/intel/

Background Checks
Some are initially mandatory and some are optional. Background checks may be important for particular jobs, but can be expensive (Frierson 78-86). A good place to start would be the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services
http://www.jfs.ohio.gov/index.stm

Application
Good job applications prevent many problems later on. The well thought out application will give the employer important information such as the candidate's past work history, education level and experience, etc. (Frierson, pp. 74-78). See the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services' Web site
http://www.jfs.ohio.gov/index.stm

Interview
Interviews are critical in deciding whether an applicant will fit your needs. It is also important to understand the legal requirements as to what you are legally not allowed to ask during an interview (Weiss, Donald H. "Fair, Square & Legal Safe Hiring, Management & Firing Practices to Keep You & Your Company Out of Court" (3rd Edition), American Management Association, 2000. 33-51). Again, good sites to review are the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services' site at
http://www.jfs.ohio.gov/

Society for Human Resource Management
http://www.dol.gov/compliance/guide/fmla.htm

Employment Agreement
Agreements can be expressed (written/oral) or implied. How do you, your employees and volunteers know what they are required to do on the job? There should be a job description or employment agreement, which makes that clear (Frierson 66-72). The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services' site can help:
http://www.jfs.ohio.gov/index.stm

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Administering the Ongoing Employment Relationship

Some of the laws regulating the employment relationship are:

Employment Taxes
Nonprofit organizations are responsible for paying payroll taxes including federal, FICA (Social Security), state and sometimes local. Your nonprofit organization is required to obtain an employer ID number to tell you apart from other organizations paying taxes.

Sites with information on employment taxes and ID numbers are
http://tax.ohio.gov/
http://www.columbustax.net/

For specific information about Social Security
http://www.ssa.gov (Social Security Administration).

Employment Policies
Policy standards such as evaluation, discipline, promotion and medical/vacation leave should be written and included in the staff handbook (Frierson Chapter 4). For information on the Family Medical Leave Act
http://www.opm.gov/oca/leave/HTML/fmlafac2.asp
http://www.dol.gov/compliance/guide/index.htm

Unemployment Compensation
Every employer must decide whether it is covered by Ohio unemployment compensation and how to meet the required terms. For information, view the Web site of the Ohio Office of Unemployment Compensation
http://jfs.ohio.gov/ouc/

Worker's Compensation
Every employer must decide whether it is covered by Ohio worker's compensation and how to meet the required terms. For information, view the Bureau of Workers' Compensation's Internet site at http://www.ohiobwc.com/

Employment Retirement Income Security Act [ERISA]
This federal law regulates specified employee benefits and retirement plans (London 131-134). Internet information can be found at
http://www.dol.gov/compliance/guide/fmla.htm
and at
http://www.dol.gov/dolfaq/dolfaqbytopic.asp?topicID=4&topictitle=Retirement+Plans+%26+Benefits-

Federal Fair Labor Standards Act
This federal law controls specific payment issues such as overtime and minimum wage requirements (London 19-38). Federal Fair Labor Standards Act information is online at
http://nlrb.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/nlrb.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php

National Labor Relations Act (NLRB)
The main purpose of this federal law is to regulate the relationship between employer, employees and unions (London 113-118). Visit the NLRB Web site at
http://www.nlrb.gov/.

Other helpful information can be found at
http://www.eeoc.gov/abouteeo/overview_laws.html
http://www.eeoc.gov/abouteeo/overview_practices.html.

State Employment Laws
These state laws include guidelines about items such as the employment of minors, wages, hours, etc. Visit the Ohio Wage Hour Web site
http://198.234.41.198/w3/webwh.nsf?Opendatabase

Frequently Asked Questions - Employment Law
http://www.clelaw.lib.oh.us/public/misc/faqs/employment.html

Liability Insurance
Liability insurance coverage is extremely important for employment-related matters such as sexual harassment, verbal abuse, etc. Talk with your insurance carrier about appropriate coverage. You can find information at
http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/hse40.pdf
(Employers liability act 1969)

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Terminating Employment Relationships

Terminating an employee from your corporation is one of the most sensitive and difficult decisions a manager has to make. This requires careful thought about laws such as discrimination laws, requirements of continuing to give insurance to the employee after being let go, unemployment payment coverage and standards of legally or illegally getting rid of an employee. Talking first with an attorney will be important when choosing and creating these policies for the staff handbook and in making decisions about a specific employee (Weiss 237-279) (Frierson 149-228). Information about insurance requirements
http://www.dol.gov/ebsa
http://www.dol.gov

Continue Managing the People II

  • Duties of Employees/Board/Volunteers
  • Managing Conflicts (Volunteers, Board and Staff)
  • Running Effective Meetings
  • Conflict of Interest

Continue Managing the People III

  • Dispute Resolution
  • Problem Prevention
  • Different Ways to Solve Problems

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