Click to view video message from GMA SHRM President, 
Brittany Hanson, MBA, PHR
 

Hi GMA SHRM Members, 

Happy New Year GMA SHRM Members!  2021 is here – yes!  You make GMA SHRM such a thriving local SHRM chapter and we are so excited for what’s to come this year.  With pandemic uncertainty still lingering, most (if not all) programming in 2021 will be virtual.  We want to make sure you get the quality continuing education you want and need in 2021. 
 
Our first PDS is right around the corner!  Join us on January 19^th via Zoom for a PDS focusing on Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion – a great way to kick off 2021.  And speaking of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, our amazing volunteers & chapter admin are putting together an HR DE&I Resource Page just for you – it’s coming soon.  In the meantime, log into the Madison HR Chat to ask questions and share your best practices on all things DE&I in the workplace.
 
One perk of being virtual is that you don’t have to scrape your car or bundle up to attend a GMA SHRM HR Roundtable – they’re all still virtual.  Be sure to stay connected with your HR Community and attend a virtual HR Round Table.  Thanks to Dawn Koopman, Melissa Chadwick, & Tracy Niesen-Bruenig (and their subs!) for keeping these going. 
 
This month your GMA SHRM Board of Directors are meeting for our mid-year strategic planning retreat and volunteers are welcome!  If you are a volunteer interested in being on the Board of Directors someday, or just interested in how things work behind the scenes for our chapter, this is a great event to attend. 
 
The WI-SHRM Day on the Hill is still happening in February virtually – this is a really popular event. If you want to learn more about this event, or register, visit the website online for details. 
 
We want to officially welcome our 2021 Corporate Partners!  And thank our volunteers Chris Storlie, Brittany Gill, Sam Raddle, & Laura Bermudo for supporting our Corporate Partnership Program.
 
I’ll hopefully see you soon at our PDS, the Strategic Planning Retreat, or a Virtual Roundtable.  If you ever have any questions about being a GMA SHRM member, feel free to ask me.  Take care! 

 
Brittany Hanson, MBA, PHR
President
GMA SHRM

COVID-19 Resources

Reminders for Employers About January 1 and FMLA Leave

Submitted from Brian P. Goodman, GMA SHRM Programming Member, and Sarah J. Horner, both Attorneys at Boardman & Clark LLP

Brian P. Goodman

Sarah J. Horner

The beginning of 2021 is a great time for employers to review their obligations under Wisconsin’s Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Wisconsin FMLA always uses the calendar year (January 1st to December 31st) for calculating employee leave allotments, so regardless of your organization’s chosen federal FMLA year, be prepared for some employees to be entitled to more protected leave as the year begins.
 
Generally, all employers with 50 or more employees are subject to both Wisconsin and federal FMLA. Each law has slightly different hour and pay requirements for employees to qualify for the leave. Specifically, employees have to have worked a certain continuous amount of time and worked or been paid for sufficient hours with the employer to qualify for each type of FMLA leave. However, this brief article focuses on FMLA allotments for employees that have met the qualification requirements for both leaves.
 
Wisconsin FMLA leave is divided into three specific buckets. Within a calendar year, an employee may take: 6 weeks of leave for birth or adoption; 2 weeks of leave to help care for the serious health condition of qualifying family member; and, 2 weeks of leave for an employee's own serious health condition. By contrast, federal FMLA provides one 12-week bucket of leave for birth, adoption, and the serious health conditions of the employee and the employee’s qualifying family.
 
The interplay between these two laws can create significant confusion. When an employee's leave qualifies for both federal and Wisconsin FMLA, the leave runs concurrently. However, certain leave will reduce the leave allotment for only one or the other.
 
Scenario: An employee has a spouse with a serious health condition which requires the employee to provide care for the spouse. The employer elected the 12-month “rolling backwards” calendar for federal FMLA leave. The employee began leave on October 12, 2020. For the first 2 weeks of leave, the employee depleted both their federal and Wisconsin FMLA allotments. The remaining 10 weeks of leave continues to deplete the employee's remaining federal FMLA allotment. However, the employee gets 2 more weeks of Wisconsin FMLA at the start of 2021. This effectively gives the employee 14 weeks of protected leave, rather than 12 weeks. The employee won’t be eligible for federal FMLA leave again until October 12, 2021.
 
Another complicating factor in calculating FMLA leave is the application of Expanded FMLA under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), which allowed employees to take paid leave due to certain instances of childcare unavailability and school closure. This form of FFCRA leave counted against employees’ federal FMLA leave allotment but not their Wisconsin FMLA leave allotments.
 
This article just skims the surface of the complexities of FMLA leave. As we begin a new year, you should take this opportunity to review your FMLA policies and practices to ensure you are properly providing both state and federal FMLA leave to your employees when required by law.
 

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WISHRM (Virtual) Day on the Hill and the Government Affairs Committee

Submitted by Hilary Stone, GMA SHRM Director of Government Affairs and HR Generalist at UW Madison Engineering Professional Development

Anything happen recently in politics? Any changes to be aware of?  Maybe a few!

The WISHRM Virtual Day on the Hill event on February 18th will provide you with a half-day of education, legal updates, advocacy, and networking opportunities with your HR colleagues and legislators.

WISHRM is planning for a legal update, legislative and advocacy updates from National SHRM Government Affairs, multiple Networking Roundtables facilitated by industry professionals, and a panel discussion with legislators and/or staff from the Wisconsin State Legislature.

Looking to stay connected year around?  The goal of the Government Affairs Committee is to share legislative information with our fellow GMA SHRM members through newsletter articles, events, and other resources in an objective and non-partisan manner. 
 
Our committee is always looking for new volunteers who are interested in legal updates, employment law, and human resources legislation. Some ways to get involved on our committee include:   

• Meeting as a group (usually during happy hour) to discuss current legislative topics and events four to six times per year.
• Assisting with programming such as the annual Legal Update/Professional Development Summit and volunteering at the annual WI SHRM Day on the Hill event held at the Wisconsin State Capitol.
• Connecting with the national SHRM Advocacy A-Team as an HR Advocate to learn more about federal issues and if you choose, personally advocating on HR-related issues with your elected officials on behalf of yourself or your employer. 

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Professional Development

January 19th PDS - Focus on Diversity & Inclusion

Session 1:  Inclusive Hiring		Session 2:  3 Strategies to Improve Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Practices!
Presented By:   Gautam Jayanthi and Amy Kesling, Step Up for Equity •8:00am-10:00am		Presented by:  Lisa Koenecke •10:15am-12:15pm
Participants will learn to:    Identify how bias influences each stage of the recruitment cycle. Define the role of the hiring team in advancing equity in the organization. Identify practices that will keep the hiring team committed to making equity a priority in the organization.		Participants will learn: Learn how to SHOW DEI efforts Define how to SHIFT from a small a ally to a capital A Ally SHAPE policies and procedures to promote an Inclusive and Belonging Culture

 

  
 

GMA SHRM welcomes the following members who joined our chapter in November 2020!

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Member Awards and Recognition

Gail Johnson, Corporate Relocation Manager and Concierge Director for Restaino & Associates Realtors, and GMA SHRM member and volunteer, was recently interviewed by Vicky Franchino with CaffeineClariity.com. Read the full article here.




Have you recently earned a professional achievement award? If so, we want to hear about it. 
If so, we want to hear about it. Send us an e-mail, and we’ll publish your good news in the next HR InTouch!  

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In Transition

If you are a member who is in between jobs, or who is currently employed but seeking new positions or career paths, write us a brief description of your skill set, areas of expertise, what you’re looking for, etc. Send us an e-mail. We’ll publish your information in the next HR InTouch.

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HR InTouch Guidelines

Article Writing:

Do you have an interest in writing for the HR InTouch? We have an interest in learning more about your area of expertise!

Why should you volunteer? Top three reasons: 1) to share your knowledge and experiences to educate others; 2) to become more connected in the HR and Dane County communities; and 3) to contribute towards the advancement of GMA SHRM and the HR profession.

The first step is for you to choose a submission option: you can pre-submit an article to GMA SHRM at any time for us to use in any of the upcoming newsletters, you can sign up to write for a particular month, or we can put you on a list of people to contact in future months whenever we need articles.

Article length:

Because the HR InTouch is now in an online format, the size is flexible. The article should be engaging and hold readers’ attention. Include the core information in your article, and we will advise if it is too lengthy.

Solicitation:

GMA SHRM is conscious not to allow solicitation through the articles, in an effort to protect the interests of our partners and members. The nature of the article should be educational (i.e., what are the business advantages of having a product like yours) or informational. Otherwise, if you truly are interested in advertising through the HR InTouch, you can work with our Marketing Committee. As a rule of thumb for article writing, if the submission relates to a for-profit event, or specifically markets your company (vs. your industry), it is an advertisement, and should be purchased. If it is a not-for-profit event that your company is hosting, or an announcement (i.e., a SHRM member recently joined your company), it is an acceptable addition to the HR InTouch content. If you have any questions related to the appropriateness of your submission, please contact us.

If you have questions, or to submit an article, contact GMA SHRM at chapteradmin@gmashrm.org .