Is Your Company Ready for a Teacher Walkout?

Beth Dean 03.26.18
44 Wood Desk Keyboard

Oklahoma’s public schools are facing a financial crisis.

Teachers have difficulty earning a living wage, in addition to dealing with overcrowded classrooms, a teacher shortage, and low per-student spending (ossba.org). Union leaders are asking for a $10,000 pay raise over three years for Oklahoma teachers. If the bill fails to pass, teachers plan to walk out beginning April 2, 2018, causing school closures.

This issue will directly impact any employees who have school-aged children.

We encourage Oklahoma company owners and leaders to start planning now for potential school closures. Although the teacher walkout is technically not your company’s problem, your employees with families could be affected during working hours, possibly needing accommodations. Your employees may be faced with finding emergency childcare, paying additional costs they hadn’t planned for, and more demands on their personal time.

How you as a company respond will depend on the nature of your business.

At many white-collar businesses, bringing the child to work may be an option as long as the employee is still able to concentrate on the work at hand. At Nextep, for example, we welcome our employees’ children in the workplace, supplying comfy bean bag chairs and spacious breakrooms stocked with TVs, video games, and Legos.

For other businesses, such as blue-collar or doctor offices, children in the workplace would not be a feasible solution. Alternate solutions can include working from home, flexible hours, modified work schedules, or paid time off.

If the walkout lasts an extended period of time, companies may have to consider other options, such as extended paid time off or unpaid leave. Handling each situation on a case-by-case basis while still giving the same options to all workers equally is the best approach. It gives the employee the chance to find a solution that works best for them, while protecting your company from any perceived discrimination.

Once the walkout ends, additional flexibility may still be needed. If the strike lasts longer than four days, school schedules will be modified to make up for missed time. Employees may need additional flexibility to coordinate transportation and shift childcare provisions again to accommodate the new schedule.

To create a plan for your company, we encourage Nextep clients to contact their HR consultants at Nextep as soon as possible. Parents can visit Metro Family Magazine and various other community resources to begin planning for the walkout, as well.

Also on Nextep

Ah, the holiday season—a time for joy, festivities, and the age-old puzzle of compensating your employees. Let’s demystify the rules of holiday pay for both our hourly (nonexempt) and salaried (exempt) workers. For the Hourly Heroes Picture your business decked out in holiday cheer, but your nonexempt employees are sipping cocoa at home. Under the […]
Read more
Keep Your Party Pants Professional As the year ends, and you’ve achieved feats at work that deserve a standing ovation, the holiday office party is your well-earned, much-awaited reward.  But beware! When the festive spirit meets the allure of a bottomless drink supply, things can take a wild turn, leaving you nursing a hangover, regret, […]
Read more
We’ve talked recently about the importance of sustainability in business. Let’s take it a step further and look at ESG, or Environmental, Social, and Governance.  The Impact of ESG on Companies Environmental (E) Companies that focus on their environmental impact are making a positive change. They reduce their carbon footprint, use clean energy, and find […]
Read more
Sustainable business isn’t just for hippies! As we discussed in our previous article, sustainability is increasingly important to today’s business. It is a crucial and relevant issue that affects everyone and every organization, regardless of industry or beliefs. Sustainability involves taking a long-term, holistic view of how we interact with the environment and our communities, […]
Read more
At Nextep, we aim to stay informed about CEO concerns in order to better help with problem-solving. We were surprised to learn that sustainability has become a top concern. The statistics bring CEO concerns to light: A Gartner survey found that CEO concern about sustainability has increased 292% from their 2021-22 survey. In a survey […]
Read more
It’s not the most savory of topics, but still merits discussion. All of your employees will need to use the bathroom during work. Here’s a potty primer, if you will. Disability and Bathrooms The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has clear regulations on bathroom accessibility in the workplace. Much of the guidance revolves around making […]
Read more
We’ve reported at length about preventing discrimination in the workplace. But let’s take a step back now and brush up on Title VII, the sweeping regulation that started it all.  Title VII of the Civil Rights Act forbids discrimination in any aspect of employment, including hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions, layoff, training, fringe benefits, […]
Read more
Time to check your handbook again for NLRB compliance The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has been busy shaping employee handbooks and workplace policies. With the recent Stericycle Inc. decision, the NLRB has introduced a new legal standard for evaluating employer work rules under Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).  Understanding the […]
Read more
The Answer Depends on Your State…For Now As we reported in January, non-compete agreements preventing employees from working for competitors are becoming increasingly unenforceable. The FTC is currently working on banning them at a federal level, but unless and until that decision comes, non-competes are enforced at a state (and sometimes even local) level.  As […]
Read more
When hiring workers, knowing whether they’re employees or independent contractors is essential. The difference between the two can significantly impact your business, including your tax liability, your liability for workers’ compensation claims, the worker’s rights and benefits, and your ability to control how your workers do their jobs. Read all about it here, and check […]
Read more
Employers Must Now Prove “Substantial Increased Cost” to Deny Religious Accommodation Recently, the Supreme Court ruled that employers must now demonstrate a substantially increased cost to deny an employee’s request for a religious accommodation.  This ruling, which comes in the case of Groff v. DeJoy, clarifies the standard for “undue hardship” under Title VII of […]
Read more
Here’s How the Recent Ruling Affects Your Company You may have read that in late June, the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admissions. Here’s the implication this ruling could mean for you as a small or medium-sized business owner. To be clear, the Supreme Court’s decision on affirmative action does not explicitly […]
Read more

Download Our App