Archives

Alberta Court of Appeal helps employers ring in the New Year in Style(s)

by Kyla Stott-Jess The Alberta Court of Appeal has released its first decision of 2017—Styles v. Alberta Investment Management Corporation, 2017 ABCA 1—and it is undoubtedly welcome news (and a nice gift) to employers. The issue of whether or not a dismissed employee is entitled to bonus compensation during the period of reasonable notice has […]

Handling challenges to diversity in era of divisiveness

It may seem there’s no escaping political divisiveness. All manner of news and social media sources carry angry, frequently hurtful, and often untrue communication. And the workplace is not immune from the damage of those messages.  Presidential campaigns have been heated before, but the 2016 contest seemed especially rife with venom. Since the campaign was […]

Are decisions made for the reasons you think?

by Dinita L. James Employment laws prohibit intentional discrimination based on race, sex, or other protected characteristics as well as practices that have a discriminatory impact if they’re not supported by business necessity. Implicit or unconscious bias isn’t technically unlawful in the workplace if it doesn’t cause an unjustified adverse impact.  Yet a presidential candidate […]

Walking the workplace proselytizing tightrope

by David L. Johnson “Have a blessed day.” “I’m praying for you.” “Are you a believer?” “Would you be interested in attending church with me?” Comments and questions like those may be common in your workplace. On the one hand, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 bars employers from discriminating against employees […]

leadership

ADA interactive process: When does your obligation to engage begin?

by Susan Hartmus Hiser Q We have an employee whose work performance has been slipping lately. We have reason to believe that she is suffering from depression because she was diagnosed as bipolar and had a bout of depression a few years ago that led to a similar decline in her work performance. We allowed […]

U.S. Supreme Court to consider transgender restroom lawsuit

by Ryan B. Frazier During the 1990s, Saturday Night Live, a popular TV sketch comedy show, featured a recurring gender-ambiguous character, Pat. The gag in Pat’s comedy sketches often involved others’ failed attempts to determine the seemingly androgynous character’s gender. The skits played off the then-prevailing view that a person’s gender falls into one of […]

Being Kind—How Employers Can Support the Special Needs Community

by Kevin Silva, EVP and CHRO at Voya Financial Throughout life, we all hear inspirational quotes—some are about love, some about friendship, and some about career advice—but there is always that one quote that sticks and stays with you. For me, as an HR professional, it was “Be kind, for everyone you know is fighting […]

FMLA

Intermittent Leave Management Under the FMLA

In the last installment, we covered the differences between intermittent leave and reduced schedule leave. This article focuses on intermittent leave management under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), including information on leave tracking and medical certification.