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Does Your Training Engage Generation Y Employees?

The question is, “What can trainers do to engage Generation Y workers in training?” Here is how our experts responded: As Generation Y employees enter the workforce and advance within a company, HR professionals need to keep in mind that the expectations and needs of these 20-somethings differ from those of their older colleagues. Generation […]

11 Common Workplace Privacy Issues (and 4 Common-Law Claims)

Only a Reasonable Expectation It is important to remember that employees have only a reasonable expectation of privacy. Employers can lower the threshold of what is considered reasonable by developing a clear policy addressing workplace privacy issues and communicating the policy to their employees. Private Employees Enjoy Relatively Little Freedom Several states have enacted statutory […]

“I meant, are you in here for drugs?”

Drugs are no laughing matter, except of course when it comes to the referenced exchange between Charlie Sheen’s character and Jeannie Bueller in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Yet, when it comes to our celebrity news cycle, drug use is as prevalent as steroid use has become in baseball. The latest scandal involves Nigella Lawson, most […]

Where Job Descriptions Fail and How to Fix Yours

Even when they are accurate to begin with (not always the case), it’s all too easy for job descriptions to get out of date, and that causes all sorts of problems, practical and legal, for employers. The most typical problems have to do with job specifications that are inaccurate. They either require something that isn’t […]

Steer clear of holiday season’s discrimination hazards

December is often a time for office parties, gift exchanges, and general holiday cheer in the workplace, but the season also can bring claims of discrimination and harassment if employers aren’t mindful of a religiously diverse workforce.  Legal hazards come in many forms. For example, non-Christians may feel discriminated against or harassed by all the […]

Discriminatory practices: pitfalls of the I-9 process

by Anders Lindberg The I-9 process of verifying an employee’s identity and employment authorization can be, as W.C. Fields put it, “fraught with eminent peril.” Failure to comply with documentation, verification, and discrimination laws can result in stiff fines and penalties. And recent settlement agreements between employers and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) indicate […]

Reconsidering the status of sexual orientation in the workplace

by Harold Pinkley From the time I began practicing employment law (too many) years ago―and probably for longer than that―employment lawyers have been quite comfortable advising clients that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (the federal law that prohibits discrimination based on gender and other protected status) does not cover sexual orientation. Many […]

OFCCP issues new rules on hiring of disabled individuals

by Elizabeth Bradley On August 27, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) announced a final rule intended to promote the hiring and employment of people with disabilities by federal government contractors. The rule makes changes to the regulations implementing Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which […]

Employer vs. employee perception in gender discrimination claims

by Brinton M. Wilkins Philosophers argue endlessly about “Truth” with a capital “T,” but most people will likely never comprehend that kind of “truth.” Rather, we all view and interpret the world and our experiences through a complex set of lenses that we spend a lifetime creating, both consciously and subconsciously. As Oscar Wilde summed […]