Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
March is Irish-American History Month. St. Patrick’s day (March 17) means a lot more than green beer and pinching those who forget to wear green. Originally a religious holiday to honor St. Patrick, who introduced Christianity to Ireland in the fifth century, St. Patrick’s Day has evolved into a celebration for all things Irish. The […]
The U.S. Supreme Court took on five cases this term involving allegations of workplace age bias. Rulings are out on two of the cases. In Sprint/United Management Co. v. Mendelsohn, the Court ruled that an employee suing her employer couldn’t use “me, too” evidence – testimony from employees who had different supervisors. But such evidence […]
You want to get friendly with applicants, say today’s experts, but some questions are a little too friendly. In fact, they’re illegal. Here are some legal alternatives. Before you hire, it’s natural to want to know all you can about the candidates you’re considering. And you have a legal right to know about them, as […]
Just My E-pinion By Stephen D. Bruce, Ph.D.Editor, HR Daily Advisor Our recent The Company Watchdog: Should It Be YOU? e-pinion set forth the idea that HR was really the only part of any organization set up to catch illegal or abusive behavior toward workers. The column garnered many responses, but they didn’t tell a […]
In the truth is stranger than fiction category, I recently re-discovered a case in which a Hooter’s waitress in Florida sued her employer for tricking her about a prize in a beer-selling contest. The waitress thought she would win a Toyota if she sold the most beer. However, after she won the contest, her manager […]
All our employees sign an at-will acknowledgment when they are hired. Doesn’t that mean I can fire an employee whenever I want, for any reason or no reason? I’m being told that I have to have documentation and justification. If they’re at-will employees, why can’t I just fire them? —Carl B., San Jose
In real estate, it’s location, location, location, and in HR, it’s document, document, document. Yes, it’s the most-hackneyed saying in the history of HR, but it’s still the most important. Time after time, lawsuits are lost or settled because documentation doesn’t exist or is inadequate, inaccurate, or doesn’t support management’s statements. Somehow, you need to […]
M. Lee Smith Publishers President Dan Oswald reviews the book It’s Called Work for A Reason! Your Success Is Your Own Damn Fault by Larry Winget. Review explains how company president found book’s lessons about work and motivation so important he paid employees to read it. Thief! Liar! Those are just a couple of the […]
Are you doing all you can to prevent workplace discrimination, harassment, and retaliation? To help you determine where you could be doing a better job—and prevent costly claims—download California Employer Advisor’s Discrimination Prevention Checklist, which you can use to do a 32-point mental audit of your organization’s bias prevention program.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced last week that discrimination charge filings in 2007 shot up 9 percent over 2006, and pregnancy bias filings reached an all-time high. The EEOC reports that it received 82,792 complaints from private-sector workers nationwide last year, which was the highest volume since 2002 and the largest annual […]