Author: Kathryn McGovern

Conciliate First, Court Tells EEOC as it Tosses out Lawsuit

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission may not sue an employer unless it has engaged in pre-litigation conciliation — even for pattern or practice claims — a federal district court has held. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Oct. 7 dismissed an EEOC suit alleging that CVS Pharmacy’s separation agreement violated […]

Why Your Important Positions Are Going Unfilled … and What to Do About It

It would seem that millions of available potential employees should make vacant positions easy and quick to fill, but that’s simply not the case lately. Here are some of the top reasons that some roles go unfilled: Unemployment has decreased substantially. This means there are fewer individuals applying for any given position. By default, this […]

Communication—Critical in Comp and Everywhere Else

In many national employee attitude surveys, participating organizations were rated lowest on questions related to communication. On the flip side, employees who took the survey said communication was very important to them. In many national employee attitude surveys, participating organizations were rated lowest on questions related to communication. On the flip side, employees who took […]

Do You Know These 5 Tips for Training Supervisors on How to Administer FMLA?

How do you deal with the supervisor who appears to be on a “personal crusade” to “eradicate all Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) abuse”? What about the supervisor who likes to pretend he doesn’t know that FMLA leave exists? Read on to find out. Training and Communication Are Key The FMLA can be complicated—and […]

Bullying in the Workplace: New Laws or Stronger Employer Policies?

Bullying in the workplace is an issue that 72 percent of Americans are aware of, according to a 2014 survey by the Workplace Bullying Institute. However, the institute believes not enough is being done to fight this problem because workplace bullying is not considered protected discrimination under federal employment law. So through its Healthy Workplace […]

Reputation Word Cloud Helps Rate Your Branding

Yesterday’s Advisor featured tips from Employer Branding for Dummies, by Alicia Garibaldi (published by John Wiley & Sons). Garibaldi recommends a reputation word cloud (see example below) to highlight positive and negative perceptions of your company.

Supreme Court Declines to Review Two FLSA Cases

The U.S. Supreme Court announced Oct. 6 that it would not review two Fair Labor Standards Act rulings. The cases dealt with misclassification and compensable working time. In the misclassification case, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that the City of Los Angeles owed fire department dispatchers and paramedics assigned to air ambulance […]

Compare Your Training Stats to Our Annual Survey

Training Methods Our survey shows the following methods used regularly for training employees. In the coming years, 86% expect to use more online training, and 68% plan to utilize more in-person sessions conducted by the HR staff. More video/DVD and mobile/tablet-based materials will be used by 51%, and more telephone/audio conferences will be utilized by […]