Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Social networking websites—such as Facebook, Friendster, and MySpace—allow users to post information about themselves, to stay in touch with friends and meet new ones. A typical member profile might include photos; education; career interests; lists of family, friends, favorite music, television shows, and films; weekend activities; political leanings; personal musings; and more.
In the age of the Americans with Disabilities Act, dealing with employees with disabilities can be tricky. In a BLR audio conference, a noted HR columnist for Inc. magazine recently revealed just how tricky. Here are traps she says to avoid. Dealing with employees with disabilities presents many traps for unwary employers, says Nancy Cooper, […]
In the last Advisor, we shared several forbidden interview questions. Today, we hit a few more and also talk about an extraordinary interviewer’s training program to help avoid these costly miscues. Untrained supervisors sitting in the interview room—who knows what they’re going to ask applicants! One thing for sure, they are nervous, and that means […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Managers often want to know why they need documentation to fire an “at-will” employee. Simple, says today’s expert. Without it, you can end up in court explaining why your managers are so stupid that they fire people for no reason. In theory, with at-will employees, either party can terminate the employment arrangement: At any time […]