Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Super Bowl time! Who do you have in the pool? Only a few more hours to get in! Office betting pools sound like good, clean American fun, but are they actually illegal gambling? Experts say yes. With Super Bowl XLII this Sunday and March Madness right around the corner, it’s a busy time for the […]
Investigations are tricky, and state law conflicts don’t make the situation any clearer. Here’s more on investigations and an introduction to the famed BLR “Red Book” that many HR managers rely on day in and day out to understand both federal and state employment law. Yesterday’s Advisor offered “6 killer mistakes” that attorney Jonathan Segal […]
With EEO investigations, says attorney Jonathan Segal, whatever you do, someone’s going to be unhappy. Either you didn’t investigate hard enough or you investigated too hard. Here are 6 common investigation errors that Segal sees all too often. When it comes to EEO investigations, attorney Jonathan Segal has seen it all, and much of what […]
Our healthcare premiums have gone through the roof (whose haven’t?), and management is putting pressure on me to get the costs down. They think we can have an impact by establishing health criteria to screen out applicants who will be likely to have high health bills, e.g., smokers, those who are overweight and/or have high […]
Just My E-pinion By BLR Editor Susan E. Prince, J.D. and Shane D. Gerson, Six Sigma Master Blackbelt Six Sigma—the popular methodology used to drive process improvements—has helped many organizations in their manufacturing and other functions. Will it work for HR, or is HR too “soft” a science? Our experts say, give it a try. […]
Yesterday’s Advisor was all about HR anti-patterns, or how not to manage people. Today we’ll look on the positive side—how to build bridges of trust—and at an extraordinary tool to help. Businesses have built-in cultural gaps. HR is basically behaviorally based, while other managers tend to be bottom-line oriented. HR often wants to talk about […]
In an earlier blog article we discussed a recent appeals court decision which upheld a vague employment agreement clause. Although the employer prevailed in that case despite the unclear at-will language, it’s important to make an at-will employment arrangement clear to employees to avoid lawsuits. This week we provide you with sample policy language that […]
A California appeals court has rejected a wrongful termination lawsuit filed by a former State Farm insurance agent, ruling that the insurer could terminate the agent at will under the terms of an agency/employment agreement—even though the agreement didn’t use the term “at will.”
Over the last few weeks, several multimillion-dollar race and national origin settlements and verdicts have hit the headlines. The recent developments—all involving cases brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)—serve as reminders to all employers of the need to train managers on preventing workplace bias and to respond promptly and effectively to employee […]
Are you killing morale with HR Anti-Patterns? Today’s expert points out a series of all-too-common actions that will drive the best people right out of your company. What are you and your managers and supervisors doing right now that’s turning good employees into ex-employees? Here are several of the most damaging acts, according to management […]