Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
There’s a new breed of plaintiff lawyer out there, says attorney Phillip Russell, and they are not looking for the companies with 1,000 employees—they’re happy to find 10 or 15 employees working off the clock or due unpaid overtime. Russell is a member of the Tampa, Florida, office of national employment law firm Constangy, Brooks […]
Lawyers like to talk about picky legal points, says attorney Jeffrey Wortman, but the real bottom line for most legal cases is fairness. Juries—and sometimes judges—are more likely to make a decision based on fair treatment than on legal treatment. It isn’t only in court that you reap the benefits of fairness, Wortman notes. It’s […]
New supervisors don‘t understand their new power, says attorney Jeffrey Wortman, and HR Managers had better teach them about it before they make an expensive mistake. Wortman’s comments were part of a wide-ranging discussion delivered to an enthusiastic audience at BLR’s Second Annual National Employment Law Update, held last week in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Next […]
Following a drop of more than 2,000 points in the Dow Jones Industrial Average in early October, we surveyed our readers to find out whether employers were revising their pay increases planned for 2009. Between October 24 and October 29, we received 518 responses. Below are the results of the survey. (Read the full story […]
By BLR Founder and CEO Bob Brady BLR CEO Bob Brady would like to know whether employers are backing off of pay raises planned for next year. Please take our very brief survey and see the results next week. Economic uncertainty Until quite recently, employers were saying that pay raises would be inching upwards. Now, […]
Think you have completed your investigation because you’ve interviewed your witnesses? Not so fast–there’s a lot more to do. Attorney Walter Stella, a partner in the San Francisco-based law firm of Shook, Hardy & Bacon, LLP, talked about the pitfalls of investigations during a SHRM Employment Law and Legislative Conference in Washington, DC. After the […]
As if employers don’t already have enough to deal with these days—thanks in large part to a faltering economy—some new developments, including big financial incentives or employees to blow the whistle and a new whistleblower protection law, should cause many to watch their backs.
Every HR manager has to do investigations, and it’s hard to get it right–interview too few witnesses, and you’re negligent; interview too many, and you’re invading privacy and violating confidentiality. Who’s waiting to pick apart your investigation? Your employee’s attorney will question the approach you took at every step along the way, says attorney Walter […]
To run an effective safety program, you need to be an enthusiastic booster of safety. However, enthusiasm won’t win over management—you need to make the business case for safety as well. Management will readily agree that safety is important, and they know that they have a moral–and legal–obligation to maintain a safe workplace. But sometimes […]
Is safety part of your portfolio yet? In more and more organizations, HR is taking over safety management. Fortunately, HR managers make great safety managers! In fact (don’t tell the safety people), they often do a better job than technical safety experts do. Why are HR managers so good at safety? Technical safety expertise is […]