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Policies Survey Says … Social Media Is Biggest Hassle

The biggest stumbling block to enforcement of policies is management team members’ tendency to enforce only “some” policies. The policy violation most indicated as warranting discipline but not termination is attendance and punctuality. The most common termination-level offense is violation of the weapons/violence policy. Our 2013 Policies Survey reveals that 93% of participants have formalized […]

Working Mom Calls Foul Against NBA in Bias Lawsuit

A former senior account manager has filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against the National Basketball Association, Inc., alleging that the NBA “pays lip service to gender equality” and is “openly hostile to working mothers.” In the lawsuit, Brynn Cohn claims that the NBA instituted a change in work schedule while she was on maternity leave […]

Fire Harry Crane

Mad Men can be tough to watch for an employment lawyer. I was thinking of this while watching the show’s most recent episode, “New Business.” In a particularly cringe-worthy scene, Harry Crane propositions Megan under the pretense that he can help get her acting career back on track. Harry is a buffoon and a jackass, and I wondered […]

discrimination

Case Study: Harassment and Discrimination Aren’t Rocket Science

Disability-related claims can take many forms, under many statutes. Here, a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) scientist claims he was both harassed and discriminatorily denied a promotion because of his disability. The court of appeal used two different standards to decide that part of his claim can proceed, and part could not go forward. Scientist […]

New Law Requires Time, Place for New Moms

Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) companies with more than 50 employees who haven’t already done so now need to accommodate the needs of the nursing mothers among their staff. We spoke with Gina Ciagne, a Certified Lactation Counselor and Director of Breastfeeding and Consumer Relations for Lansinoh Laboratories. She wants to […]

questions

Leveraging Stay Interviews to Reduce Out-Migration

So much of the human resource function is geared toward recruitment that retention is often relegated to a secondary position in terms of the broader staffing picture.

Go for Bronze! Insights into Career Goals and Job Satisfaction

HR professionals are called upon to perform a variety of tasks, one of which is to counsel employees (and perhaps themselves) on performance metrics and career goals. So, along with sporadic watching of this year’s Olympics in Paris, I read with interest an insightful article by Derek Sivers titled “Think Like a Bronze Medalist, Not […]

Severance

Case Study: Recent NLRB Ruling Places New Restrictions On Severance Agreements

Over the years, the NLRB has taken various positions regarding what activities might “chill” an employee’s right to organize, with some directors being very narrow in their interpretation and others extremely expansive. In evaluating whether language and severance agreements “chilled” these rights in 2020, the Board looked at both the plain language of the agreement […]