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Noncompete, No Sweat? 7 Tips for Hiring Managers

These days, to get great people, you’ve often got to hire away from your competitors, and that brings the issue of “noncompetes” to HR’s front burner. Today’s experts tell you how to manage restrictive agreements. Aren’t noncompete agreements more a matter for lawyers than HR people? Sure, but when a new hire goes awry because […]

Can You Forbid Discussions of Salary and Pay?

Much as most employers would like to impose a ban on discussion of pay—not to suggest that there are embarrassing inequities in your pay structure—it’s not legal because the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) says it interferes with Section 7 rights.

Attacking Motherhood and Apple Pie: Pregnancy Discrimination in the Workplace

by Al Vreeland What could be more noxious to the American soul than an assault on motherhood? We all have a mother (though some might question the genetic origin of lawyers). Many of us return to her apron strings when we need reassurance that we haven’t become fat and stupid (or at least completely so). […]

Employee Awarded $500,000 for Bad Faith Termination

By Donna Gallant As we reported four weeks ago (Shocking Arbitration Decision in Ontario), a prominent Canadian arbitrator recently ordered the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) to pay more than $500,000 in damages, finding that it failed to take reasonable steps to ascertain the truth about an employee’s medical condition and fired her for sick […]

Finally: Practical, Workable, Automated Leave Tracking

And, of course, each type of leave has its own set of eligibility, entitlement, notice, documentation, and tracking requirements, and oftentimes the requirements overlap. To help our readers cope with this thicket of leave laws, BLR—after evaluating a number of leave management systems—is proud to announce that we have established a partnership with Presagia to […]

Texting While Driving—Expensive (Not to Mention Dangerous)

Special from Atlanta–SHRM Annual Conference and Exhibition Your employees are doing compensable work on their handhelds after hours, says attorney Joseph Beachboard, and many of then are doing while they are driving. Beachboard, who is a shareholder in the Los Angeles and Torrence, California offices of national employment law firm Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & […]

School for Scandal: Hearst Corp. Latest Company to Be Sued by an Unpaid Intern

By Liza Casabona Thinking that an unpaid intern might provide an answer to payroll your budget woes? Think again. Several recent, high profile lawsuits filed by interns underscore the risks faced by companies sponsoring unpaid internships. The Hearst Corp. is among the latest companies to be accused by interns of wage and hour violations. The […]

The Job Stops Here: HR’s Role in Effective Terminations

People who make firing decisions always think they are doing “the righteous thing,” says attorney Edward M. Richters,” but that’s not what counts. How it plays to the judge, the jury, and the EEOC is what counts.” Richters comments came at a workplace law symposium sponsored by national employment law firm Jackson Lewis and the […]

New Alabama noncompete law starts in January

by Al Vreeland A bill signed into law over the summer will significantly strengthen Alabama employers’ ability to enforce noncompete agreements when the law takes effect January 1, 2016. The state’s old noncompete statute makes a broad statement that noncompete agreements are void. It then creates several exceptions into which courts have shoehorned the modern […]

Addressing the ‘Toxic Manager’

Rainn Wilson (Dwight) has been all over the place lately promoting his new movie and the new season of The Office. One of his more interesting appearances in the media was a Business Week article in which he was interviewed about “office jobs from hell.” It was interesting to learn that Rainn used to work […]