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Awake at Work: 35 Practical Buddhist Principles for Discovering Clarity and Balance in the Midst of Work’s Chaos

Employment law attorney Micheal Maslanka reviews Michael Carroll’s book Awake at Work: 35 Practical Buddhist Principles for Discovering Clarity and Balance in the Midst of Work’s Chaos. Maslanka offers a solution from a Harvard Business Review blog post for the problem of idiot compassion that Carroll identifies in the book. In  Awake at Work: 35 […]

How to Develop High-Quality Learning Experiences for External Stakeholders (Part 1)

External stakeholders are those individuals and entities that may not be hired by your organization but are still directly affected by how your organization performs. And they have a legitimate interest in your company. External stakeholders include consumers, customers, prospects, regulators, communities and governments, investors, partners, and suppliers. Below are a few tactics you can […]

When Employees Act Fishy

Tonight we revisited the episode “Heavy Competition,” which is rife with the kind of employee misconduct that keeps us lawyers busy. Last time we looked at this episode, we talked about trade-secret violations as well as Dwight Schrute’s personal liability for his bizarre antics, which included placing a dead fish in an air-conditioning vent in […]

HR Policies—What’s Happening in the Real World?

Please participate in our brief survey, and see how what you are doing stacks up against what other successful companies are doing. We’ll get answers to these questions and more: Who develops policies? Who has final approval of policies? How often are policies updated? Do you have a policy on social media background checks? What […]

Can you keep a secret? Court upholds termination for breach of confidentiality

By Hannah Roskey When will an employee’s breach of confidence justify immediate dismissal under Canadian law? A recent decision by the British Columbia Supreme Court demonstrates that clearly drafted employer policies intended to protect confidential information can indeed be strictly enforced. In Steel v. Coast Capital Savings Credit Union, the court upheld the dismissal of […]

How the boss stole Christmas

by Vanessa L. Goddard Many thanks to Dr. Seuss for the inspiration. Everyone down in HR-ville Liked Christmas a lot. But the boss, in his office upstairs, He did not! The boss hated parties, The whole holiday season. Free turkeys, Secret Santa, I’m not even teasin’. It could be he was stingy, Wouldn’t part with a […]

In ‘denial’: Alberta Court of Appeal revisits addiction in the workplace

by Hannah Roskey The Alberta Court of Appeal recently released its decision in Stewart v. Elk Valley Coal Corporation, a must-read for Canadian employers dealing with employee addiction issues. In lengthy reasons, a majority of the court agreed that there was no discrimination when an employee under the influence of cocaine was fired following a […]

Communicating with Your Team is Priority One

As a manager, you receive considerable information about what is happening at your company and use that information to get your job done. But what about your staff? Do they have the information they need to be successful at their jobs?

New Florida Law Allows Random Drug Testing of State Employees

by G. Thomas Harper Governor Rick Scott has signed into law controversial House Bill (HB) 1205, which will change the way state employers deal with drug testing their employees. What follows is a quick update on how HB 1205 will affect employers when it goes into effect at the beginning of July. In addition to […]