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SHRM 2011: Helping Employees Lighten Up

Weight loss is the most searched term on Google, says corporate health strategist Adam Bordes, and similarly, helping employees lose weight is the most sought-after goal of corporate wellness programs. In “Lighten Up: Daily Strategies for a Lighter, Healthier Workplace,” he gave SHRM attendees several steps to help employees trim fat from their waistlines. Bordes, […]

Fox and Found

Litigation Value: Squiggle Quips = $3.95 per package; delicious dinner without your wallet = an embarrassing (and defamatory) mugshot on the restaurant wall; finding out Angela publicly joked about urinating on Gabe = priceless. Last night provided us with an evening of reruns, but I love The Office and have been known to watch episodes […]

Criminal and background reports as evidence in EEOC class actions

by Steven Collis In its first class action lawsuit challenging an employer’s use of criminal records, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ended up dropping its case against PeopleMark and getting socked with $750,000 in sanctions. Recently, the EEOC suffered another stinging loss when a federal court dismissed its discrimination case against Kaplan Higher Education […]

NLRB Chair’s Departure Raises Questions About Agency’s Future

Wilma B. Liebman wound up her 14-year tenure on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on August 27, leaving an agency that’s supposed to have five members with just three. In addition to Liebman’s departure, member Craig Becker’s term ends December 31. Those developments leave many questioning whether the NLRB will be left crippled in […]

Profit at the Bottom of the Ladder

In her book Profit at the Bottom of the Ladder: Creating Value by Investing in Your Workforce, Canadian researcher Jody Heymann analyzes hundreds of interviews with front line employees to C-suite executives and concludes that your company can profit more from improving worker conditions than cutting wages, benefits, and other workforce expenses. As an example […]

Does your Workplace have Pockets of Excellence?

No organization is perfect, but there are most likely “pockets of excellence” at your company. These are the employees or departments that stand out among the rest. How can you foster these pockets of excellence and help them spread throughout the business?

Recruiting on the Cheap

Talent acquisition tips often make the assumption that a company has something it may not have: a robust recruiting budget.

Reconsidering random drug and alcohol testing in Canada

by Hannah Roskey Random workplace drug and alcohol testing is generally prohibited by Canadian employers in Canada. However, there are limited circumstances in which it may be permitted. A recent decision of the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench, Suncor Energy Inc. v. Unifor Local 707A, provides some further guidance for employers operating in Canada. And […]

News Notes: Wage Violations Cost Taco Bell Millions

About 1,300 former Taco Bell workers have won a lawsuit in Oregon that charged that supervisors doctored employee time cards in order to meet productivity goals and earn bonuses. Taco Bell supervisors allegedly admitted that they were pressured by senior managers to shave hours off time cards. Paul Breed, an attorney for the workers, has […]