Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
By Stephen D. Bruce, PHR Editor, HR Daily Advisor It’s important to seek an employee’s explanation for a policy violation before you discipline, says attorney Allison West, as this story true story illustrates. Sometimes You May Be Surprised West, who is principal of Employment Practices Specialists in Pacifica, California, says that you always want to […]
“Frontline supervisors are terrified by the idea of conflict,” says Dennis A. Davis, Ph.D., “but [it] is a normal part of the work environment.” Fortunately, he says, careful management of conflict can be successful in reducing or eliminating it. When conflict festers, productivity suffers and the negativity spreads, Davis says. Unfortunately, without training, supervisors just […]
An employee has been copying pornographic images off the Internet and showing them to co-workers. Another has been using company e-mail to distribute racist jokes. And several others have downloaded some hot new software onto their office PCs-violating federal copyright laws. It’s bad enough these employees are surfing the Net instead of working. But you […]
A New York-based company that refurbishes cell phones at its factory in Long Island will pay $435,000 to settle a wage discrimination and retaliation suit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The agency charged that First Wireless Group, Inc., engaged in a pattern or practice of race and/or national origin discrimination against […]
Sexual orientation discrimination—there’s no federal law forbidding it, yet "any lawyer with a pulse" can get a claim to go forward in federal court, says attorney Michael Cohen. If sexual orientation—and gender identity and gender expression—are not on the list of protected characteristics (race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or age), how do such […]
In yesterday’s Advisor, attorney Edward M. Richters offered some salient truths about going to court. Today, how a typical court appearance might go, and an introduction to the best approach for making sure your managers aren’t begging for a lawsuit. Richters’s comments came at a workplace law symposium sponsored by national employment law firm Jackson […]
When employees are fired or quit under difficult circumstances, they may try to take confidential papers you didn’t intend them to have or see. And if they later sue you for wrongful termination or other employment-related matters, the ex-employees may try to use the records against you. But a new court ruling, along with some […]
Citing concerns from health care providers, federal regulators are delaying the compliance deadline for HIPAA’s ICD-10 code set rules, which had been scheduled for Oct. 1, 2013, the agency announced Feb. 16. “We have heard from many in the provider community who have concerns about the administrative burdens they face in the years ahead,” said […]
A few of our employees call in sick on a semi-regular basis with legitimate but unpredictable health issues relating to conditions like epilepsy and asthma. Is this time off covered by FMLA/CFRA? The employees can’t give us much advance notice because their symptoms come on so suddenly. —Anonymous Many employers struggle with whether absences due […]