Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Just because a disaster affects your organization doesn’t mean your legal obligations in the workplace are put on hold. With (1) Hurricane Earl barreling toward the East Coast and at least two more hurricanes behind it, (2) another oil rig accident in the Gulf of Mexico, and (3) a terrible hostage situation at the Discovery […]
By Keith Soranno, Keas More than half of the U.S. population accesses health benefits via employer provided-benefit plans, and employers collectively spend over a trillion dollars providing them. A significant amount of this money has been wasted due to poor utilization and a lack of understanding by employees on how to effectively utilize these benefits. […]
4,901: number of pregnancy discrimination complaints filed with the EEOC in 2006, making it one of the fastest growing types of workplace complaints 99.1 million: amount of sex-based discrimination claims paid to plaintiffs 16: Percentage of female corporate officers at FORTUNE 500 companies 9: Number of female CEOs at FORTUNE 500 companies
By Mark I. Schickman Imagine a horrible accusation made against one of your managers — maybe harassment, maybe violence, maybe theft, maybe drugs. This is an outspoken employee who has sued you before — and won — and with whom you have to be careful. But under heavy pressure from top executives, you immediately fire […]
By the BLR Editors Just My E-pinion At long last, a response has come from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on its call for public comments on the FMLA. Too bad DOL is a day late and about 10 dollars short. First came the hope … that, after requesting public comments, the U.S. Department […]
Kathy Brooks explains how Green Mountain Coffee Roasters achieves a 94% retention rate. It could have something to do with the coffee-picking expedition that top employees get to go on each year. Some 30-50 employees — all nominated by their peers or supervisors — are chosen to visit coffee-growing countries like Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Mexico, […]
As many employers who’ve been sued know, even if you winan employee lawsuit, you still lose because the cost of defense is so high. For example, in a recent case Mark Gordon, a Chico police officer, sued the city of Chico for sexual orientation discrimination. After the case resulted in a mistrial, Gordon dropped his […]
Our recent survey on paid time off reveals that more and more organizations are going the PTO route for offering time off. For holidays, over 90% of respondents are offering New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, and Thanksgiving, and 81% will offer the Monday after Christmas. Fifty-eight percent of responding companies have […]
Utah’s constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage suffered another blow in a June 25 ruling from the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, and that ruling makes it likely that the issue of same-sex marriage will go before the U.S. Supreme Court. The 10th Circuit’s decision upheld a December 2013 federal district court ruling that struck […]
by Jeanine Poole The turn of the year is often a good time to review company policies. We’re weighing in with some favorite perennial professional resolutions and perhaps a few new suggestions that might make for a happy 2014. What’s in a policy? In the employment world, issues involving e-mail, the Internet, and social media […]