Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Virginia Menge, a school bus driver employed by the San Ramon Valley Unified School District, was placed on leave after allegedly failing a random urine drug test by testing positive for nitrate, a substance which can alter test results. The drug testing agency refused Menge’s request to have the urine sample retested. Menge then resigned, […]
In yesterday’s Advisor, we offered tips from attorney Stephen Harris on what to do when threatened with legal action. Today, we’ll look at Harris’s steps after initial fact-finding, plus an introduction to a unique tool to help with all your policy-making needs. Harris, of the law firm Wiggin & Dana in Hartford, Connecticut, delivered his […]
I came away from last week’s health care summit scratching my head. What exactly was accomplished that moved our country one step closer to resolution of the health care debate? From what I can tell, absolutely nothing. There was certainly plenty of posturing. Both Democrats and Republicans pretended to be interested in working with the […]
The management landscape is littered with HR-related traps for unwary new supervisors or managers, and the stakes are too high to let them “learn by doing.” Here’s a tool to train them with minimal effort on your part and theirs. Last issue we talked about supervisors and managers who tried to be good supervisors, but […]
Last year, a computer hacker broke into the Rancho Cordova-based Stephen P. Teale Data Center, a California personnel database. The hacker gained access to the names, Social Security numbers, and payroll information of over 200,000 state government employees. Unfortunately, this wasn’t an isolated occurrence—identity theft incidents are making the headlines almost daily.
May is Healthy Vision Month, a good time to remind your employees of your vision-related benefits and eye protection and safety measures, as well as precautions they can take to maintain their own eye health. Unfortunately, says the Vision Council, the modern day workspace is far from “eye-gonomic,” and day-long use of computers, combined with personal use […]
Our nation seems to have reached a tipping point in favor of the job hunters, who can now be more selective than ever before. In fact, the best of the best get snatched up in less than 2 weeks, and it’s frustrating hiring managers to no end. A whopping 96% of executives tasked with recruiting top talent say they […]
After 10 years of debate, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued a national ergonomics standard that covered 102 million workers and took effect in January. But the much-criticized rule—which some said would cost businesses more than $100 billion per year—has now been scrapped by Congress, within weeks of President Bush’s taking office. And the […]
In a new ruling, the California Supreme Court has affirmed employers are automatically liable for sexual harassment committed by supervisors, but damages for an employee who doesn’t take reasonable steps to avoid or report supervisor harassment can be reduced. We’ll examine the new case and suggest smart employment practices that can help you limit damages—and […]