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Mediation: It Works, But Here Are Eight Myths

Mediation is mocked in some parts of the country, but New England region attorneys at a recent meeting of the Employers’ Counsel Network reported good experiences with the process. EEOC Mediator Elizabeth Marcus offered her eight myths of mediation at the meeting. The Employers’ Counsel Network includes the attorneys from each state who write BLR’s […]

Prayer breaks present difficult religious accommodation issues

by Steven T. Collis Recent news stories describe the tension between Muslim workers seeking multiple prayer breaks at specified times throughout their workday and employers that need those workers on the assembly line. Many Muslim employees have walked off the job, claiming their prayer break requests have been unlawfully denied. With so much coverage of […]

Employers Can’t Fire Employees for Placing Rebuttal in Their Personnel File After All

Last March, we wrote about a surprising ruling in which the Massachusetts Appeals Court concluded employers in the state aren’t legally prohibited from firing employees for exercising their right to file a rebuttal in response to a negative document placed in their personnel file. The decision wasn’t unanimous, the dissenting opinion was persuasive, and the […]

The Three Due Diligence Myths of Background Screening

The biggest myth in background checking is that there is some grand online database to check and then you’ve done your due diligence. Not so, says attorney Lester Rosen. Rosen, who is CEO of Employment Screening Resources in Novato, California, made his remarks at the SHRM Employment Law and Legislative Conference, held recently in Washington, […]

Backburner Job Descriptions? Don’t Even Think About It

The California Employment Law Letter (CELL). is written by Mark I. Schickman, and Cathleen S. Yonahara, both attorneys at the law firm of Freeland Cooper & Foreman LLP in San Francisco. Defining Essential Job Functions Most employers use some form of job description, but many are cumbersome documents that have little practical value because they’re […]

DEI—For Jackie Cureton, It’s Personal

Jackie Cureton got her feet wet in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts not at work but as part of her role as a mother. Today, however, she is actively and diligently pursuing DEI in her professional life, as well, as VP of DEI at Bitly.

12 Ways to Increase Gender Equality

In 1873, the Supreme Court ruled that women couldn’t be lawyers, notes attorney Jonathan Segal. Gender equality has improved, but still, women are CEOs of only 4.5 percent of the Fortune 1000. In virtually every profession, women are underrepresented in top management, Segal adds.

Professionalism in perspective: Are attitudes on what’s professional changing?

As graduation season looms, college seniors are deep into the job hunt, hoping they have the skills and qualities necessary to find a landing place in the workforce. With the economy showing signs of recovery, many employers are hoping to land the best and the brightest of those new grads. But they don’t want just […]

Why Leaders Should be Creating a Culture of Genuine Employee Well-Being 

Human sustainability and employee well-being are consistently innovating board-level agenda items. However, despite leaders feeling positive about their efforts and initiatives, statistics indicate that workers are not so convinced.  According to Deloitte’s latest Well-being at Work survey, 74% of employees say improving their well-being is more important than career advancement. Human sustainability, therefore, is still […]