Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Human resources professionals spend a lot of time working to create a respectful work environment. Much of that effort is necessary to stay in compliance with antidiscrimination and other workplace laws, but a true focus on ethics goes beyond legal compliance. Susan Alevas, an attorney, management consultant, and president of Alevas Consulting Group, Inc., recently […]
In the space of just under three decades, Amazon grew from an online book seller to a massive online retail empire. Companies that experience such tremendous success rarely do so without controversy, and when keeping prices low is part of the winning recipe, labor wages and conditions are often under constant pressure. Amazon’s Employment Practices […]
For more than 2 years, challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic have continued to make their presence known—not to mention the “Great Resignation” that has required HR policies to adapt quickly and continuously. At the beginning of the pandemic, when each day was “unprecedented,” employees woke up to initial responses that provided short-term solutions. But now […]
The Senate’s confirmation of Janet Dhillon to take a seat on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) means the agency has a quorum—for now—but the five-member commission still has two vacancies, and the term of one of the current members expires on July 1.
Blind spots are just that—unintentionally biased perspectives that we all have, but are unaware of, that can cause us to make decisions based on misconceptions.
As the COVID-19 pandemic raged across the country, American employers reluctantly underwent a mass shift to remote work. Remote work had been technically possible for many job types years before the pandemic, but a fear of lost productivity and negative impacts on team cohesion made many companies reluctant to allow remote work until they literally […]
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) proposed a new round of guidance on the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA), elaborating on the law’s application to various plan design features that may be deemed to treat mental health benefits unfairly.
by Kaitlin L. Hillenbrand Q One of our employees recently told the HR director that she “prays for death every night.” Is there anything we are legally required to do in response? A A condition that causes an employee to become suicidal may be covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In that case, […]
Question: What’s the minimum amount of time we can require exempt employees to use their paid time off (PTO)? Under our benefits policy, a half day (four-hour deductions) for exempt employees is usually OK, and our nonexempt employees can take PTO one hour at a time, but could we require a similar two-hour increment for […]
If you’ve been using a mandatory drug screening program as a condition of employment, perhaps you’re already aware that there are a lot of pros and cons involved with doing so. Many employers view such a program as mandatory because an employer has an obligation to provide a safe working environment.