Tag: Employment law

Balancing perks and payoffs: Staying on course with employee incentives

Employers are always on the hunt for ways to attract, retain, and engage employees. They resort to a variety of perks including flexible scheduling, plenty of paid time off, and more. But employers also strive to go beyond those common incentives as they search for an innovative perk that will produce a payoff in the […]

Governor LePage: an HR case study on senior managers behaving badly

by Daniel C. Stockford What would you do if a senior manager in your company was prone to making the types of controversial and incendiary remarks for which Maine Governor Paul LePage has become famous? In this article, we will examine the governor’s history of controversial statements and explore what can be done when a […]

Employers’ collection of GPS data found to not breach privacy rights

By Lorene Novakowski In two recent cases out of British Columbia, employers were found to be entitled to collect GPS information from service vehicles and from mobile phones issued to employees. Employees had complained that the collection of the GPS information was contrary to the BC Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA). The complaints were considered […]

Parks and relationships

As an avid Parks and Recreation fan, I cannot help but love the chemistry between newlyweds Leslie Knope and Ben Wyatt. Long before they were joining their dysfunctional families via a wedding with a punch heard round the world and a unity quilt (complete with a patch dedicated to waffles, of course), these two were […]

Getting management right: What’s HR’s role?

Few would argue that managers play a large role in attracting the best employees and keeping them engaged and productive. An effective manager keeps the team strong. The trick is learning how to improve managers and figuring out whether, or even if, the human resources department has any control over manager effectiveness.  Pete Smith, a […]

Linking pay raises to company tattoos: good idea or legal minefield?

by Peter A. Jones A New York employer offered its employees a 15 percent pay raise if they had the company logo tattooed on their bodies. Reportedly, there were no limitations on the size or location of the tattoo, and about 40 employees accepted the offer and are receiving raises after having been inked. There […]

Dress for success

This season, the network that originally brought you “COPS” is giving the oversaturated police-television show market a somewhat fresh take through its cop comedy called “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.” The show stars Andy Samberg as Det. Jake Peralta, a “talented, but carefree” (Fox’s words—not mine) detective dealing with his new hard-nosed, rule-following boss, played by Andre Braugher. […]

Phoning it in: Termination appropriate for employee who called in ‘sick’

By Hannah Roskey Determining the legitimacy of an employee’s illness is a tricky situation for employers across Canada. The Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench recently took a firm stance on the abuse of sick leave and found in favor of the employer in Telus Communications Inc. v. Telecommunications Workers’ Union. Telus was correct in firing […]

Timeless questions on comp time, overtime

Employees and employers alike share questions and frustrations relating to how overtime works, when it must be paid, and whether time off can be substituted for overtime pay. Seemingly simple questions get complicated when intricate rules come in to play. Recently, a group of attorneys addressed some common questions surrounding compensatory time and overtime. Here […]

‘Worker centers’ thriving in the absence of unions

by W. Scott McLellan I’m based in Austin, and as you may know, Texas is not exactly a hotbed of traditional labor unions. Unlike employers in other parts of the country, Texas employers have long enjoyed a degree of flexibility in operations and employee relations that unions can prevent. However, that flexibility can lead to […]