Learn Good HR Practices from Sports Superstars
Reading about sports superstars can provide HR professionals with valuable insight into the motivation and behavior of the employees you work with every day.
Tag: Employment law
How Texting Can Get You into Trouble at Work
Has texting grown up enough to become a corporate communications tool? Are your employees using their company-provided phone, PDA, or smartphone to send text messages? HR professionals, IT leaders, and other executives are pondering the above questions at the moment. Text messaging is becoming more mainstream. Workers who came to maturity in the age of […]
Did Employer’s Overtime Policy Create Unworkable ‘Catch-22’?
By Lorene Novakowski and Derek Knoechel As was noted in an earlier article here, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice recently certified a class action against the Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS). That lawsuit claims $300 million in unpaid overtime involving approximately 5,300 BNS sales staff: Fulawka v. Bank of Nova Scotia (Fulawka). Certification means […]
Happy Hour with Dunder Mifflin
Litigation Value: < $10,000 to settle the claims from Kevin’s inappropriate behavior; $50,000 in attorneys’ fees to deal with the ICE investigation for hiring an undocumented worker; potential untold damages for negligent hiring and retention if the friendly former surgeon later hurts someone like he did at his last employer. This week, Oscar wants to spend more […]
Workplace Investigations: Finding the Truth
by Toby Tiner, Jr. Editors’ note: This week we feature a guest article. The editors of Maine Employment Law Letter think you will benefit from the practical insights of their colleagues. They have worked alongside Toby on many tricky employee-relations cases, and his ability to find the truth while treating employees respectfully has impressed them. […]
Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard
Employment law attorney Michael Maslanka reviews Chip Heath and Dan Heath’s book Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, finding it both interesting and useful. Maslanka particularly focuses on the authors’ idea of fighting “the negative” by focusing on “bright spots.” In the book Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, […]
Obtaining a Work Permit in Canada: The Simplified Process
By Ingrid Anton and Isabelle Dongier In our January 4 article, we discussed the usual process for getting a work permit for a foreign employee entering Canada: obtaining a Labour Market Opinion (LMO). The LMO process can be complex, lengthy, and very demanding for employers. Fortunately, several exemptions exist that can provide you with a […]
Of Acorns and Oaks
Litigation Value: No liability (or sales leads) “per se.” However, the seeds of workplace discord have been planted, leaving open the possibility that they will take root and blossom into future legal problems. Sales personnel are lording it over their non-sales counterparts; protégés are maligning their once-valued mentors; and even the simple act of borrowing […]
Employer May Terminate Employee Who Misrepresented Need for FMLA Leave
The Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (which covers Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee) recently addressed whether an employer could terminate an employee who met the requirements for Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave but, by virtue of his behavior during the leave, revealed that he actually was able to work.
Adopt a Formal Flextime Policy
Employment law attorney Robert P. Tinnin, Jr., answers an HR practitioner’s question about improving a flextime program that has become unmanageable.