Tag: news

Minneapolis shooting a reminder to be on guard against workplace violence

by Tammy Binford The September 28 shootings that killed six at a Minneapolis business put employers on notice that workplace violence can occur with no warning. Other times, though, there are signs that employers should heed. The October issue of Minnesota Employment Law Letter contains an article titled “Employers look anew at preventing violence in […]

Are Your Employees ENGAGED in Training?

Trainers need to spend more time thinking about how they are going to teach than what they are going to teach, says Vicki Halsey, Ph.D. (www.vickihalsey.com), author of Brilliance by Design: Creating Learning Experiences That Connect, Inspire, and ENGAGE (Berrett-Koehler, 2011), and vice president of applied learning at The Ken Blanchard Companies. Trainers tend to […]

Chicago teachers end strike

by Brian J. Kurtz On what should have been the second Wednesday of the school year, Chicago teachers ended their strike against the city and returned to work. The bitter dispute brought national attention to Chicago and to the issue of education reform. The last teachers strike in Chicago took place 25 years ago. Apparently, […]

Walker to appeal lower court ruling against Wisconsin law restricting union rights

by Timothy Edwards In what may likely be a temporary victory for public unions in the state of Wisconsin, a Dane County judge declared that Governor Scott Walker’s restrictions to the collective bargaining rights of specific government employees (Act 10) are unconstitutional. The court’s decision is not the last word on this politically charged topic. […]

Train Your Trainers Not To Make These Mistakes

Weiss is director of Seyfarth Shaw at Work, a legal compliance training company associated with the Seyfarth Shaw law firm. His remarks originally appeared in our sister publication, the HR Manager’s Legal Reporter. What Can Go Wrong Weiss suggested that trainers check to be sure they avoid the following common problems: Training from the Bottom […]

Are Your Trainers Well Trained?

Weiss is director of Seyfarth Shaw at Work, a legal compliance training company associated with the Seyfarth Shaw law firm. He says that courts (and opposing attorneys) will explore such things as the content of the training course, how much money is spent on training, and the trainer’s background and competency. His remarks originally appeared […]

Many Arizona state employees become “at will”

by Tammy Binford Most new state government workers in Arizona soon will be at-will employees thanks to a new law overhauling the state personnel system that goes into effect September 29. The new law consolidates nine different personnel systems in the executive branch and converts new hires, attorneys, supervisors, and several other high-level employees to […]

Medical marijuana law takes effect in Connecticut Oct. 1

by Jonathan C. Sterling As of October 1, Connecticut employers need to make sure they’re in compliance with the state’s new medical marijuana law. Under the law, employers of one or more employees are prohibited from refusing to hire, discharging, penalizing, or threatening an employee solely on the basis of his status as a “qualifying […]

EEOC plan reveals enforcement priorities

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has released a draft of its Strategic Enforcement Plan (SEP) that spells out priorities such as stepped-up efforts against hiring discrimination and harassment, new protections for various vulnerable workers, preserving access to the legal system, and dealing with emerging issues like changes brought by the ADA Amendments Act. Recruitment […]

New Study Shows that Project Management Training Yields Significant Results

Areas of Improvement Of participants in “The State of Project Management Training,” 29% credited project management training with improvement in stakeholder satisfaction, while 27% reported improvement in schedule performance, and nearly the percentage—26%—had fewer project failures. In the study of 247 large, mid-sized, and small companies in a variety of industries, project management firm PM […]