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Don’t let one person’s lack of planning bring the whole team down

by Dan Oswald Have you ever seen a sign that says something like “lack of planning on your part doesn’t constitute an emergency on mine” hanging in someone’s office or retail establishment? If you think about it for a minute, it’s surprising how often an unplanned or unanticipated event for one person turns into an […]

FLSA Guru Provides Insight on Proposed Overtime Changes

Do the new proposed overtime regulations submitted in July have your HR department aflutter? BLR’s Senior Legal Editor, Susan Schoenfeld, got the scoop at the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) conference from an expert speaker and helps to calm HR’s nerves with some solid insight.

Pay Grades Are Key to Fair, Competitive Compensation

Whether you want to reward performance, time, knowledge, skills, or competencies, determining pay grades is the first step to creating an equitable, competitive compensation system. Without accurate pay grade determination, it won’t matter how valid the pay survey data you acquire are—your internal compensation will likely be too high or too low.

Safety Training Tips: Preventing Amputations

While working on a machine to forge parts, a 28-year-old man lost a fingertip in a November 2014 incident—on just his second day on the job. Investigators said the accident could have been prevented if his employer had trained the man properly.

To kill Atticus Finch? HR pros aren’t afraid of the truth

It’s been a long time since I, like nearly any person educated in the United States, read Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Now, like many other readers out there, it’s back on my bedside table since Ms. Lee consented to publication of her other manuscript, Go Set a Watchman. I haven’t tackled it yet, […]

BC Court of Appeal takes a narrow view of the SCC’s New Labour Trilogy

By Christopher Pigott In a previous article, we reported on the Supreme Court of Canada’s “New Labour Trilogy,” a set of three landmark constitutional law decisions released in January 2015 that raised questions about basic aspects of Canada’s labor relations system. Unsurprisingly, the decisions sparked a huge debate in the Canadian labor law community as […]

New law allows veteran preference for private employers in Nebraska

by Mark M. Schorr Private employers in Nebraska will be allowed to implement policies giving hiring preference to veterans when a new law takes effect on August 30. Legislative Bill 272 will allow private employers with one or more employees to have a preference for veterans in hiring decisions without violating other laws that prohibit […]

Happy to Be Average? Average People Die of Heart Disease

OK with being average? 115/75 is average blood pressure, says Dr. Mehmet Oz. But what happens to average people? They die of heart disease. When it comes to your health, don’t settle for average, he says. Oz was a keynote speaker at the recent Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Annual Conference and Exhibition in […]

Common Employee Complaints About Bad Bosses

When employees are dissatisfied at work, one of their most common complaints is a bad boss. But for employers interested in improving employee morale and workplace culture, the idea of “bad” is too general. What makes a bad boss? What exactly are the most common complaints about bad bosses?