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Summer Intern Gets Fired Over Fake Pilot Names

Earlier this summer, we wrote about a new anchor who was fired for swearing on the air. In his defense, it was the young anchor’s first day on the job, and he didn’t know his microphone was on. The blunder quickly spread on social media, and thanks to quick action on the part of the […]

Q&A on the Intersection of ADA and OSHA

Employers have an obligation to keep employees safe. They also have an obligation to meet all other legal requirements while doing so. This statement seems simple enough, but it can become complex in a hurry. For example, is an employer potentially violating the ADA by forcing employees to undergo medical screenings that may uncover safety […]

Exempt employees in California: The professional exemption

Exempt employees in California must meet specific requirements. First, they must be paid on a salary basis, and the pay must be at least twice the California minimum wage. In addition to meeting the salary requirements, each type of exemption has its own job duty requirements that must be met for an employee to qualify. […]

How to Avoid 4 Common PowerPoint® Mistakes

A PowerPoint presentation can help reinforce concepts you convey during training, but the technology can also undermine your efforts—unless you avoid some common mistakes. Here are four to avoid: Don’t use too much text in your slides. If you squeeze too many words onto a slide, the audience may have trouble reading them or may […]

Keeping Your Best Employees: Using Compensation Strategy to Your Advantage

Keeping Your Best Employees: Using Compensation Strategy to Nurture the Keepers In today's market, even if you're not making changes yet, your competitors are already hiring, promoting, providing bigger merit increases, and restoring bonuses. There's less and less barrier and more and more incentive for employees to go somewhere else. "I think now it's incumbent […]

Rhode Island, federal law changes affect how employers treat same-sex married couples

by Matthew H. Parker A series of amendments to Rhode Island law and the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 26 decision in United States v. Windsor have changed how most Rhode Island employers must treat same-sex married couples. Under the amendments, which go into effect on August 1, anyone who is eligible to marry in Rhode […]

Are you measuring the risk or the reward?

by Dan Oswald I read something the other day that asked, “Are you playing to win or not to lose?” It’s an interesting question. You may be wondering what the difference between the two exactly is. You may think that if both strategies are successful, the result is the same. But is it? Winning is […]

Why Does the NLRB Care About At-Will Policies?

Most employers have and use at-will provisions in their employment agreements, handbooks, and acknowledgements. These provisions tend to state that the at-will nature of the employment is not subject to modification. However, in the last year employers have found that these provisions may be in violation of NLRA Section 7. "The NLRB has now weighed […]

The Difficult Business of Searching Employees’ ‘Private’ Spaces

Special from Chicago—SHRM Annual Conference and Exhibition In yesterday’s Advisor, we got tips on privacy in the workplace from popular SHRM speaker, attorney Jonathan Segal. Today, his tips on searches, plus an introduction to the all-HR-in-one website, HR.BLR.com. Segal made his remarks at SHRM’s Annual Conference and Exhibition, held recently in Chicago. He is a […]

Employee Testing: Meeting ADA Requirements While Keeping Employees Safe

Did you know that some employers may be violating ADA requirements when performing safety tests for OSHA? This may include testing employees to ensure that they can perform certain physical functions of the job. This may also include taking adverse actions only against employees who have a disability. Employers need to be careful. “Some employers […]