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OSHA urges employers to think crowd control for Black Friday

As shoppers plan their Black Friday bargain hunting, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is urging retail employers to plan their crowd-control measures to keep workers safe. In 2008, a worker was trampled to death while a crowd of shoppers rushed the doors of a Wal-Mart store in New York. OSHA recommends that retailers […]

The 7 Most Common Mistakes in Sales Recruiting

Lacking a system to recruit top talent from outside your industry Hiring salespeople who can sell instead of those who will sell Not knowing how to identify superstar sales candidates Not asking the right questions at the interview Hiring to availability instead of for excellence Not having a great employee referral system in place Advertising […]

Long-term unemployment seen holding back jobseekers

No law specifically says employers are prohibited from discriminating against job applicants who have been out of work for months or even years. The long-term unemployed don’t have protections spelled out in any antidiscrimination laws – or do they? When jobseekers are part of a protected class that has a disproportionate number of people unemployed, […]

The art of Thanksgiving

by Al Vreeland We’ve become a nation of firefighters. Not the heroic sort riding red trucks and saving lives, but the frenetic sort running from hot spot to hot spot, handling daily crises in order of priority. And we usually don’t take time to appreciate the people who help us. So as we belly up […]

No gender confusion means no discrimination

It has been said that the more things change, the more they stay the same. That certainly applies to the following case involving the employment application of a biological female who identifies as a male. While the scenario might be somewhat unusual, the legal issue is one that has been around for decades: Can you […]

Pre-resignation training costs not recoverable

by Jennifer Shepherd Can Canadian employers who require employees to undergo training to upgrade their skills as part of their employment then seek reimbursement from the employee if the employee subsequently resigns?

Federal government touts increase in employment of people with disabilities

When President Obama signed Executive Order 13548 on July 26, 2010, he specifically set a goal of hiring 100,000 people with disabilities by 2015. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) not only lead federal agencies in the first two quarters of 2012 with 4.2 percent of all new hires being people with disabilities, the agency […]

Teaching the C-Suite About Turnover

We say we care about turnover of top producers, yet we spend our time with the worst performers, says consultant Karl Ahlrichs, SPHR. Today’s Advisor features his tips for talking to the C-suite about turnover. Start with this simple distribution chart, says Ahlrichs, who is owner of ExpertSpeaks, and a consultant and business developer for […]

Montana Representative Poses Weighty Pay Issue—Wants to Be Paid in Gold

Montana State Representative Jerry O’Neil fears the fiscal cliff so much that after he won reelection last week, he requested in writing to the Montana Legislature Central Services Office that he be paid his $7,000 annual salary in gold—coins, that is! Well, silver is OK, too. He references his unusual request to Article 1, Section […]

2012 Holiday Pay Practices Infographic

A new BLR Holiday Practices Survey examines employer practices for providing paid holidays and paying nonexempt employees during the 2012 holiday season and provides information on planned paid holidays for 2013. A total of 1,936 organizations participated in the survey, conducted in October 2012. The infographic also links to answers on frequently asked questions (FAQs) […]