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Supreme Court Makes Pivotal ADEA Decision

By Natalie Ramsey In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court recently rejected the mixed-motive framework for disparate treatment claims filed under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). In reaching this pivotal decision, the Court made it clear that the analysis for age discrimination isn’t subject to the one-size-fits-all mixed-motive analysis applied in Title […]

Top 5 Job Description Mistakes

Job descriptions—just the thought brings tears to your eyes. Yet job descriptions are central to hiring, compensation, and appraisal (not to mention avoiding lawsuits). Today, BLR editors reveal the top 5 mistakes managers make with job descriptions. One key to getting them done right is to give someone responsibility—and put it in his or her […]

7 Steps to Starting an Investigation in the Workplace

When an employee complains that a supervisor or co-worker is harassing or bullying them, or engaged in discriminatory or other illegal conduct, an investigation is often required to resolve the matter. However, few managers are trained in how to conduct them. Speaking at BLR’s National Employment Law Update this week in Las Vegas, Attorney Rebecca […]

Is $95K PowerPoint Preparer Exempt from Overtime?

“Artistic” exemption? Is an employee who earns $95,000 preparing PowerPoint® presentations for very high-level financial presentations exempt from overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) “artistic exemption”? “Probably not,” in the opinion of Attorney Myron Moye, speaking at the BLR® National Employment Law Update running this Monday through Wednesday (October 19-21) in Las Vegas. […]

Behavioral Interviewing: Getting the Best Answers from Job Applicants

Tell me about yourself. What are your strengths? How about your weaknesses? Maybe those questions sound familiar. Maybe you hear the same phrases come out of your own mouth every time you conduct a job interview. And maybe you’re missing something. Mastering HR: Hiring Traditional vs. behavioral interviewing techniques If you’re frustrated by the lack […]

Employee Fraud: Warning Signs, Deterring and Responding to It

These days it seems like you can’t pick up a newspaper or log on to the Internet without reading another story about multimillion-dollar fraud. Just when we thought we’d heard the last of Enron, Tyco, and WorldCom, along comes Bernie Madoff. But fraud isn’t a problem only for Fortune 100 companies and millionaire investors. It […]

What Corporate Culture Are You Creating?

Earlier this week I was meeting with the CEO and owner of a company when the topic of corporate culture came up. I was interested to learn what the culture at his company was like. As he described his company’s culture, it was evident that many of the company’s traits mirrored that of the owner […]

Growing Up Grotti

Litigation Value: Oscar’s damages–climbing; diversity and harassment training from a trained professional–$2,000; backing off the mafia–priceless. It’s a new episode of The Office that has Michael, Dwight, and Andy convinced that an insurance salesman is part of the mafia based on “his southern Italian heritage.”  While it was entertaining for viewers to watch the trio (and Pat the Mechanic) […]

You Can Have Your Cake and Eat It, Too (If You’re Creative)

By Todd Thomas Just My E-pinion In this era of tight finances, Todd Thomas suggests that a little creativity will allow you to maintain corporate charitable contributions and management training retreats on a zero-dollar budget. (You might have to buy lunch.) Most organizations are finding they have to cut back on “non-essentials” like charitable giving […]