Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Employers are looking to save time and money and are turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to make employment practices more efficient. In early 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued guidance to help employers navigate the use of AI. The takeaway is that eliminating humans from critical employment processes could result in a violation […]
In recent months, many employers have faced increased scrutiny of and challenges to their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, including claims that the programs amount to “reverse discrimination.” In a recent decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit (which covers Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin) rejected an employee’s reverse discrimination claim under […]
Conventional wisdom says firing an employee is one of the more difficult decisions for managers and HR. Unconventional wisdom says to think differently. Read on. Thought No. 1: Fire Sooner, Not Later When a new employee isn’t the right hire, act! When there isn’t a good match between your need and their talent, no amount […]
Effective July 1, 2024, Chicago employers will need to comply with the city of Chicago’s paid leave and paid sick and safe leave ordinance. The ordinance requires Chicago employers and employers with Chicago-based remote workers to provide up to 40 hours per year of paid leave and 40 hours per year of paid sick leave […]
Training. Training, training, training. We all appreciate the practical importance of training. It can certainly help eliminate pesky and undesirable workplace issues. Heck, it can even help create a desirable workplace for employees. Set aside the practical benefits of training—e.g., relaying fairly obvious no-nos to a room typically containing persons inexplicably unaware of obvious no-nos—and […]
The U.S. Supreme Court’s April 2024 decision in Muldrow v. City of St. Louis appears to have expanded the universe of “adverse employment actions” that could support an employee’s discrimination claim. The new standard has required courts to consider whether much more generalized and subjective sorts of alleged harm are sufficient to support an employment […]
Like all good legal questions, the answer to whether a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) is enforceable in sexual harassment cases is “it depends.” An NDA or confidentiality agreement is a signed legal document that restricts one party from sharing certain information with others. In the 1940s, NDAs were originally used in maritime law, and in the […]
On March 15, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in Lindke v. Freed that lays out a two-part test for when a public official’s social media activity constitutes state action. According to the Court, a public official’s posts on social media are attributable to the government if the official had the actual authority […]
Question: We have an employee who was summoned for jury duty. Do we, as an employer, have to pay them for the days they’re missing work? Answer: Jury duty is an unavoidable but important part of our legal system. It is also time-consuming and will inevitably force people to miss work. Federally, there is no […]
Hiring a new employee takes time—for example, time completing paperwork before the start date, as well as time reviewing policies and procedures and completing training. But how much of that time is considered compensable under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)? Orientation and Onboarding The FLSA generally counts a new hire’s time spent in orientation […]