Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
President-Elect Barack Obama has chosen former South Dakota Senator Tom Daschle as his Secretary of Health and Human Services and health care czar. Daschle lays out his ideas about how to fix the ailing U.S. health care system in his book Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis, which was published in February […]
Recruiting and retention—nothing is more important for any company. What’s happening with recruiting and retention in the real world? What are your competitors up to? Help us find out!
The holiday season can bring out the best—and worst—in workers. Over the past few years, we’ve reported on Strange but True! holiday stories making the news, such as employees behaving badly at company parties, a survey of the most unusual gifts for coworkers, secret Santa in the Senate and, last but not least, Santa getting […]
Yesterday’s Advisor featured the Four Ms of setting good appraisal goals; today, legal pitfalls in appraisals, plus an introduction to a unique leadership training system. Because poor performance is often advanced as the reason for a termination, the performance appraisal system is often the crux of the defense against a wrongful termination suit. Here’s how […]
By Susan W. Kline Experienced HR professionals know that, generally speaking, an employee has no viable claim for sexual harassment unless her workplace has become “hellish.” Nonetheless, savvy employers will take action long before offensive behavior adds up to an actionable claim of sexual (or racial or religious) harassment. By focusing on inappropriate behavior and […]
by Elaine Young In 2013, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) was part of the group that drafted and passed a comprehensive immigration bill in the Senate. The bill later fizzled out in the House of Representatives. This year, Senator Hatch introduced the Immigration Innovation Act of 2015, which addresses one aspect of comprehensive immigration reform—increasing the […]
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) continues to befuddle, annoy, and distract every HR manager. In today’s Advisor, explanations of the most confusing aspects of leave management. The number one FMLA question involves eligibility for leave. "Twelve months and 1,250 hours" should be the clearest of guidelines, but it’s not quite so simple. Let’s […]
By Lauren M. Cooper A much-debated issue is whether you may lawfully require employees to speak only English in the workplace. The simple answer is yes. This article will address the circumstances in which you may legally enforce an English-only policy and the potential legal risks that follow. Status Quo Ante Employers increasingly ask employees […]
California employment regulations often differ from federal regulations. Calculation of hours worked is no exception. In an ERI webinar titled “Wage & Hour Road Rules for HR: Travel Pay in California Explained,” Ron Garrity outlined the basic rules employers must follow when calculating hours worked and also gave some examples of how this differs in […]
The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiscal year 2013 budget request continues many priorities emphasized in the previous year’s budget, such as the effort to combat worker misclassification, while ending or consolidating some programs aimed at helping women and veterans find jobs. The DOL’s 2013 budget request comes in at $12 billion. The 2012 request […]