Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
LITIGATION VALUE: $75,000 Nothing says “I love you” quite like a detailed legal contract acknowledging that you were neither coerced nor were promises made to entice you into entering into a relationship with your boss, and if the woman of your dreams becomes a nightmare, that you won’t sue your employer. Yes, love contracts actually […]
LITIGATION VALUE: $30,000 (But it could have been much higher) “Business is always personal” is probably not the best motto for a manager. It could lead them to act impulsively. Like, say, moving an employee’s desk from the front of the office to an “annex” inhabited by the employee’s chatty, fashion-crazed, quasi (ex?) girlfriend as […]
LITIGATION VALUE: $ 0.00 First off, let’s hear it for the HR Hero in last night’s episode. As he put it, “Toby, yeah!” I’m not sure what is going to happen with that story line, but it can’t be good that Hollywood thinks it’s funny for the HR manager to land an attractive model. Or […]
by Susan W. Kline With winter weather upon us, including snowy and icy road conditions, employers are faced with the prospect of lost time when employees can’t or don’t report to work because of inclement weather. Not only do absences due to bad weather reduce productivity, but they also raise a number of issues about […]
LITIGATION VALUE: $800,000+ If an executive learns that a regional manager has sponsored a bachelor party in the warehouse, hired a stripper, offered to “deflower” the bride, taken an employee to a sex store, received a lap dance, and allowed a pervert dressed up like Benjamin Franklin to make a lewd statement to the receptionist, […]
by Albert L. Vreeland Recently, your job as Shepherd of All Things Employment became a lot more complicated (and legally risky) — for reasons you may not even be aware of. On December 1, 2006, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure were amended to include specific provisions for handling electronically stored information. That may sound […]
LITIGATION VALUE: $300,000+ Thank god for damage caps. No matter how well intentioned, throwing a “welcome back” party for your Mexican-American employee by decorating the break room with piñatas, paper sombreros and streamers in the colors of the Mexican flag is not a good idea. Ever. Under no set of circumstances. Sure, Michael (and the […]
LITIGATION VALUE: Over $700,000 It would be pretty safe to say that any time a company’s regional manager asks a female employee to act out a lesbian love scene during its anti-harassment training you have problems. Expensive problems. Not only does the company face liability for Michael’s actions in contributing to the hostile working environment […]
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has recently decided two more “supervisor” cases under its new standard. The decisions are in addition to one the Board recently issued that shed some light on the often murky question of which employees are considered supervisors rather than “lead employees” under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). That […]
LITIGATION VALUE: $150,000 I empathize with Michael. There is nothing worse than the sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when you realize that you just accidentally forwarded that witty e-mail (which you worked on all morning) mocking your boss’s bad suits and strange habits to your boss, herself, rather than to your clever […]