Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
A recent appeals court ruling shows that clear and consistent documentation of an employee’s poor performance is more important than certain imprudent things a supervisor may say to an employee. Robert Dickerson, an individual with a mental disability, worked as a part-time custodian for an Illinois community college. He was recorded several times losing employer property and […]
Facebook’s not the place to make grossly disparaging remarks about your employer — that should not be a new concept to most employees. And while employers should be careful about overly restrictive policies, there is a line beyond which employees can be fired. In this case, a Chicago area car salesman’s posts about cheap food his employer […]
The Family and Medical Leave Act requires that employees taking unpaid time off to care for a relative must stay close to that person during most of that leave, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals said in deciding Baham v. McLane Foodservice, Inc. While an employee need not spend every waking moment in the […]
Employers should not fire workers in response to them taking valid FMLA leave. But firing can be justified when employees use FMLA leave (1) in a way that violates the employer’s policy manual, (2) to cover up for underperformance, (3) to retaliate against their employers or (4) as carte blanche to miss endless hours of […]
Which sounds most like your managers? “Before I make this important decision I must carefully review the HR policy dealing with this situation” OR “Policies? What policies?” Unfortunately, says consultant Robert J. Greene, too often it’s the latter. And to make matters worse, policy-making and enforcing has gotten harder, says Greene, CEO of Reward $ystems […]
In yesterday’s Advisor, attorney Allison West offered her “4 Serious Sins of Documentation.” Today, her take on employee explanations, plus an introduction to the all-HR-in-one website, HR.BLR.com. It’s critical to get the employee’s explanation for performance problems and to include it in your documentation, says West, principal at Employment Practices Specialists in Pacifica, California. Her […]
Rule number one in documentation, says attorney Allison West, is to include all the details, but you have to ignore that rule because of rule number two—be concise. When doing your documentation, it’s important to offer up all the facts, says West. Paper is cheap, she adds. However, at the same time, don’t be so […]
The decision in Quinn v. St. Louis Co. illuminates a fine line for employers. While eligible workers must be granted unpaid time off for qualifying serious health conditions under the FMLA, the court showed that interference must have material consequences – such as actual denial of time off – for employees to make a convincing […]
The U.S. government is sharpening its whistleblower protection program, hiring and training more OSHA agents to cultivate employee complaints against their companies. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) wants to increase the number of “whistleblower managers,” who work with disgruntled employees to dig up dirt on companies for alleged violations of workplace laws. Their work […]
Alleging that a supervisor exacerbated an employee’s pre-existing health condition is not a valid theory of liability under the Family and Medical Leave Act, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled. The issue of serious health conditions covered by the FMLA causes human resources professionals some confusion. But as the 7th Circuit’s decision in […]