Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
It’s that time again and your employee pundits are getting rabid—without careful attention, it’s the end of productivity until the election is over. Fortunately, employers can control political activities at work to a large extent, but there is a patchwork quilt of federal and state laws that governs this area. And, as always, this patchwork […]
In yesterday’s Advisor, BLR editor and attorney Patricia Trainor SPHR clarified National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) pronouncements on confidentiality and access; today, NLRB and “at-will” statements, plus an introduction to the all-in-one HR Website, HR.BLR.com. Trainor is Managing Editor of BLR’s human resources and employment law publications. At-Will Disclaimer Now an At-Risk Disclaimer For years, […]
The hyperactive NLRB has fired salvos at employers on three new fronts—confidentiality, workplace access, and employment at will—and few employers will be left unscathed. The National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) recent rulings reflect a trend at the NLRB to find unfair labor practices in policies and procedures employers have long considered legitimate and proper. For […]
Special from Atlanta—SHRM Annual Conference and Exhibition In yesterday’s Advisor, attorney James McDonald explained the legal pitfalls of one kind of lookism—“You’re too unattractive to work here.” Today, he tackles the opposite—“You’re too attractive to work here”—plus we introduce the HR policy guru, SmartPolicies. The Other Side of Lookism: I’m Too Sexy McDonald, who is […]
Special from Atlanta—SHRM Annual Conference and Exhibition People can’t admit to their own performance failures, says attorney James McDonald, so when they are fired, they wonder, What could it have been? And they come up with: “I must have been discriminated against based on my looks!” McDonald, who is a partner in the Irvine, California office […]
In yesterday’s Advisor, we covered what employers can do about heated political discussions in the workplace. Today, sample policies regarding political activity plus an introduction to the indispensible 50×50 (50 Employment Laws in 50 States). Here’s sample Political Activity Policy number one: Employees are not to participate in election activities while working and are not […]
What do you do if your workplace is so politically polarized that workers in the same department can’t have a civil discussion without becoming red-faced and loud-mouthed? In a BusinessWeek article, Bruce Weinstein, PhD., who calls himself “The Ethics Guy,”says that most political issues are by their nature highly divisive. At stake in this year’s […]
A supervisor’s apparent bias in the firing of her employee proved costly in a recent 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling which upheld a decision by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, Eastern Division awarding $413,000 in damages and liquidated damages in an FMLA retaliation claim based on cat’s-paw liability. […]
Yesterday’s Advisor covered what employers can’t do when fighting off unions; today, eight steps you can take, plus an introduction to an extraordinary program prepared especially for smaller—or even one-person—HR departments. Once again, we turn to BLR’s managing editor of HR.BLR.com, attorney Patricia Trainor, SPHR for advice. In addition to communicating with employees about unions, […]
The off-week hours of rotational workers may count against FMLA leave, a federal judge reluctantly decided in a recent U.S. District Court ruling. The Oklahoma judge ruled for a trucking firm in an FMLA interference claim by a fired dispatcher who failed to return to work after he exhausted his 12 weeks of job-protected FMLA […]