• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Employee Relations

Update job descriptions to include new duties

01/03/2011

If you don’t have accurate and up-to-date job descriptions, you’re probably courting trouble—especially if an employee develops a disability and wants a reasonable accommodation. That’s because what an employee considers a job’s essential functions may not jibe with your assessment.

Credibility plays part in handling harassment

01/03/2011

When you have to fire a protected-class employee for sexual harassment, there’s always the fear that he will turn around and sue for discrimination. But remember: Credibility plays a part in deciding what happened in cases of alleged harassment. If a respected and trusted employee made the harassment accusation, the fired worker will have a hard time winning a lawsuit.

When employee disobeys, document insubordination

01/02/2011
You can and should discipline employees who refuse to follow directions. Just make sure you document the insubordination.

When conducting bias investigations, you don’t need to be perfect–just reasonable

12/31/2010
Here’s a bit of good news for HR professionals who worry that they aren’t conducting perfect investigations. Courts just want to see employers act reasonably. That doesn’t mean investigations must prove employee misconduct beyond a reasonable doubt.

Restaurant employee will serve time for wire fraud

12/30/2010
Jeremy David Schweickert will serve a 27-month sentence in federal prison for his part in a scheme to defraud his former employer, Tampa-based OSI Restaurant Partners.

Property manager pleads guilty in VA foreclosure scam

12/30/2010
A former sales manager for Palm Beach-based Ocwen Loan Servicing has pleaded guilty to wire fraud charges in connection with his management of foreclosed homes for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Past tolerance of misbehavior doesn’t mean it can continue

12/30/2010
Some employees believe that if their supervisor tolerates misconduct, those further up the workplace hierarchy can’t do anything about it. That’s not true.

Chicago employers counter pay cuts with low-cost perks

12/24/2010
Chicago-area employers spent the past few years nixing pay raises, cutting the number of paid holidays and even skimping on pension plans. Yet at the area’s trade associations, turnover was down 11.7% in 2010. Reason: Many of the associations, trying to hang onto good employees, have increased popular alternative benefits.

Scrooges on staff? 8 ways to turn ’em around

12/21/2010

As another year winds down, the economy isn’t the only thing that’s in a slump. Plenty of workers are in the doldrums, too. They feel stuck in their jobs because new ones are hard to come by. They can’t afford to retire. So they’re not performing as well as employees who look at their jobs as labors of love. Here’s how HR can help get them back on track.

Siemens employees get big post-recession bonus

12/20/2010
Now that the worst of the economic crisis seems to have passed, Berlin, Germany-based electronics and powerhouse Siemens in December said thanks to its employees worldwide with “special payment” bonuses totaling $430 million. Nonmanagement employees in the United States received almost $100 million.