Employee Relations

RIF? Make sure layoff decision-makers don’t know workers’ FMLA status

02/03/2010

Economic times remain tough, and businesses are still finding they have to cut costs to survive. And cutting costs often means looking at a possible reduction in force. In most organizations facing that difficult prospect, a team of managers has to decide where the cuts should be made and what criteria to use when making those cuts. Make sure the decision-making team doesn’t have access to information about FMLA usage …

Beware suspicious timing when taking action against employee undergoing medical treatment

02/03/2010

Here’s another good reason to meticulously track performance: If you end up firing or demoting someone without good documentation, you may end up in court. Bad timing alone could trigger a lawsuit if the employee engaged in some sort of protected activity just before the action.

Anti-bias agency learns what it’s like to be sued

02/02/2010

The Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights, which investigates discrimination charges, has been sued over an allegedly negligent investigation.

Reward for doctor who blew whistle on Medicare fraud

02/02/2010

Dr. Steven Radjenovich contacted federal officials when he believed Wheaton Community Hospital was manipulating hospital stays to overcharge the federal government. As a result, he will share in the almost $850,000 fine the hospital will pay to settle the charges.

A taste of her own medicine: Office manager to pay doc, IRS

02/01/2010

Medical office manager Karen Schmidt of Amberley Village has pleaded guilty to mail fraud and filing a false tax return in connection with a scheme to bilk her employer, Ohio Valley Orthopedics, a Cincinnati-area medical practice.

5 ways to extract great ideas from your employees

01/26/2010

Employees are often the best sources of ideas because they are closest to the daily details of the organization. But too often, employees are sitting on great cost-saving, business-generating ideas because they’ve never been specifically asked. Here are five strategies to help encourage their input.

Communication is top benefit at Arizona American Water

01/25/2010

At Arizona American Water, HR goes “overboard” with employee communication, says Senior HR Manager Linda Stillman, sending electronic newsletters around the office, paper newsletters to employees’ homes and setting up teleconferences to share information.

OK to aggressively question suspected thieves—as long as your intent isn’t malicious

01/22/2010

Some employees are light-fingered, and it isn’t always easy to catch them stealing. Loss-prevention staff often presses hard when interviewing employees they suspect are pilfering. That’s appropriate, as is reporting the case to police. As the following case shows, aggressive questioning during an initial investigation doesn’t equal malicious intent.

Your Best Defense: Prevention

01/22/2010

HR Law 101: When drugs don’t seem to present a problem in a workplace, it’s easy to develop a cavalier attitude about them. That’s not very smart. Drug abuse often begins with a single offender and then spreads out malignantly. Experts say your best defense is to detect drug abuse when it first appears and to root it out immediately …

Disciplining safety violators: Don’t just holler

01/20/2010

What do your supervisors do when they catch workers breaking a major safety rule? Simply yell at the worker? A new court ruling highlights the importance of enforcing safety rules with discipline and documentation.