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Employee Relations

Kids will be kids: Inappropriate workplace behavior and teenage workers

05/06/2008

Q. Some of our employees are teenagers who work part time while they go to school. Often, this is their first job. Some of them don’t seem to understand proper behavior in the work environment. They usually are OK with customers, but when they are interacting with each other, they give each other a hard time. Verbal put-downs and even physical acts are common. Does this create any potential problems? …

HR decision doesn’t have to be perfect—Just honest

05/06/2008
Sometimes, even the best HR professionals may feel paralyzed when faced with a major employee discipline decision, such as whether an employee should be fired. They hedge and keep asking supervisors questions, or keep an investigation open to get more information. If this sounds like your HR office when dealing with a discrimination complaint, relax …

Sometimes an apology is all it takes

05/06/2008
Jack Burghardt, an administrative support assistant in the Denver Clerk and Recorder’s Office, said he meant no offense when he asked two Hispanic co-workers how much it costs their “people to get across the border these days.” His boss felt the comment had racial overtones and suspended Burghardt for four days …

Black Denver deputies allege discrimination in sheriff’s dept.

05/06/2008
A group of black sheriff’s deputies is suing Denver and the Denver Sheriff Department, claiming the agency harbors a “culture of racism.” The lawsuit claims black employees are punished more harshly than whites for similar behavior …

Background checks, employee investigations and the FCRA

05/06/2008
Employers that use third parties (referred to in the law as credit reporting agencies, or CRAs) to perform background checks and investigations need to be aware of the requirements of the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) …

Make sure investigation process doesn’t defame employee

05/05/2008
As an employer, you are obligated to investigate employee harassment and discrimination claims. How you handle those investigations can determine whether you’ll have to prepare for later lawsuits. The problem: allegations that you defamed someone while conducting the investigation …

Track discipline to show equal treatment for all workers

05/05/2008
Insist that managers tell HR when they issue any form of discipline, even an oral warning. That way, there’s a record that you can later use to explain why it only looks like a discharged employee was punished more harshly than others who committed the same offense …

Discharging ill employee for performance? Better make sure you can prove it

05/05/2008
Courts often suspect the worst when employers fire severely ill employees. A judge may bend over backward trying to find a way to help the employee. An employer that can’t offer concrete, solid and compelling reasons for the termination may very well find itself trying to defend a “regarded as disabled” lawsuit …

Hospital’s men are chefs for a day at annual cook-Off

05/02/2008
Every summer, male employees of the Henry Ford Health System get the chance to show off their cooking chops at the organization’s “Men Who Cook” fundraiser. Held at the health system’s flagship hospital in downtown Detroit, the event attracts more employees than any other health system activity …

IT company builds teamwork with rolling desks, fast rewards

05/02/2008
Thirty-six desks at IT firm Dynamic Edge in Ann Arbor, Mich., have wheels on them so employees can sit with whomever they want each day. Nobody has a job title or an assigned cubicle, and even the company’s founder sits out in the open at a portable desk …