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Employee Relations

Disability still your call, even if co-workers ‘Accommodate’

03/01/2008

Sometimes, supervisors are the last to know an employee wants an accommodation for a disability. Instead, the employee may be making her own accommodations by asking co-workers for help. Of course, the help may end up keeping them from doing their own jobs. What should you do when you find out? …

Workplace flexibility: no longer one-Size-Fits-All

03/01/2008

A flexible workplace is flexible in its flexibility. Flextime and flex-place are no longer accommodations for working mothers alone. They are part of a business strategy that helps keep employees productive …

Seattle firm accepts jobs only if its own employees are available

03/01/2008

When Tim Jenkins and two friends started professional services firm Point B in 1995, they aimed to offer their employees an escape from the 100-hour workweeks and extended business travel that typically accompany high-powered consulting jobs …

Annual trips to SF field office help East Coast staff recharge

03/01/2008

Every year, junior-level staff members in the Virginia office of Merritt Group take a trip to San Francisco. Merritt execs figure a week at the communication firm’s California office is a good way to integrate staff at the bi-coastal organization …

Business community gives lawmakers low marks

03/01/2008

In a recent Michigan Chamber of Commerce survey, a whopping 90% of responding members gave state lawmakers a grade of “D” or lower for overall job performance …

Accommodations working? Then avoid sudden change of heart following injury

03/01/2008

Disabled employees who receive ADA accommodations expect those accommodations to continue even after an unrelated minor injury. If you suddenly remove the accommodation, you may find yourself facing a “regarded-as-disabled” lawsuit …

Court finds Hillsborough County did not discriminate

03/01/2008

 A counselor for the Hillsborough County Children’s Services Department (CSD) lost her disability discrimination case against the county in U.S. District Court for the Middle District in Tampa …

360° evaluations help when charge is ‘Failure to get along’

03/01/2008
Courts are naturally suspicious when employers trot out subjective discharge reasons like “not a team player” or “fails to inspire subordinates,” which may mask an underlying discriminatory attitude. One way to add credibility to subjective evaluation criteria is to ask co-workers and subordinates for their confidential assessments …

Effective evaluations are management tools, legal protection

03/01/2008

Ah, the “halo effect”—the practice of inflating an employee’s annual evaluation to increase overall morale and avoid the unpleasantness of telling underperforming workers what their weaknesses are. Too bad using the halo strategy both undermines performance and exposes employers to legal risks …

GSK hosts movie mornings for employees’ families

03/01/2008

Once a year, GlaxoSmithKline’s facility in Moon Township, PA, rents a local movie theater and invites employees and their families to watch a film, munch on popcorn and sip sodas—free …