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

Employee Relations

Unintended consequences: Co-Pays up, productivity down

10/01/2007

If your employees have to shell out for co-pays that they believe are too high, they might opt not to buy their medicine or even seek treatment, even for major health ailments. That can be a problem for your organization because sick employees are not productive …

Fed HR reps don’t like the government’s pay system

10/01/2007

One-third of the federal government’s chief human capital officers say their employer should replace its general schedule pay system with pay for performance …

Accommodation process limited to current, open positions

10/01/2007

The ADA requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for disabled workers. That can mean modifying the employee’s existing job so he or she can perform the essential functions. But disabilities can change over time, and an accommodation that’s worked for years may stop working. If that’s the case, the disabled employee and his employer are both obligated to engage in another interactive accommodations process. However, if the discussions reveal that no amount of accommodation will allow the employee to do the job satisfactorily, it’s time to look for other solutions …

Train managers: Sexual-Orientation comments are off limits

10/01/2007

The California Fair Employment and Housing Act bars employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. In fact, the law clearly states, “Freedom from employment discrimination on account of sexual orientation is a civil right.” Make sure supervisors know: Comments about an employee’s sexual orientation simply aren’t appropriate in the workplace. They’ll lead to trouble …

What to do if an older worker’s performance is slipping?

10/01/2007

A participant in the Forum section of our HR Weekly e-letter posed this question: “One of our employees is nearing 80 and his performance is slipping badly. Is there an alternative to harsh evaluations and termination? We’d like him to depart with dignity.” Here’s how some HR professionals replied …

Study: Managers overrate their own success

10/01/2007

If you believe you’re a top performer at work, you’re not alone. An impossible 90% of managers think they’re among the top 10% of performers in their workplace, according to a BusinessWeek poll of 2,000 managers.

False move can revive expired claim—As retaliation

10/01/2007

Employers nationwide breathed a sigh of relief when the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that employees must promptly bring discrimination claims. But the decision in the Ledbetter case isn’t as simple as press coverage may have suggested. In fact, any move a supervisor makes that could be interpreted as retaliation for the earlier, expired claim may be seen as retaliation for earlier complaints …

The dreaded reference check: What to say about former employees?

10/01/2007

Q. What may an employer say about why an employee left or was fired? …

Stay competitive by aligning benefits with staff expectations

10/01/2007

An organization’s HR professionals and its employees don’t always see eye to eye when it comes to benefits. The Society for Human Resource Management’s “2007 Job Satisfaction Survey Report” revealed some good examples …

3-Month ‘Future Leave’ Helps Retain Employees

10/01/2007

Employees at Accenture, a management consulting company, can take three months off—for any reason—and their jobs will be waiting for them when they return. As part of the company’s Future Leave program, which grants unpaid leave of up to three months with continued benefits, supervisors don’t even ask why the employee wants to take the time off …