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Employee Relations

Beware age discrimination risk when offering promotions

01/01/2007

If you don’t ensure that clearly qualified, post age-40 employees aren’t seriously considered for promotions, you could be risking an expensive lawsuit under the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act …

College degree doesn’t automatically make applicant the better qualified candidate

01/01/2007

In many cases, better-educated applicants are better qualified. But don’t be intimidated into thinking that more education always equals a more qualified candidate …

In layoffs, keep FMLA leave out of performance rankings

01/01/2007

Employees are not immune from layoffs simply because they’ve taken FMLA leave in the past (or are currently out on FMLA leave). But when analyzing performance to determine which employees to lay off, keep FMLA leave days out of the decision …

Second Opinion on Fitness-for-Duty Certificate

01/01/2007

Q. We have an employee returning from FMLA leave. His physician issued a fitness-for-duty certificate, but we question the worker’s ability to perform his old job because the length of his absence was too short for him to recover completely. Further, the fitness-for-duty certificate simply states that he is “able” to work, without addressing his specific job duties. Can we send him to another physician for a second fitness-for-duty examination? —A.L.

Consensus Decisions Can Deflect Firing-Bias Claims

01/01/2007

One of the best ways to make sure a termination decision sticks is to adopt a consensus approach to the decision-making …

You Needn’t Accommodate Some ‘Serious’ Ailments

01/01/2007

While the ADA says organizations must provide reasonable accommodations to people with qualifying disabilities, be aware that many apparently serious conditions aren’t limiting enough to be considered disabilities …

Check employees’ work history if they claim a disability

01/01/2007

Just because a doctor sets a physical restriction on an employee, that doesn’t mean the employee is “disabled” and entitled to special ADA accommodations …

Get organized: 6 ways to zip through e-mail clutter

01/01/2007

Some people are deleters and some are hoarders. Either way, you can learn from these e-mail efficiency tips …

Texas workers more confident, which may lead to turnover

01/01/2007

Texas workers are becoming more confident in their ability to find a new job, according to the Spherion Employment Report, a monthly survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Spherion Corp. …

Hiring the hearing impaired: Home Depot sets model program

01/01/2007

Atlanta-based Home Depot recently completed a yearlong implementation of its Deaf2Work program in Minnesota, in collaboration with that state’s employment department …