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Employee Relations

Employee accessing child porn: Just saying ‘Stop’ isn’t enough

03/01/2006

When it comes to what your employees do on the Internet, "Hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil" is a bad policy. If you know someone is using company assets and company time to engage in illegal activity, you may be obligated to report the activity to the appropriate authorities …

6 common mistakes made during investigations, training

03/01/2006

Are your anti-harassment efforts legally bulletproof, or are they full of holes? Probably somewhere in between, if you’re like most employers. Here are six holes that need patching in many employers’ training and investigation practices …

Don’t require staff to give emergency contact info

03/01/2006

Q. We’re cleaning up our personnel files and updating emergency contact information. Some employees don’t want to provide their contact information. Is it legal for us to require them to give it to us? —S.S., California

Beware of a growing risk: harassment by customers

03/01/2006

Too many employers think harassment is a problem only when it’s an employee-on-employee thing. Recent court rulings prove that you can be held liable even when outsiders harass your employees. Taking action may cost you a customer, but courts say defending employees must come first …

Medication may limit employees’ FMLA reinstatement rights

03/01/2006

What happens if an employee tries to return to work after FMLA leave but isn’t quite recovered? In that case, you can turn the employee away if he or she can’t perform the job’s essential functions. That scenario often plays out when the returning employee’s job involves operating machinery or driving and the person must take medication …

Fitness-for-Duty Letters Trigger Instant Reinstatement

03/01/2006

Must you allow an employee to return after FMLA leave if you don’t think she’s physically ready? She could injure herself if she returns. But if you block her return, you could face a failure-to-reinstate FMLA lawsuit. Begin the return-to-work process earlier to see if she still has the ability to perform the job’s essential functions …

Strong new economic numbers signal upward pressure on wages

03/01/2006

Several important economic indicators released last month suggest that wage growth and a tighter labor market are just around the corner …

Steer Clear of ‘Take It or Leave It’ Early-Retirement Offers

03/01/2006

If you plan to lay off employees, structure early-retirement offers carefully to avoid age-discrimination lawsuits. In particular, avoid making "take-it or leave-it" offers that force employees to choose between resigning with a severance package or being terminated …

Employee Appreciation Day: March 10

02/01/2006

Employers host employee-recognition events throughout the year, but the second Friday in March (March 10 this year) is the official Employee Appreciation Day, according to the Society for Human Resource Management …

Debt by 1,000 Paper Clips: Office-Supply Theft Rises

02/01/2006

Two-thirds of people responding to a Vault.com survey said they’ve taken office supplies from work, and a majority said they don’t consider it stealing …