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Employee Relations

Juries punish rushed investigations; keep an open mind

10/01/2004
Issue: Following correct protocol when investigating harassment complaints. Risk: Courts will slap organizations with big punitive damage awards …

Common small-company confusion: believing FMLA applies to them

10/01/2004
Small employers may be hurting their productivity by offering more generous family-and-medical leave benefits than legally required.
That’s the message of a new National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) study, …

Tap into employee brainstorms via suggestion program

10/01/2004
Issue: Employees have great ideas every day. Is your organization tapping into them? Benefits: A properly managed suggestion program can improve morale, increase …

Accommodate group prayer if it won’t cause ‘Hardship’

09/01/2004

Q. A group of our employees met during their break to have group prayer. A supervisor complained to our president, who instructed that we should notify employees that they can’t pray on break time. Nor can they pray during lunch unless they leave the building. Some employees are upset. Is this policy legal? —M.S., California

Start of absence, not approval date, sets 12-week FMLA clock ticking

09/01/2004
Under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), eligible employees can take up to 12 weeks of job-protected, unpaid leave. When do those 12 weeks officially begin? A new court ruling …

When in doubt, print it out: Don’t change policy via e-mail

09/01/2004
Issue: How to notify employees of new employment policies or changes to existing policies. Risk: A new court ruling says that using solely e-mail notification can lead to unwanted legal …

Top brass not listening? Scare ’em straight with true stories

09/01/2004
Issue: Many CEOs take a head-in-the-sand approach to employment-law threats. Risk: The top brass may tune you out if you simply tell them …

Write concrete terms into your policies; don’t waffle

09/01/2004
Issue: The wording used in your employment policies. Risk: Overly vague language makes it difficult for employees to comply and makes you more vulnerable …

Don’t rubber-stamp firings; verify supervisors’ reasons

09/01/2004
Issue: Should HR question a supervisor’s plans to fire an employee? Risk: If you take a termination report at face value, you may overlook bias by a manager. Action: …

Investigate harassment, even if victim is hesitant

09/01/2004

Q. We’re afraid that one of our employees may have been subjected to discriminatory behavior. But she hasn’t filed a complaint. What should we do? Do we have an obligation to bring it up and investigate even if she declines? —S.P., Louisiana