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Hiring

Does USERRA require preferential treatment for veterans?

04/24/2012
For years, employers have struggled with how to re-­­­­­­­employ soldiers whose military duties have required them to be absent from work. The key question: Does the Uni­­formed Ser­­vices Employment and Re­­em­­ploy­­ment Rights Act (USERRA) make it mandatory to give rehiring preference to returning vets? Finally, courts have begun to bring clarity to the law.

What are the rules on giving truthful references about former employees?

04/24/2012
Q. An employer asked us for a job verification on an employee we fired. The request includes a written consent form from the worker allowing the query. Can I release any and all information regarding the former employee’s history with us?

How to write a legally safe job-offer letter

04/23/2012
When it comes to making job offers, you or your hiring managers could be inadvertently locking the organization into employment contracts with new hires. Written job-offer letters run the highest risk of creating implied promises. To avoid creating any job-security promises, follow these do’s and don’ts:

What are the rules for unpaid internships?

04/19/2012

Q. Our company has received a number of résumés from college students interested in working as unpaid interns for us during the summer months. Would hiring such unpaid internships violate federal or state laws?

Court: Professional licensure can require fingerprinting

04/19/2012
A federal court has upheld a Cali­for­­nia state requirement that nurses who want to renew or apply for a professional license must submit a set of fingerprints along with their applications. The prints are needed to conduct criminal background checks.

If you hire your kids, be the boss, not the parent

04/17/2012
It’s almost summer, and some lucky kids will be working in their families’ businesses. Sole proprietors and partnerships where both spouses are partners can get some special payroll tax breaks for hiring their kids. But, regardless of your business structure, you must follow a few rules to keep the IRS out of your hair.

Library of Skill-Based Interview Questions

04/12/2012
In addition to giving job-specific tests, the best way to tell if applicants carry the skills to perform specific tasks is to ask very direct questions about how they’ve used each skill in the past. Here are nearly 200 sample interview questions that hiring managers can use to spot the presence of important “soft” skills …

Management’s independent review trumps supervisor’s hidden discrimination

04/12/2012
When upper management rubber-stamps an employment decision made by a supervisor who discriminates, the employer is liable for the discrimination. But if higher-ups independently review the situation before ratifying the decision, the employer isn’t bound by its discriminating subordinate’s wrongdoing.

Report alleges state didn’t investigate hospital head

04/12/2012
The state Department of Human Services failed to check educational and employment references for the director of the state’s largest mental hospital, according to a report by Minnesota Public Radio.

Court: To allege promotion bias, you must have actually applied for the job

04/09/2012
Except in very limited circumstances, an individual must actually apply for a position before he can challenge the decision to hire someone else.