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Courts to serial litigants: Enough is enough! Lawsuit-happy employees may face fines

04/06/2011

Some employees and applicants think that if they sue often enough, they’ll eventually end up collecting the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Fortunately, judges don’t like wasting valuable courtroom time on meritless cases. More and more, they are blocking efforts to file additional lawsuits by employees acting as their own lawyers.

New immigration worry: ‘Mob’ charges for hiring illegals

04/05/2011

The immigration law landscape keeps changing, and employers must keep up. Now a new risk is emerging: Clever attorneys have begun filing RICO Act lawsuits, alleging that some employers are essentially running “mob” operations by knowingly hiring illegal immigrants.

Dayton revises police exam following race bias settlement

03/31/2011

As part of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, the city of Dayton has revised its police entrance examination. The DOJ and Dayton had settled a 2009 suit involving allegations that the city discriminated against black applicants who applied for jobs in both the police and fire departments.

Benchmark your career site against the Top 25

03/30/2011
A new CareerXroads study identifies the top 5% of Fortune 500 companies that use their web sites to target, engage, inform and respect the privacy of job candidates. Find links to every site here.

What are the pros and cons of offer letters?

03/29/2011
Q. We send formal offer letters to job candidates for certain positions. Could such letters legally bind us, and would we be smarter to avoid them?

What’s wrong with this picture? Spot the HR problems in this vintage ad

03/29/2011
It was a different world in the 1860s. Work was dangerous. Pay was low. News spread slowly. Oh, and HR apparently didn’t have much say in the recruitment process. See how many employment law violations you can spot in this ad seeking riders for the Pony Express.

USCIS updates handbook to answer common I-9 questions

03/22/2011
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has published an updated version of its I-9 Handbook for Employers. Among the notable updates, according to an Ogletree Deakins report, the handbook affirmatively states that employers should not begin the I-9 process until the person has accepted a job offer.

Require medical exams if they’re job-related

03/18/2011

You may have read that employers aren’t permitted to force employees to take medical exams because they could reveal a disability. While pre-employment, pre-job-offer medical exams are barred, there are times when medical exams are fine. The key is whether the exams are job-related and consistent with business necessity.

Gap grooms future staff with training

03/17/2011
Gap plans to hire 1,200 workers from community colleges this year, and it’s preparing them for those jobs by training them while they’re in school. The clothing chain has partnered with Atlanta Technical College in Gap for Community Colleges.

When administering job tests, ensure they’re job-related and fair to all employees

03/14/2011
Be wary of employment tests that seem to have a disparate impact on members of a protected class. You must be ready to show the tests are valid and focus on the real skills required to do a job.