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Hiring

The legal danger of playing ‘peek-a-boo’ with job postings

02/24/2010

Job postings go up … they come down. They go up … they come down. It all seems quite normal. That is, unless a job posting is pulled down to avoid a specific type of candidate. As this new case shows, you can’t delist a job or try to hide the position when you don’t like who applies. Peek-a-boo, the court will catch you!

Injured worker reapplying? Beware ADA suit

02/22/2010

You may be naturally disinclined to rehire a former employee who was off work for years because of an on-the-job injury. But that could be a big legal mistake, especially since he is now disabled.

During an interview, can employers ask about ability to comply with attendance rules?

02/22/2010

Q. Can an employer ask a job applicant whether he or she can meet the company’s attendance policy?

Not rehiring FMLA leave-taker? Document why

02/16/2010

Employees who run out of FMLA leave and are fired under a policy requiring mandatory dismissal for excessive absences may be invited to apply for other open positions when they recover enough to work. Be careful how you handle those reapplications, especially if one of the terminated employees was off because she was pregnant and ran out of leave before being able to return.

How much should I worry about employees using social networking sites?

02/16/2010

Q. I heard that Facebook use is really picking up, but I don’t think most of our employees are that tech-savvy. Should I be concerned about my employees accessing social networking sites while at work?

E-Verify now legal in Illinois … if employers play by new rules

02/16/2010

Illinois’ long-standing mistrust of the federal government’s E-Verify employment eligibility verification program has now been codified into a new law meant to make sure the online system can’t be used to harm workers. Employers that use E-Verify must now complete the Illinois Department of Labor’s “E-Verify Employer Attestation Form.”

In hiring, don’t overvalue interview skills; courts question subjective decision-making

02/15/2010

Does your selection process rely heavily on how applicants handle themselves during job interviews? If so, be aware that courts are often suspicious of such inherently subjective decision-making. That’s why it’s best to document how objective qualifications—such as education and experience—counted for more than the fleeting impression of an interview.

Lawsuit-proof hiring: Post every job opening

02/12/2010

Here’s one of the simplest ways to avoid failure-to-hire litigation: Adopt a uniform system for posting openings—and then stick with that system. If you do, employees won’t be able to claim later that they didn’t know about an opening and would have applied if only they knew.

Firm teams up with Pentagon to hire military spouses

02/11/2010

When New York-based telephone directory-assistance provider kgb needed to hire part-timers who would work from their homes, it put the word out to the spouses of deployed military. The organization found them by partnering with the Army Spouse Employment Partnership, a program created in 2002 to help military spouses find jobs.

Is it legally risky to refuse to hire people who have been arrested?

02/09/2010

Q. I am considering putting a policy in place to prohibit hiring any job applicant found to have an arrest record. Are there any legal risks?