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Hiring

5 criteria your recruiting web pages must meet

08/28/2008
Your next great new hire is probably looking online for a job right now. There’s no substitute for an effective career page that potential applicants can find through your organization’s public website.

Beware referral programs that attract new hire ‘clones’

08/28/2008
Your employee referral program could backfire if it leads to too many employees who are alike in terms of sex, race, age or other protected characteristics. Follow these tips to strengthen and diversify your referral program.

New interview question: ‘What’s your favorite color?’

08/28/2008
What do the colors people choose say about their suitability for a certain career? CareerBuilder just unveiled a “Color Career Counselor,” an online color-based personality test that looks at the relationship between color choices and career compatibility …

Has accusatory pizza man made his final delivery?

08/26/2008
Two men went to a Papa John’s in Westfield to pick up a pizza. After they left the store, delivery driver Kelly Tharp told co-workers that one of the men had pulled out a gun. Tharp repeated his story to local police, describing the men’s car and offering a license plate number. The men sued Papa John’s for defamation, negligent hiring and related claims …

If employees become disabled, consider them for other jobs

08/25/2008
Employees who become disabled and can no longer perform the essential functions of their jobs, even with accommodations, can be discharged. The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD) does not protect employees under these circumstances. But the law does prohibit discriminating against such individuals who want to apply for other open positions …

Don’t assume disability: Let applicant or employee bring it up

08/25/2008
The ADA makes it illegal to discriminate on the basis of a covered disability or to discriminate because of a perceived disability. An employer’s belief that an applicant or an employee has a disability—even if she does not—is enough to trigger liability if the employer acts on that belief and refuses to hire or discriminates based on the perceived disability …

Prepare for possible changes in employment eligibility verification

08/22/2008
Stories of immigration raids and heavy fines are as close as the nearest newspaper. But at the street level, North Carolina employers know they may be caught in the crossfire as federal and state governments increase efforts to weed out illegal and undocumented workers. Although federal law primarily governs immigration issues, North Carolina and some other states are considering implementing employment verification requirements of their own …

Supervisor’s ignorance of the law isn’t enough to justify punitive damages award

08/22/2008
Although there are serious consequences when supervisors don’t know how to comply with workplace anti-discrimination rules, their ignorance of the law won’t necessarily result in a costly punitive-damages award if you get sued …

May we demand applicants pay for medical exams?

08/22/2008
Q. Our company requires applicants for certain classes of jobs to have medical examinations as a condition of employment. Can we require the potential employee to pay the costs of the medical examinations? …

The HR I.Q. Test: September ’08

08/21/2008
Test your knowledge of recent trends in employment law, comp & benefits and other HR issues with our monthly mini-quiz …