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Hiring

Measure effectiveness to make sure flex plans work for you

08/01/2008
Your organization wouldn’t offer flexible work arrangements like flextime and compressed workweeks if managers didn’t believe the benefits—better employee engagement, recruitment and retention—outweighed the costs. Still, a recent survey by Hewitt Associates found that few organizations have formal and consistent policies in place to manage their flex programs …

EMC grooms leaders in-house as part of development strategy

08/01/2008
Technology company EMC saves money on recruiting by sending its high-potential employees to school—at an in-house university. More than half of the Hopkinton, Mass., organization’s corporate-level director positions are filled from within …

Be prepared: 20 ‘silver bullet ‘ interview questions you should know how to answer

07/30/2008

Interviewers often have pet questions they use to test an applicant’s quality. Sometimes, they’re straightforward. ("Tell me about yourself.") Sometimes, they’re deep. ("If you were an animal, what kind would you be?") Sometimes, they’re just plain weird. ("How do they make M&M’s?") Be prepared to answer whatever might come your way …

Employees, IRS challenge FedEx’s driver classifications

07/28/2008
Present and former FedEx Ground/Home Delivery drivers are eligible to join a class-action suit that challenges the company’s long-standing practice of classifying drivers as independent contractors. The suit—which more than 27,000 drivers could join—argues that they are employees …

4 supervisors arrested after ICE raids S.C. poultry plant

07/25/2008
Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested four supervisors at the House of Raeford Farms poultry plant in Greenville, S.C. …

Changing hiring criteria in midstream: Legal, if done right

07/24/2008
Sometimes, employers receive a far greater number of qualified applicants for an open position than they expected. If that happens, you can narrow the applicants down by a new set of more specific requirements. Applicants who sue because they met the first set of requirements but not the second probably won’t win a discrimination lawsuit …

Contractor decision costs FedEx $319 million as class action grows

07/24/2008
Official class notices were sent out in June to 27,165 present and former FedEx delivery drivers in the multidistrict lawsuit challenging the company’s independent contractor model. The court certified class-action status for drivers from 19 states, including Pennsylvania …

House votes to make misclassifying independent contractors a third-Degree felony

07/24/2008
A bill approved by the state House in June—the Construction Industry Independent Contractor Act—would make intentionally misclassifying workers as independent contractors a third-degree felony for employers in residential or commercial construction. Cases of negligence would constitute a summary offense …

Must we give rejected applicant a copy of a negative reference letter?

07/22/2008
Q. We request references from applicants’ former or current employers. Recently, an applicant (who was not hired) requested a copy of his former employer’s reference letter, which indicated that the applicant was difficult to work with and performed poorly. The letter was one of the factors considered when we decided not to hire him. Must we turn over the letter (or any other part of our file on the applicant)? …

I-9 enforcement focuses on criminal arrests, smaller firms

07/22/2008
In the past few years, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has focused its enforcement efforts mainly at large-scale immigration raids at big companies. Now that ICE has more trained officers and better coordination with other federal and state agencies, it’s targeting more small businesses, too …