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How to comply with Florida’s Drug-Free Workplace program

01/01/2008

Employers participating in Florida’s Drug-Free Workplace (DFW) program must be careful to follow its strict guidelines or risk incurring workers’ compensation benefit liability. In exchange for lower workers’ compensation premiums, Florida employers can agree to adopt the DFW program …

Require an applicant medical exam? Job offer must come first

01/01/2008

The ADA protects job applicants from discrimination based on disability, and one of these protections is the right to be free from medical tests or examinations as part of the initial selection process. An employer can ask an applicant to undergo a job-related medical examination only after it has made a job offer …

Arizona’s Draconian Immigration Law Unnerves Employers Nationwide

12/18/2007

On Jan. 1, 2008, Arizona’s tough anti-immigration law takes effect and the state’s employers are worried. Businesses that are caught employing undocumented workers face the suspension or loss of their business license. And employers in other states are worrying about the spread of such laws to their states.

Paper, shmaper! As résumés go high-Tech, so should HR

12/11/2007

Your organization could be missing out on some top talent if you shrug off the new high-tech applications and résumé tools that could someday make paper résumés obsolete. Here are some of the more popular high-tech methods that candidates (especially young ones) are using to market themselves, plus some of the advantages and disadvantages of welcoming them …

It’s not a crime to require applicants to sign arbitration agreements

12/01/2007

Employees have sometimes tried to apply a pair of Michigan criminal laws against employers that include arbitration agreements in employment applications. Now a federal court has declared that those criminal statutes don’t apply. You don’t need to fear that making an employee sign the application will subject you to criminal penalties or imprisonment …

Track all feedback to improve promotion process

12/01/2007

If your organization has lots of entry-level employees and a practice of promoting from within, you probably face a crowded field when trying to identify the best candidates for promotion. If that entry-level labor pool is also ethnically and racially diverse, you have to make sure your promotion process doesn’t favor one group over another. Here’s one way to pick the best of the best …

It’s OK to have higher expectations of employees during probationary period

12/01/2007

If your organization uses a probationary period to test out employees before making permanent hiring decisions, know that you can—and perhaps should—expect more during that period than you may later. It’s not unreasonable to expect new employees to be on their best behavior …

Reporting requirements under the Georgia New Hire Reporting Program

12/01/2007

Q. I’ve heard that Georgia law requires employers to report new hires to the Georgia Department of Labor, but I can’t find any such requirement in the department’s rules …

TWC to share information on employment tax schemes with IRS

12/01/2007

The Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) recently agreed to tell the IRS about employers that fail to properly pay state unemployment insurance taxes. The TWC joins 28 other state work force agencies in entering the new initiative, which expands on existing data-sharing efforts between federal and state agencies …

Pilgrim’s Pride to pay $1 million to 5,300 applicants

12/01/2007

The nation’s largest poultry producer—Texas-based Pilgrim’s Pride Corp.—recently agreed to pay $1 million to settle allegations that it discriminated on the basis of sex and ethnicity in hiring …