HRIS / Technology

How to protect yourself from Internet-Related liability

07/01/2008

The Internet is an invaluable tool in many workplaces, but lately it’s become a somewhat unexpected cause of employment law litigation. Two issues lead the wired way to the courthouse for employers: gathering information about job candidates through web sites and potential liability for what their employees do while using the Internet …

If you use a job application kiosk, warn applicants that lying is a crime

07/01/2008

If, like many employers these days, you cut down on recruiting costs by using a computer-based kiosk application system, consider adding a warning before applicants begin the process. Colorado makes it a crime for a person to knowingly access “any computer, computer network, or computer system … to obtain, by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations or promises, money, property, services … or other thing of value” …

Employees behaving badly: How about a $2,000 margarita?

06/17/2008

Donna Gamble, of Marietta, a former Georgia Tech employee assigned to the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, pleaded guilty to charging $316,000 of personal items on her Georgia Tech credit card …

Sting nets state worker who allegedly sold private data

06/11/2008

Yvette Beler, a data-input worker for Secretary of State Jesse White, has been charged with selling personal data about auto owners to an informant of the federal government …

Can we tap company phones to investigate possible theft?

06/11/2008

Q. Our company distributes steel from one of our warehouses. A substantial amount of product has gone missing. We suspect that our warehouse manager is conspiring with one of our former employees to take it, possibly creating a false paper trail to cover the theft. Our camera surveillance is not picking up any irregular activity on the loading dock. We believe the manager may be talking to the ex-employee from his office phone. Can we legally monitor the manager’s phone without violating any privacy rights that he might have? …

Identity theft and liability: How to reduce the risks facing your business

06/10/2008

How safe is the confidential customer information your company keeps? The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse says that, since February 2005, the personal information of 88 million people has been compromised by data security breaches at companies or government agencies …

E-Mail policies and the NLRA

06/10/2008

Q. I work in the HR department of a unionized company, and our CEO wants me to draw up an employee e-mail use policy. Can I restrict personal e-mail use without violating the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)? …

Burger King caught in a whopper

06/09/2008

After years of pressure from advocacy groups, several large fast-food companies recently agreed to pay higher wages to Florida’s tomato pickers. These days, Burger King is probably wishing it had agreed, too. In a case of corporate espionage gone very bad, the Miami-based Burger King Corp. now looks not just heartless, but clueless …

The AG debacle and the e-Mail connection

06/06/2008

Facing threats of impeachment for turning the Office of Attorney General into a “raunchy frat pad,” Marc Dann initially held onto his post. After firing two staffers for sexual harassment, and accepting the resignation of a third for failing to properly supervise them, Dann hoped to put the scandal behind him …

Restrict access to data about protected characteristics

06/03/2008

One of the most important HR functions is monitoring whether your organization is unwittingly discriminating when hiring, firing or promoting. To do that, you obviously have to know who belongs to what protected classification. At the same time, you don’t necessarily want the supervisors and managers who make employment decisions to have that information at their fingertips …