HRIS / Technology

You can provide benefit plan documents electronically

06/01/2002

New Labor Department rules say employers can use electronic means to give employees benefits information, like summary plan descriptions, individual benefit statements and COBRA notices. The rules even allow more options, …

Avoid Liability for ‘Porn Spam’

06/01/2002

Q. Some of our employees have been getting a lot of spam e-mail that advertises porn sites. I’m concerned that an employee will consider this junk as creating a hostile work environment. What can we do to protect ourselves? —M.C., Minnesota

Employees have no privacy claim to company-supplied home PC

05/01/2002

For 12 years, a senior insurance executive used two company- provided computers, one at the office and one at his home. He had signed his company’s computer policy, agreeing to use …

Driving while dialing: Set policy to limit car-phone liability

05/01/2002

Many companies have policies regarding telephone calls at work. But these policies often fall short of including the use of phones and other wireless devices for business while driving. Don’t let …

Quality checks of phone calls don’t give you license to eavesdrop

04/01/2002

An administrative sales assistant at an insurance agency quit after learning that her personal phone calls were being monitored and recorded by her company through a hidden tape recorder. …

Direct employee retirement inquiries to new Labor hotline

04/01/2002

In the wake of the Enron debacle, the U.S. Labor Department has introduced a new toll-free number, (866) 275-7922, for companies and employees who have questions about their retirement …

Don’t fear ‘cybersmear’; go after employees who libel you online

02/01/2002

Research scientist Michelangelo Delfino was fired for harassing fellow workers at a medical lab. A co-worker, Mary Day, resigned two months later. Soon after, the pair used the Internet to unleash …

Tortoise to hare: EEOC speeds resolution of bias cases

02/01/2002

If an employee files a discrimination charge against you with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), don’t expect the case to hang in limbo. Reason: The EEOC is processing new discrimination …

Employee or contractor? Failing to check can double damages

01/01/2002

Bell Atlantic Corp., now Verizon, hired drivers for its senior executives. While some drivers were considered Bell employees, others were independent contractors paid a flat hourly rate. They had to carry …

Beware legal traps of hiring online reference checkers

12/01/2001

Since Sept. 11, security fears have sent companies scurrying to do criminal background checks on job applicants. Many companies are outsourcing this function to Web-based reference checkers. But beware: Some …