• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

HR Management

ADA: Reasonable Accommodation

12/30/2013

HR Law 101: Under the ADA, a “reasonable accommodation” enables a qualified individual with a disability to perform the job’s essential functions. But an accommodation is considered unreasonable when it causes the employer an undue hardship …

Workplace lexicon: Head shunting

12/25/2013
“Head shunting” defined: Secretly hiring a head hunter to woo an ineffective employee and shepherd him or her through a job search culminating in placement elsewhere.

Minnesota’s workplace injury rates remain low

12/23/2013
The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry’s Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses for 2012 contains good news. The results showed just a slight uptick in injuries from the all-time low posted in 2011.

Arbitration agreement need not designate whom to call

12/23/2013
In order to be binding, an agreement to arbitrate employment-related complaints needs to spell out the process. Employees (and former employees who signed the agreement) should not be left in the dark about how the process works. But you don’t have to include a specific contact person.

Train and track to beat harassment lawsuits

12/23/2013
Employers aren’t required to prevent all harassment—just to stop it when it happens and take reasonable preventive steps. Two of those: Providing anti-harassment training to every employee and tracking who gets that training.

Wrap up 2013 right: What to check in your annual HR policy review

12/23/2013
Now’s a good time to review employment policies and practices in light of the government’s aggressive efforts to enforce employment laws. To ensure compliance, review your policies and practices in all these areas.

Dropped the ball at work? Bet it wasn’t this bad

12/20/2013
Next time you rue one of the coulda-shoulda-woulda missteps every business person inevitably makes, know that your fumble can’t possibly be worse than these three, recently rated the biggest business goofs of all time by BusinessInsider.com:

Use formal hiring and promotion process to protect against discrimination suits

12/18/2013
Job-seekers who know how to apply for open positions can’t claim discrimination unless they can also show they followed the process. At the same time, a standard process lets employers track applications and easily show a judge why someone didn’t get the job she sought.

C-Suite still a boys’ club

12/18/2013
Women wield more power than ever, but progress at the highest echelons of the corporate world has lagged.

Cost of employee pilferage dwarfs shoplifting losses

12/17/2013
The average dishonest retail employee caught stealing in 2012 was trying to walk out with $715 worth of merchandise. That’s far more than run-of-the-mill shoplifters take.