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

HR Management

Do your employees know how and where to submit complaints?

08/03/2012
One of the only legally secure ways to protect your company from hostile work environment lawsuits is to provide clear steps for employees to complain. Then investigate the allegations. Make sure employees know how to raise concerns and whom to talk to.

The HR I.Q. Test: August ’12

08/01/2012
Test your knowledge of recent trends in employment law, comp & benefits and other HR issues with our monthly mini-quiz …

How should we craft a policy allowing us to refuse to consider unsolicited résumés?

07/27/2012
Q. Our company doesn’t want to consider applicants who send in unsolicited résumés. We are trying to come up with a legally sound definition for “applicant” so we can write an official policy. Any suggestions?

HR, IT must work together: Document when, why computer systems crashed

07/27/2012

Why should HR worry about what the IT department does? After all, you’re about people; they’re about hardware and software. But there is one time when HR must collaborate with IT, and that’s when the computer system crashes. All manner of HR mayhem can ensue, and you had better be able to explain it.

Financial advisors-in-training can tap G.I. Bill for income

07/27/2012

Military veterans in Missouri can tap their G.I. Bill benefits while they train to become financial advisors at financial services firm Edward Jones. Missouri—where Edward Jones is based—is the first state to approve use of the benefits by veterans in the program.

Do former employees have the right to demand copies of their personnel files?

07/24/2012

Q. We recently fired an employee who worked in our office. Several weeks later, our HR department received a phone call from the man demanding a copy of his personnel file. Are we required to send him a copy?

Measure ‘learning agility’ when promoting working parents

07/23/2012
The next time you’re deciding which job candidate to hire or promote, take a second look at that working mother among your applicants. Businesses that value organized employees, effective time managers and quick thinkers are looking for the exact skills a parent develops while raising kids.

ACA upheld, HR’s compliance scramble begins

07/19/2012
If you took a wait-and-see approach to implementing health benefit changes until the Supreme Court ruled on the health care reform law, it’s time to kick your planning into high gear. Several short-term deadlines are approaching that require HR’s immediate attention, and significant milestones loom in 2013 and 2014.

HR pro on trial: ‘Cat’s paw’ individual liability under Section 1981

07/18/2012
The 7th Circuit recently considered for the first time whether an employee can be individually liable under a “cat’s paw” theory of retaliation under Section 1981. In Smith v. Bray the court held that an employee could sue an HR manager individually for retaliating against him by influencing the decision to fire him.

Too much time online can be misconduct

07/18/2012
If you limit personal use of electronics and fire an employee for violating that rule, he can’t get unemployment benefits. Excess online time is misconduct under those circumstances.