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

HR Management

Alert bosses: Email can and will be used against you in court

12/23/2011

You’ve told managers before, now tell ’em again: Email may seem like private communication, but it really isn’t. Anything a manager says in an email may become evidence in a lawsuit.

10 HR mistakes your employee’s lawyer will try to exploit

12/21/2011
If you’re ever hauled into court to testify in a lawsuit against your organization, what you say, and how you say it, can sink your defense—or help you win. Here are the 10 weaknesses you must be prepared to defend:

Settlement reached in deaths at Mount Carroll grain elevator

12/21/2011
The operator of a Mount Carroll grain elevator has settled U.S. Department of Labor charges it that broke federal child labor laws when it allowed a 14-year-old to work in a hazardous job that proved fatal.

The FMLA calendar: 4 methods to counting an ‘FMLA year’

12/20/2011
The DOL’s FMLA regu­­la­­tions provide employers with several options for calculating how much leave employees are entitled to at any given time. According to the regulations, employers are permitted to choose any one of the following methods for measuring the “12-month period” in which the 12 weeks of leave entitlement occurs.

OK to fire for insubordination, even if employee has filed discrimination complaint

12/20/2011
Employees who intentionally don’t follow directions are in­­sub­­ordinate. That means you can fire them—even if they recently filed discrimination charges. Just be sure you can justify your action.

Start new year with thorough review of your sexual harassment policies and practices

12/20/2011
More than a decade after creating their first sexual harassment policies, some employers may be getting lax. That might be especially true if they haven’t received any complaints. If that rosy scenario sounds like your organization, you might be courting trouble.

‘Voluntary’ training time: To pay or not?

12/20/2011

Do you offer extra off-duty training for employees that, while technically voluntary, is strongly recommended? If training participants are hourly employees, chances are you will have to pay them for this time.

Defend against hidden bias: Follow policies

12/19/2011
HR can and should serve as a check on overzealous supervisors who want to mete out discipline to those they don’t like while ignoring problems with those they favor. Insist that no final termination or disciplinary actions go through without clear documentation that supervisors followed all the rules.

How should we handle difficult firing meeting?

12/14/2011
Q. We recently decided to terminate an employee based on performance concerns. The employee is in sales and is required to cold call a certain number of individuals each day. In reviewing the daily call logs, the employee’s manager discovered that she has been calling the same disconnected number over and over again … To top it off, she sent an email telling other employees they could do the same. In preparing for the termination meeting, I’m wondering what we should say?

Which of the following is #1 on your HR holiday wish list?

12/13/2011
HR pros say, “Show me the money!”