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HR Management

After NLRB ruling, can employees really trash you on Facebook?

02/21/2011
Don’t read too much into the recent foray by the NLRB into the brave new world of social media. Employees don’t receive a free pass on social media posts. They don’t have license to defame, disparage or otherwise trash their company, management, product or co-workers. Until the NLRB says otherwise, employers shouldn’t treat social media any differently than any other form of employee communications.

It’s time to ban texting while driving

02/21/2011
If you provide either cell phones or vehicles to your employees, lay down the law: No sending or reading text messages if you’re driving as part of your job. It’s illegal in 30 states.

Setting sound policies, following processes to a ‘T’ increase odds of winning in court

02/18/2011

Employers that follow their own disciplinary process—even in cases involving difficult employees—benefit if those employees sue. When courts see a reasonable disciplinary policy that is applied evenhandedly, they rarely second-guess an employer’s decision to fire an employee.

Disneyland goes out of way to accommodate Muslim dress

02/18/2011

It took a complaint to the EEOC, but Disneyland will allow a Muslim woman employed as an intern there to wear an Islamic head scarf. Disney worked with CAIR to come up with a clothing option that met the woman’s religious requirements and still satisfied the Walt Disney Company’s uniform guidelines.

Shift recruiting, retention priorities to beat ‘talent paradox’

02/17/2011
The challenges facing HR pros who specialize in talent, compensation and benefits are dramatically different today than they were just a year ago. At Deloitte Consulting, we call it “the talent paradox”—the apparent contradiction that occurs when unemployment is still relatively high, yet companies still are seeing significant shortages in critical talent areas.

Free online training for managers and HR

02/16/2011

Smaller organizations often have little or no budget to train their management teams. But no budget doesn’t have to mean no training. Here is a list of some of the best free online training for managers and HR professionals offered by colleges and reputable organizations …

Can workers use FMLA and sick leave back-to-back?

02/16/2011
Q. One of our employees thinks she will need about five months off for medical treatment. She wants to use her accumulated vacation and sick time and then go on FMLA leave. Do I have to allow this?

UBS amends its much-mocked 44-page dress code

02/16/2011
Swiss banking firm UBS attracted worldwide ridicule last month after media attention focused on its super-specific 44-page dress code. The company now says it will revise its standards with a pared-down list of priorities focused on “what is important to us.”

Make training for managers an essential part of your sexual harassment policy

02/15/2011
It does no good to have a sexual har­assment policy if managers don’t know how to enforce it. Without regular manager training on how to respond to complaints, you might as well not have a policy.

Office romance: Don’t ban it; manage it

02/15/2011

Valentine’s Day may have come and gone, but love might still linger in the air at your workplace. If so, watch out! When office romances sour, scorned lovers often turn to the courts to allege that a former lover was a sexual harasser. Here are three tips to help make sure Cupid’s arrow doesn’t harm your organization.