HR Management

Arbitration agreements are contracts! Keep them out of employee handbooks

12/01/2010

The Supreme Court of Texas has just ruled that arbitration agreements are legally valid and enforceable as long as they are stand-alone contracts—and not part of an overall employment manual.

Unionized? You may be able to use progressive discipline to address some forms of harassment

12/01/2010

If your organization is unionized and operates under a collective bargaining agreement that calls for progressive discipline, think twice before automatically firing an employee you believe has sexually harassed other employees. Unless your contract specifies discharge for a first harassment offense, you may have to follow your progressive discipline program.

What’s your negotiating style?

11/30/2010

We all have a personal approach to negotiation. Individual differences in how we prefer outcomes when interacting with others strongly affect how we approach negotiation. Prep for the next time you find yourself across the negotiating table (perhaps for the big raise you deserve) by figuring out which negotiating style fits your personality.

North Carolina again rated tops for business

11/30/2010

For the ninth time in the past 10 years, Site Selection magazine has named North Carolina the state with the nation’s best business climate. Every year, the magazine surveys site selectors—the people who help companies decide where to build new facilities—to get their take on how easy or hard it is to do business in each state.

Bulletproof anti-harassment policy by ensuring employees know how to lodge their complaints

11/29/2010

It’s been over a decade since the U.S. Supreme Court laid down the law on what employers need to do to prevent and cure sexual harassment. That’s long enough for complacency to have set in. By now, some employers may have started taking sexual harassment less seriously than they did when the court first ruled. That’s a potentially costly mistake.

Investigations: You can (and should) demand silence from all participants

11/26/2010

Water-cooler talk about alleged discrimination or harassment can poison a workplace. That’s why your company policy should require all participants in investigations (including witnesses) to keep quiet about the issue. That way, rumors and exaggerated claims won’t influence other employees who haven’t yet told investigators their side of the story.

After 40 years, OSHA enforcement about to get much tougher

11/24/2010

Get ready for much tougher enforcement under OSHA’s new Severe Violator Enforcement Program. The SVEP will concentrate OSHA’s resources on inspecting employers that have demonstrated indifference to their safety and health obligations by committing willful, repeated or failure-to-abate violations. Here’s what you need to know to prepare for this new workplace safety regime.

OSHA plans ‘radical change’ to workplace noise standards

11/23/2010

With little fanfare, OSHA last month said it’s considering what employer groups are calling a “radical change” to employer obligations regarding workers’ exposure to occupational noise. “The announcement may have been quiet, but the impacts could be loud,” says a report by the Nixon Peabody law firm. “If adopted in their current form, the new obligations will be substantial and the potential cost to employers is likely to be immense.”

Federal employees lead pack in race to end distracted driving

11/23/2010

When OSHA launched Drive Safely Work Week in October, employees of the federal government were already in the driver’s seat. President Obama signed an executive order last year prohibiting federal employees from texting while driving. This fall, OSHA called on all employers to do the same for their employees.

Housing problems overtake child care as No. 1 EAP request

11/22/2010

For the first time, troubles related to housing and moving are the most popular subject of employees’ calls to employee assistance programs, says EAP provider ComPsych.