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

HR Management

What’s going on? How to conduct a workplace investigation

09/10/2009

Disputes between co-workers and between employees and their bosses are almost inevitable—which is why every HR professional must know how to gather the necessary facts to find out what’s going on. Whether it is a small inquiry or a weighty investigation into serious allegations of misconduct, being deliberate and intentional about an investigation will create a more helpful and less disruptive process.

Prevent harassment by customers, too

09/10/2009

Most employers have policies in place to prevent or stop sexual harassment by supervisors and co-workers. Today, that isn’t enough. The reality is that you must also protect employees from customer or client harassment. Unless your sexual harassment policy addresses such harassment, you may find yourself facing a jury trial.

Can we open all mail delivered to our address?

09/10/2009

Q. Our company’s mailroom routinely opens all mail before distributing it. Some employees say they sometimes get personal mail delivered to them at the office, and the company has no right to open it. Should we change our mailroom practices?

Study shows employers cutting 401(k) matches

09/08/2009

Employees depending on 401(k) accounts for retirement are getting another shock courtesy of the economic meltdown. According to a survey by accounting firm Grant Thornton, 29% of companies have modified or intend to modify their contributions to employees’ 401(k) accounts.

Training on a budget: 5 steps to making an online tutorial

09/08/2009

You need to show supervisors how your new online time sheet system works, but you’re having a hard time getting everyone together for face-to-face training. Ditch the calendar tag routine (and the conference room) and make your own training video. Here’s a free, easy way to do it.

Get it in writing! You need consistent, persistent documentation

09/08/2009

If I had to boil employment law into one overarching maxim, it would be this: Be fair and document everything, in case someone thinks you’re not being fair. If you doubt the importance of thorough documentation, consider two recent cases decided by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Texas limits employee’s right to claim emotional distress

09/08/2009

Texas doesn’t allow so-called intentional infliction of emotional distress claims by employees when the underlying facts show the case is covered by employment laws that address bias. That gives employees one less weapon to wield.

Can we recover the cost of a former employee’s laptop by withholding from his final paycheck?

09/08/2009

Q. An employee who recently quit has not returned a company-owned laptop computer worth more than $1,000. Can we withhold the value of the computer from the employee’s last paycheck?

The 3 health reform changes most likely to survive this fall

09/04/2009

After a summer spent getting an earful from vocal constituents, Congress is trying to muster support for—or stop—competing versions of what President Obama now calls health insurance reform. There’s no guarantee that Obama will have a bill to sign before the end of the year. But if he does, it will almost certainly include three elements that will affect comp and benefits pros:

Switch to PTO nearly eliminates sick days

09/04/2009

The 350 employees who work for nine Monarch Bank branches in in Virginia call in sick no more than a collective 10 days a year. That wasn’t always the case. Until five years ago—when bank execs combined sick leave and vacation time into a use-it-for-anything paid-time-off (PTO) bank—each employee was far more likely to use all of his or her 10 paid sick days rather than forfeit them.