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HR Management

Are there state laws on record-keeping?

10/21/2008

Q. My company owns a large manufacturing facility in Georgia. I’m familiar with federal requirements, but does Georgia provide for record-keeping requirements under state fair employment practice laws? …

The new ADA Amendments Act: What every employer should know

10/21/2008

The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 will become effective on Jan. 1, 2009. Now is the time to prepare for the impact. The new law effectively broadens the scope of protection offered by the ADA, which Congress found to have been narrowed in recent years by various U.S. Supreme Court decisions and EEOC regulations.

Employees dodge bullet, foil retail robbery

10/21/2008

When a masked man pulled a gun on employees as they opened an Aaron Rents store in Atlanta and demanded cash, the workers complied, handing over roughly $5,000. But when the robber, Shawn Henderson, asked for more, the employees decided to fight back …

Slurs, ‘code’ can create hostile environment

10/20/2008

Just one incident of name-calling or behavior that could be interpreted as racist—if sufficiently severe—might be enough to color other incidents in a racist light. And if a complaint leads to court, that may mean the harassed employee could get a chance to show a jury just how unpleasant co-workers made his life.

Must we pay for tryout time?

10/20/2008

Q. I recently heard the phrase “tryout time” and wondered what this phrase meant and how it may be applicable to my workplace …

Change your computer passwords often: Study casts suspicious eye on departing IT staff

10/17/2008

Exercise extreme caution when terminating employees with knowledge of your IT systems. More than eight in 10 IT security professionals admitted that, if laid off tomorrow, they’d take valuable and sensitive company information with them, according to a new Cyber-Ark Software survey.

Nix the nicknames or ‘Grandma’ will get even

10/17/2008

Every workplace has managers who love to hand out nicknames to employees and co-workers. It’s all good fun until an employee in a protected class—age, sex, race, religion, disability, etc.—takes offense …

Good records make it easy to justify discipline

10/14/2008

The Boy Scout motto, “Be prepared,” applies to employers, too. You simply never know when—or why—a fired employee will sue. But you don’t have much to worry about if you have processes in place to make sure each and every disciplinary decision is fair and rational …

EEOC sues Mesaba Airlines over Sabbath rules

10/14/2008

The EEOC has filed a lawsuit on behalf of Laura Vallejos, a former customer service agent for Northwest Airlines’ subsidiary, Mesaba Airlines, based in Eagan. She claims she was fired for refusing to work past sundown on Fridays, the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath …

Macy’s resolves English-only incident at Edina store

10/14/2008

Macy’s has rescinded a manager’s ad hoc English-only rule after six employees at the company’s Southdale Mall store in Edina complained to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) of Minnesota. The workers said a manager allegedly threatened to fire them if they spoke “even one word” of Somali on the job …