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

HR Management

5 Steps for Communicating Benefits Changes

08/19/2008

As your organization shifts more responsibility to employees to manage their own health and retirement expenses, you risk alienating your work force. But it doesn’t have to be that way …

‘Razor-Free Fridays’ help cut water use

08/19/2008
The Georgia Department of Agriculture is encouraging employees to skip their morning shaves on casual Fridays to help alleviate drought conditions gripping much of the state …

Imperial Sugar fined $8.7 million in wake of deadly explosion

08/19/2008
Federal officials proposed more than $8.7 million in fines against Imperial Sugar Co., the third-highest fine total in the history of OSHA. The agency fined Imperial Sugar $5 million for violations at its plant near Savannah, where 13 workers were killed in an explosion this spring, and another $3.7 million for violations at its Gramercy, La., plant …

What are the rules on employee access to personnel records?

08/15/2008

Q. Are we required to allow employees to inspect their personnel files? Must these files be retained at each office (rather than at a centralized location)? …

Breaks required—But forcing employees to take them isn’t

08/15/2008
In what may end up being a landmark decision, a California Court of Appeal has held that Golden State employers aren’t required to ensure employees actually take meal and rest breaks. Employers are in the clear as long as they permit breaks and do not prevent or discourage employees from taking them …

What are our responsibilities concerning breastfeeding in the workplace?

08/15/2008

Q. A number of our employees are pregnant. What are our obligations to accommodate their need to breastfeed when they return to work? …

Warn managers: Zero tolerance for any kind of age-related harassment

08/15/2008
Under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, it is unlawful for an employer to harass an employee based on the employee’s age. And employers are strictly liable for workplace harassment if the harasser is a supervisor. As a practical matter, that means HR must make sure no supervisor or manager makes any kind of comment that suggests any kind of age bias …

Ensure handbook doesn’t make FMLA promises you can’t keep

08/13/2008
An Indiana employer must now respond to charges it misled employees when it promised FMLA benefits in its handbook, even though the company is too small to be covered by the FMLA. The case, recently decided by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, shows the problems that arise when employers promise more than they are willing to deliver in their employee handbooks …

Tell managers: No discrimination for in vitro fertilization

08/13/2008
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) prohibits discrimination “because of or on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions.” Until now, it was an open question whether that law covered fertility treatments. Now the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that employers can’t punish female employees for undergoing in vitro fertilization …

Prejudgment, blind faith by HR may prove costly

08/12/2008
How HR handles discrimination complaints can mean the difference between winning and losing lawsuits. The key lies in using good faith when checking out allegations of discrimination. Do not automatically assume that either party is correct. Keep an open mind and conduct an impartial investigation, giving everyone a chance to present his or her version of events …