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HR Management

House passes dust bill

05/19/2008
In response to the February explosion at the Imperial Sugar refinery outside Savannah that killed 13 workers, the U.S. House of Representatives has passed legislation aimed at reducing dust-related accidents …

Employer can access hard drive on company-Owned laptop

05/16/2008
Employers that provide laptops to employees and that suspect an employee might be aiding a competitor can inspect the company-owned laptop without violating the employee’s right to privacy. Employers should, however, exercise discretion while searching the computer …

Should we now be using the new I-9 Forms to document worker eligibility?

05/16/2008

Q. Our HR department is using I-9 forms from several years ago. At what point should we use the new revised form issued by the federal government? …

What are our responsibilities when an employee has been threatened with violence?

05/16/2008

Q. One of our employees has a boyfriend who has threatened her with physical violence. What steps, if any, should we take to protect the employee in the workplace? …

Must you give employees Sundays off for ‘TV church’?

05/15/2008

If employees ask for Sundays off from work for religious reasons, must they attend services in an actual church or synagogue that day? A new court ruling clarifies that the answer is “no” …

Schaumburg woman indicted in alleged international corporate espionage scheme

05/14/2008
Hanjuan Jin, a former software engineer for a suburban Chicago telecommunications firm identified as “Company A” for security reasons, has been indicted on charges of stealing business trade secrets and attempting to take them to China …

Evenly enforce policy prohibiting employee fraternization

05/14/2008
If, like some companies, you have a policy forbidding dating or relationships between supervisors and hourly employees, make sure you enforce the rule consistently …

Don’t let jury duty force you to defend yourself in court

05/14/2008
Both Illinois and federal laws require employers to let their employees off for jury duty. Additionally, employers may not penalize employees for serving on a jury. No matter how obvious this is, every now and then, employers try to get back at employees who perform their civic duties. It never works …

Must manager release notes on performance when employee requests personnel file?

05/13/2008
Q. One of our managers keeps notes of performance issues in a file that he uses for completing performance appraisals. One person he supervises has made a written request to see her personnel file—and specifically asked for information in the manager’s file. Do we have to give the notes to the employee? …

HR & the Slump: The 3 Big Trends Affecting Employee Relations

05/13/2008
While all economic cycles share certain features, they also have unique effects. What’s different for HR in the 2008 downturn versus the last one? Here are three distinctive characteristics of the current economic slump that are affecting your employees—and potentially reshaping your HR programs: