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HR Management

Need to know: Avoid promising 100% secrecy

10/01/2007

HR often has vague policies for when they’ll share an employee’s confidential information. Fact: You can’t always promise an employee that her conversation with HR will be confidential.

Creating an effective blog policy to limit employer liability

10/01/2007

Employment lawyers have been warning for some time that blogs will one day be a volatile issue in the workplace. Recent events show that day has arrived. For example, a member of the Cherokee County, GA, Planning Commission provoked a firestorm of controversy after an online post she made advocated dismantling Israel to achieve peace in the Middle East. The outcry forced her to resign …

California’s sexual harassment training requirements: The final word

10/01/2007

If you’ve been looking for definitive guidance on California’s Sexual Harassment Training Law (AB 1825), it’s finally here. The Fair Employment and Housing Commission issued final regulations implementing this first-in-the-nation law on April 23, and the Office of Administrative Law approved the regulations on July 18. The regulations include specific direction on the type, length and frequency of harassment training that California employers must provide to their employees …

Management ‘Pyros’: Spot ‘Em, then put out their fire

10/01/2007

Some managers turn every problem into a three-alarm fire, which can be stressful and ineffective. How do you know if a manager (or you) is a “management pyromaniac”? Fortune Small Business offers this quiz …

Do your policies violate the NLRA? You might be surprised

10/01/2007

Employers beware! Do your personnel policies—or how you enforce them—violate the National Labor Relations Act? The answer may surprise you, especially if you operate in a union-free environment. Earlier this year, the National Labor Relations Board heard oral arguments in a case that will determine whether employees have the right to use their company’s e-mail system, or other communications-based systems, to communicate with each other regarding union matters and terms and conditions of employment …

Unintended consequences: Co-Pays up, productivity down

10/01/2007

If your employees have to shell out for co-pays that they believe are too high, they might opt not to buy their medicine or even seek treatment, even for major health ailments. That can be a problem for your organization because sick employees are not productive …

Stay competitive by aligning benefits with staff expectations

10/01/2007

An organization’s HR professionals and its employees don’t always see eye to eye when it comes to benefits. The Society for Human Resource Management’s “2007 Job Satisfaction Survey Report” revealed some good examples …

Save hours, employee worry with identity-Theft protection

10/01/2007

More than 10 million people a year fall victim to identity thieves—and some of them work for you. It could take up to 600 hours to undo the damage caused by identity theft. And those hours are usually workday hours. That’s why more organizations are beginning to offer identity-theft protections …

Immigration: Know your ‘Border guard’ responsibilities

10/01/2007

Together, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 and the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986 govern U.S. immigration policy. IRCA was amended in 1990. With each new law, employers gain new responsibilities. For each new employee hired, U.S. employers must complete a Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. The I-9 establishes the employee’s identity and his or her legal work status. Employers can hire only those who are eligible to work legally in this country …

Complying with the revised EEO-1 reporting requirements

10/01/2007

Employers were required to file a new and revised EEO-1 report by Sept. 30. The EEOC recently revised the report form for the first time in more than 40 years. Did your organization comply with the new reporting requirements—or will you need to make changes? …