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HR Management

8 ways to help employees cut their own health care costs

05/01/2007

Shifting some health care costs to employees can help control an organization’s ballooning expenses, but it doesn’t make employees healthier or reduce their need for services. Help your organization progress down the path toward employee engagement by using these eight tips …

Give documents to terminated employees?

05/01/2007

Q. Must I give employees copies of their reviews, terminations or disciplinary items? They are in their personnel files, but I don’t want them running to an attorney. We are not terminating or disciplining employees with any illegal intent, but these days you can never be too careful. –A.D.

Strong harassment policy plus training essential

05/01/2007

It’s been a few years since the U.S. Supreme Court laid down the law on sexual harassment…. Time breeds complacency, and too many organizations have let down their guard. The world’s best policy won’t do you any good collecting dust on a shelf …

Prepare to show solid business reasons for English-Only policies

05/01/2007

The EEOC has recently stepped up efforts to combat national-origin discrimination. Because the agency had concluded that speaking another primary language such as Spanish may disadvantage some employees, it’s pushing for a tight limit to when employers can enforce so-called English-only rules …

Compassion of ‘Donated Leave’ Comes With Caveats

05/01/2007

When a health crisis drains an employee’s regular allotment of paid time off, some companies allow other employees to donate their own leave to help out. Here are some suggestions for making it work, as well as a few caveats …

‘Uniform’ can be an expensive word for employers

05/01/2007

Be careful what you refer to as an employee “uniform” in your employee handbook and policies. The wrong use of the word could be costly …

Hey, customers! Guess what? We are sexual harassers!

05/01/2007

Do you have to tell your customers if you’re slapped with a sexual harassment verdict? You soon might have to. In a startling new court ruling, a judge in Illinois required a company to distribute a notice to its customers informing them of the $1 million sexual harassment verdict levied against it …

You (not the employee) determine FMLA leave

05/01/2007

Q. At a recent FMLA seminar I attended, the speaker said that employers have the responsibility to ask employees if they want their absences applied to their 12 weeks of available FMLA leave. I understand that we can run FMLA leave concurrent with paid sick leave, but what if an employee doesn’t want to use up his FMLA leave and has other paid or unpaid leave available under our company leave policy?—J.G., Ohio

Complying with the no-Docking rules

05/01/2007

Q. We are a small company with fewer than 20 employees. While I understand the issue of paying exempt employees full salary and docking from the PTO banks when they’re absent, is there someplace that I can go to get an example of a company policy to support a 40-hour-per-week effort from each employee?—E.R., Virginia

Low-Cost, Compassionate Perk: Living Wills for Employees

05/01/2007

Employees have always looked to HR for help as they prepare for the changes that come with life’s big events, like childbirth and retirement. Get ready for more of them to start asking for your advice about how to prepare for death …