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

Personnel Files

Keep good records of employee leaves; workers have three years to file FMLA suits

04/01/2007

It pays to keep some records longer than you think you’ll need them. For example, any notes, correspondence, medical certifications and other documents related to an employee’s FMLA leave request should be kept a minimum of three years …

ADA: AIDS and HIV

03/28/2007

HR Law 101: In 1998, the Supreme Court issued its first ruling on an AIDS-related issue and its first major interpretation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The justices made it clear that all persons who are HIV-positive, even though they may show no overt symptoms of the disease, are also protected under the ADA …

Protecting Your Trade Secrets

03/19/2007
White Paper published by The HR Specialist, copyright 2007 ______________________ All businesses want to safeguard trade secrets and proprietary information and maintain their customers’ trust. So you will naturally want to let your employees and independent contractors know what you expect of them in this regard. Your options range from making a simple policy statement […]

Violence and Weapons: How to Develop Policies and Procedures

03/15/2007
Login Email Address Password I forgot my password To continue reading this page, become an HR Specialist Premium Plus member today! Your subscription includes: Ask the Attorney: Answers to your HR legal questions Compliance Guidance: Access to 7,000 HR news articles, updated daily, sorted by state State-by-State: Summaries of HR laws in all 50 states […]

Performance Reviews

03/07/2007

HR Law 101: There are two important reasons why you should conduct regular appraisals of your employees’ performance. First, periodic and competent appraisals reduce the opportunity for a discharged employee to claim unfair treatment. The appraisal process alerts employees to what you expect of them, areas in which they’re deficient and how they can improve their performance. Second, appraisals constitute documented proof of unsatisfactory performance that will help you justify employment decisions …

Release EAP information on a ‘Need to know’ basis

03/01/2007

Employee assistance programs (EAPs) can help employees regain an edge lost to problems like alcohol abuse. But it’s a good idea to keep mum about an employee’s participation in the EAP …

Prevent new type of lawsuit: Credit-Check discrimination

03/01/2007

If your organization uses credit checks in the hiring process, you’d better have a sound business reason for doing so or you could face a new type of litigation …

‘Hello, Liability?’ The new trend of telephone testing

03/01/2007

Why does “testing” bring about that sledgehammer-in-the-stomach feeling? Maybe because, as students, we never knew quite what to expect. Now, the same is true when it comes to a recent trend in employment-law cases: applicants and employees making phone calls to secretly test whether your organization is discriminating …

How far must you go in Florida to protect employees’ data?

03/01/2007

In the process of recruiting, hiring, firing and just running a business, employers accumulate a large amount of personal data from applicants, employees and business associates. Florida law requires employers to take reasonable steps to safeguard such personal data …

Deciding on promotion? Purge file of prior litigious actions

03/01/2007

When it’s time to decide on promotions, do you send employees’ personnel files over to a supervisor or hiring committee to help make the decisions? Make sure the files don’t contain references to past discrimination claims or investigations. Otherwise, you could be inviting a passed-over candidate to sue for retaliation …