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Policies / Handbooks

Can handbooks destroy at-will employment?

12/31/2008

Q. Our company has an employee handbook. One of our employees has stated that this creates an employment contract and that he is no longer an at-will employee. Is this correct?

Are we liable for accidents caused by cell phone use in company vehicles?

12/31/2008

Q. If our employee has an accident while talking on a cell phone in a company car, is the company liable to the injured party?

What are the risks of continuing a no-fault attendance policy?

12/24/2008

Q. Our company’s attendance policy calls for issuing a warning when an employee has three absences. Five absences result in a suspension, and seven absences result in termination. Can we continue this policy?

Casino workers take one for the team in Atlantic City

12/24/2008

The Atlantic City Council recently repealed a temporary ban on smoking in the city’s casinos, citing an ailing economy. Not all casino workers are in favor of the change …

BlackBerry time: When must you pay for employees’ off-duty PDA hours?

12/24/2008

Hand-held devices, such as BlackBerrys, Trios, iPhones, etc., make it easy for workers to check e-mail and do work at any time of day. And your nonexempt, hourly workers may demand to be paid for that screen-time. So, when must your organization pay nonexempt employees for such off-the-clock work? There’s no clear-cut answer.

CIGNA bans smoking

12/24/2008

Philadelphia-based CIGNA has instituted a complete smoking ban at all of its 179 properties, effective April 1.

Dress, grooming policies should serve bona fide business need

12/24/2008
Employers may generally impose rules requiring employees to adhere to reasonable workplace appearance, grooming and dress standards. But as straightforward as the issue seems to be, grooming standards can create problems for employers.

Reiterate your drug policies in wake of Prop 1 passage

12/12/2008

How Michigan’s new Medical Marijuana Act will affect employers has been hotly debated. Proposal 1, approved by voters in the November 2008 election, removed state-level penalties for registered patients who use or possess marijuana.

Formal contract not necessary for employee to bring wage claim under IWPCA

12/11/2008

Under the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act, employees can sue their employers if they believe they are owed money, including promised commissions and the like. The law doesn’t require that the money owed be promised in a binding, written contract.

Log all discipline, track it by type & offense

12/09/2008

It goes without saying that you should enforce your rules fairly. That’s why you must track every disciplinary action and make a clear record of why each employee earned his discipline. Later, when one of those employees claims the real reason he was fired was due to age, sex or some other protected classification, you can show that wasn’t the case.