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Policies / Handbooks

Open-Door policy is good insurance against harassment claims

05/23/2008
You need an open-door policy encouraging employees to come forward with sexual harassment claims. If you show you mean business—by appropriately responding to harassment charges—chances are employees will lose lawsuits if they decline to use the open door and instead suffer sexual harassment in silence …

Addicts, disgruntled workers seize substance abuse rehab centers

05/23/2008
A group of recovering addicts and disgruntled employees seized control of six Eastern Pennsylvania drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers, saying administrators didn’t understand how to treat addiction and were interfering with their rehab …

No iPods for you! State imposes killjoy clause

05/23/2008
Five state employees who got lucky at a technology conference sponsored by Cisco Systems will have to relinquish their goodies, the state Office of Administration has said. The five won door prizes, including an iPod and $50 gift cards …

What should we include in a policy banning cell phone cameras?

05/23/2008
Q. I’m looking to create a policy regarding cell phones with photographic capabilities. Any suggestions? …

Wrap it up: Employee loses job after head scarf dispute

05/19/2008
Deborah Yehudah joined the University of Georgia (UGA) as a cafeteria worker in July 2005. Yehudah received a copy of the university dress code, which restricted allowable hair restraints to hairnets and UGA food service hats or baseball caps …

Business community gunning for a veto

05/19/2008
Some business leaders are calling for Gov. Sonny Perdue to veto a bill in the Georgia Legislature that grants employees the right to bring guns onto company parking lots, subject to their employers’ approval …

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” …

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 …

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: