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Policies / Handbooks

Suspect employees of theft? Questions are OK, but detaining risks ‘False imprisonment’ claim

07/01/2007

A high percentage of workplace theft is the work of insiders. That’s one reason you may want to question employees when money or goods disappear. But don’t act like the police …

Carrot or stick? Motivating managers to finish reviews

06/01/2007

HR can waste lots of time and energy hounding supervisors to complete their performance reviews. Choose the best mix of incentives and penalties to inspire managers to do reviews right and on time …

EEOC speaks out against ‘Language preference’ bias

06/01/2007

It’s not just about “English-only” rules anymore. Now employers have to worry if they discriminate among the different languages they allow employees to speak at work …

Are your policies biased against employee caregivers?

06/01/2007

If you’ve never heard of “family-responsibility discrimination,” or FRD, you soon will. This subset of sex discrimination is a form of gender bias brought by employees who claim they were treated unfairly because they fulfilled caregiving roles for children or elderly parents …

Design bonus payments to reduce OT liability

06/01/2007
Do you hand out discretionary bonuses? If so, you may be paying more overtime than necessary—and mishandling bonus payments could land you in court.

‘How may I insult you?’ Rude salespeople ignite bias suits

06/01/2007

You’d think the sight of customers paying retail prices with real green money would be a sight for a salesperson’s sore eyes. That apparently wasn’t the case at a Dillard’s department store in Kansas City, which is now facing a messy lawsuit after a saleswoman shunned a customer …

Pregnant employees: Where can you draw the line?

06/01/2007

Pregnant employees and applicants are protected by two federal employment laws: the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and the FMLA …

Allow BYOB at work celebrations?

06/01/2007

Q. We are an accounting firm. At the end of a grueling tax season, we celebrate with a company party. We’ve stopped supplying alcohol due to liability concerns. But could we allow employees to BYOB? We’d never let employees leave drunk, but could we be sued if they cause an accident?—J.J., Missouri

Is bereavement leave also FMLA leave? Not usually

06/01/2007

Bereavement leave for employees who suffer a death in the family may be part of your benefits package, but it isn’t necessarily covered by the FMLA …

Cell phones in plant: Must we bargain with union?

06/01/2007

Q. Our company has a union contract with work rules. We also have the right in the contract to change the work rules, which the union can grieve. We recently exercised our right to add a new rule prohibiting cell phones in the plant. The union hasn’t filed a grievance, but it has filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board. It claims that we are obligated to bargain over the new rule. Are we obligated to bargain over a new rule like this?—R.S.