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Policies / Handbooks

Hiring relatives creates friendly culture at Ohio firm

11/01/2006

Nepotism doesn’t raise eyebrows at medical-billing service provider MBI Solutions. More than a dozen MBI employees have family members on the staff. The Kettering, Ohio-based company actively recruits employees’ relatives to create a family-friendly atmosphere and improve retention …

Who Should Decide If You Offer Domestic-Partner Perks?

11/01/2006

Your organization—not the government—should make that call, say a majority of 2,500 adults surveyed by Out & Equal Workplace Advocates …

Tardiness Can Count as ‘Misconduct’ That Bars UI Benefits

11/01/2006

Under Florida law, employees who are fired can’t collect unemployment compensation if you fired them for "misconduct."  Unfortunately, the law doesn’t clearly define misconduct …

Heed lesson from the cola giants: Tighten cap on your trade secrets

11/01/2006

Now’s a good time to review your policy on protecting confidential information, such as product samples. Restrict access to as few employees as possible, and take swift action if you learn of any security breaches. As the biggest cola competitors discovered, trade-secret thieves will try anything …

Ban on ‘Union Yes’ Button Isn’t Free-Speech Violation

11/01/2006

Texas public employers have broad rights to prohibit certain kinds of speech in the workplace, but those rights aren’t unfettered …

Review policy wording to ensure no e-Mail privacy rights

11/01/2006

New Jersey employers have every right to monitor their employees’ e-mail messages and computer usage so long as they have a strong electronic communications policy. That’s true even if the content might otherwise fall under attorney-client privilege …

You can fire managers who ignore harassment complaints

11/01/2006

The best harassment policy in the world isn’t worth the paper it’s written on if employees don’t take it seriously. To show your policy has teeth, you have to let it bite …

Lesson From Tiffany’s Lawsuit: Don’t Ban On-Site Breast-Feeding

11/01/2006

New Jersey employers can’t interfere with employees or customers who breast-feed their children in public, as Tiffany and Co. learned the hard way …

Race-Based assignment isn’t always discrimination

11/01/2006

It’s typically not wise to assign employees to working groups based on race, sex or any other protected characteristic. But you won’t always be liable for discrimination in such cases. Just make sure you have a valid business-based reason for doing so, and then apply that policy consistently to affected employees …

Set mileage minimums on company cars? Be alert to employees who pad the odometer

11/01/2006

File this one under "unintended consequences": In an effort to save money, the Fairfax County, Va., government established 4,500 miles as the annual usage minimum for keeping a county vehicle. Employees who fall below the limit lose their cars …