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Supreme Court upholds ban on workplace racial slurs

07/01/2000
The U.S. Supreme Court recently let stand a lower court ruling that banned an employee from making racial slurs at work. In the case, a group of Latino employees sued …

Consider legal impact before deleting files, e-mail messages

07/01/2000
As Microsoft learned in its recent federal suit, e-mail messages are official company records that can be summoned in a lawsuit. Unfortunately, most companies …

Breast-feeding: Develop wise policy for staff, customers

07/01/2000
With half of new mothers returning to work within three months of giving birth, breast-feeding has become a hot workplace issue. The American Academy of Pediatrics …

‘Independent’ is key concept in classifying workers

07/01/2000
Whether you call them consultants, free-lancers or gurus, independent contractors can add experience and flexibility to your team while saving you money. By using …

Ban all age bias; states OK youth-bias claims

06/01/2000
Kimberly Zanni, a 31-year-old-account executive, was fired and replaced by an older, less qualified woman. One supervisor had told Zanni that she sounded …

Giving better-than-deserved reviews may be legal, but it’s unwise

06/01/2000
Six months after Richard Cullom began work as a staffing specialist at a Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital, his supervisor found his work …

Tighten your policy on work authorization

06/01/2000
Three companies have recently settled federal charges of “document abuse” in hiring, with penalties totaling more than $270,000. The problem: Employers requested specific documents or asked for documents other than those …

Public employers can avoid comp-time cash payouts

06/01/2000
Public employers not only have the leeway to offer comp time to nonexempt workers, they can now force the workers to use it. Congress gave state and local governments the …

Help employees protect their identity from theft

06/01/2000

Q. A few employees have complained that we use their Social Security numbers as their ID numbers. They’re concerned about potential theft of their identity. Is it legal for employers to use Social Security numbers for ID purposes? —D.T., Illinois

Watch for warning signs of workers’ comp fraud

06/01/2000

Q. We’ve had a number of suspicious injuries at work this year. We don’t want to jump to conclusions, but how can we determine if these injuries are part of a workers’ comp insurance fraud scheme? —K.H., Mississippi