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Policies / Handbooks

Sample Policy: Social Media

07/14/2018
The following sample policy was excerpted from The Book of Company Policies, published by HR Specialist. Edit for your organization’s purposes ________________________________ “Social media (including personal and professional websites, blogs, chat rooms and bulletin boards; social networks, such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter; video-sharing sites such as YouTube; and e-mail) are a common means of […]

Review your handbook: NLRB changes the rules on workplace rules

07/13/2018
The National Labor Relations Board last year overturned an established standard for determining if workplace rules comply with the National Labor Relations Act. Now the NLRB has issued a memorandum providing employer guidance.

Gov’t employees: No due process claim to promotion

06/26/2018
Public employees have a right to due process before being deprived of the property interest that is their job. Essentially, that means a public employer has to provide “some sort of a hearing” allowing the worker to present his side of the story before being fired. That right doesn’t extend to a promotion not granted.

Failure to follow reporting procedures can justify firing—even if boss should have acted

06/26/2018
If an employer has a process in place for reporting wrongdoing that includes bypassing one’s supervisor when necessary, employees who don’t take that step can’t aviod punishment by blaming the supervisor. That’s not a justified excuse.

Review handbook for at-will conflicts

06/12/2018
If an employee has a contract with his employer that specifically limits his discharge, then at-will employment does not apply. This situation can get tricky if your employee handbook lacks a contract disclaimer or contains language that seems to limit your right to fire employees.

Snapshot: Big business makes progress on LGBT issues

06/12/2018
An overwhelming majority of Fortune 500 corporations prohibit discrimination on the basis of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender status.

Did Starbucks fail at communicating policy?

05/17/2018
It’s likely that the Starbucks incidents reveal some form of discriminatory animus on the part of individual employees. But from a management and HR perspective, there is another layer.

Rule requiring employees to speak only English at work may be race discrimination

05/07/2018
Take note if you have rules against speaking languages other than English at work: That could constitute race discrimination under Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866.

Policy alone won’t fend off harassment suit

05/03/2018
You may think having a solid sexual harassment policy is all it takes to thwart a sexual harassment lawsuit. Not if the policy isn’t being followed!

Establish process for verifying employment

04/17/2018
Verification of employment requests are not difficult to process, but you do need a formal system for responding to them.