• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Policies / Handbooks

Craft smart policy on use of smartphones

09/03/2015
Smartphone technology has simply changed too quickly for many employee handbooks to keep up. What should your strategy be?

AG investigates retailers for unpredictable scheduling

08/13/2015
State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has requested scheduling information from some of the nation’s largest retailers to determine if they are abiding by New York’s “reporting time” law.

OK to reference handbook in employment contract

07/27/2015

Employee handbooks aren’t contracts. In fact, to preserve at-will employment status, we usually recommend including a disclaimer that specifically states: “This handbook does not constitute a contract.” But some key employees do work under the terms of employment contracts, and occasionally it may make sense to incorporate your employee handbook rules into those agreements. Referring to the handbook makes its terms and conditions binding on your contracted workers.

Policies are worthless if they’re not communicated

07/24/2015
An accountant for the state Depart­­ment of Health will get his job back after Commonwealth Court determined that, contrary to the given reason for his firing, his e-mail was not “combative”, “antagonistic”, or “accusatory.”

15 questions to ask when auditing your handbook

07/15/2015
It’s good business to review your handbook once a year and revise it as necessary. Answer these questions to gauge its thoroughness and reliability.

What’s wrong with that policy?

07/13/2015
Company policies lay the foundation on which employment expectations are formed, and thus, workplace actions are taken. A missing phrase here, an undefined term there can spell policy disaster.

How to limit damage from an employee-turned-competitor

07/03/2015
It happens more often than you might think: You find out that one of your employees is preparing to go out on her own or jump ship to join a competitor. Your fear: There go our trade secrets. Here’s how to prevent the problem, or respond to it if it happens.

Provide clear rules on promotions to prevent failure-to-promote lawsuits

06/26/2015

Employers that provide clear rules on what employees must do before being considered for promotions can reduce the possibility of failure-to-promote lawsuits. That’s because employees who don’t follow those clear rules can’t argue they weren’t promoted on account of their membership in a protected class. They lost out because they didn’t follow the rules.

Workers: Don’t monitor me!

06/23/2015
More than half of working people polled don’t want their bosses snooping on them. Asked how important they considered not being monitored at work, here’s what respondents said.

Recipe for a lawsuit: No reporting policy, name-calling

06/09/2015
You’re risking trouble if you don’t have an anti-harassment and discrimination policy that allows employees to report discrimination and harassment.