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

Policies / Handbooks

You can’t say that! Or can you? Discussing politics in the workplace

09/26/2012
Election season often increases the volume and vociferousness of political conversations. Widening ideological gulfs, dissected and fueled by pundits, have made politics seem like a contact sport more than ever. While some political activities can be prohibited in the workplace, some actions are protected.

Can we implement a civility code that prohibits employees from name-calling?

09/20/2012

Q. I’d like to institute a civility code that goes beyond the basic racial and sexual slurs to include any name-calling that is demeaning, crude or rude. What do you suggest as punishment?

Smart telework options can reduce absenteeism

09/20/2012

Telework challenges businesses to ensure that remote employees are working when they’re supposed to be. Yet it’s also a way to curb absenteeism. Here are examples of what works, from employers that have fully integrated telework into their operations:

What should we do about consensual relationship between manager and subordinate?

09/17/2012
Q. We just found out that one of our managers is having a consensual sexual relationship with someone who reports directly to him. If we confirm with the subordinate that she believes the relationship is consensual, do we need to do anything else?

Can you fire an employee for smelling like tobacco smoke?

09/17/2012
Since 2007, when Minnesota’s Freedom to Breathe Act took effect, smoking has been banned in Minnesota workplaces. Now, new studies about the harmful effects of “third-hand smoke” have caused some employers to take their no-smoking policies to new heights.

Religion, workplace safety tangled up at Le Center bakery

09/17/2012
Dianne’s Fine Desserts faces a complex conundrum after 30 Somali workers left work following a June labor dispute at the commercial ­bakery’s Le Center manufacturing plant. The workers claim they were told to leave. The company says it only barred the workers from the plant floor until they complied with a new dress code.

Formal policies, flex help cure absenteeism

09/14/2012
Absenteeism costs American businesses approximately 9% of payroll, according to several estimates. Here are a dozen ways to keep employees coming to work as scheduled, reserving sick leave for health problems—not as a catch-all bank of time off.

Avoid a frightening lawsuit this Halloween

09/13/2012
One simple way to give employees a morale boost is by loosening the dress code for a day and allowing employees to dress up for Halloween. It doesn’t cost any money or time—except for the few minutes you’ll need to set a few ground rules so this Halloween treat for employees doesn’t become a bad trick on the company.

Take your employee handbook online: 8 tips

09/13/2012

Turning your handbook into an electronic document can cut costs, make updating easier and give employees a convenient place to access policies. Going electronic isn’t technically difficult. But the process involves more than simply transferring written documents to a database or internal website.

At work and online: NLRB restricts employers’ social media rules

09/10/2012

Many employers have social media policies that attempt to control what employees say on social media. Poli­­cies that overreach may violate the NLRA. In response, the NLRB has issued a memorandum summarizing key points in its recent decisions concerning social media.