Policies / Handbooks

E is for Evidence: The HR Risks of Smoking-Gun Employee Emails

06/28/2011

Your employees may know how to physically send an email message. But have you ever taught them what should—and, more importantly, should not—be included in email? “The ‘e’ in email stands for eternal evidence and it doesn’t go away,” said attorney Mindy Chapman, author of the HR Specialist’s Case in Point blog, at this week’s Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) conference in Las Vegas…

Violating your e-policies can be a federal crime

06/24/2011

If you’re worried that an employee or ex-employee will break into your computer network and damage the company, a new court ruling gives you more teeth to enforce your policy. And it gives employees something to think about before they commit e-sabotage.

Intoxicated and driving during working hours: How should our policy address this problem?

06/23/2011

Q. When an employee was recently injured on the job, a co-worker drove him to the hospital. On the way back to work, they were in a car accident and both employees tested positive for illegal substances. What should we consider when developing a policy to prevent this kind of thing from occurring in the future?

Keep it clean (and sober)! Ensure drug testing is uniform and fair

06/23/2011

When you offer employees a chance for drug or alcohol treatment and rehabilitation, make sure you treat them fairly. There’s nothing wrong with telling recovering employees they may be randomly tested for drugs or alcohol without notice. You can even use a “lottery” system that results in some employees being tested more often than others.

Can we require ‘English-only’ at work? Foreign-language chatter is affecting morale

06/16/2011

Q. Some of our employees speak to each other in their native language. We are worried that some workers will feel excluded. To boost employee morale, we would like to institute a policy prohibiting our workers from speaking any language other than English during the workday. Is such a policy legal?

Tell staff: Break data rules, risk prosecution

06/16/2011

When explaining your computer-use policy, make sure employees understand they may be criminally prosecuted if they violate the rules and gain access to information they have no business reading. That should make them think twice about obtaining confidential information and passing it on to the competition.

When misbehavior demands termination, it’s best to stick with one reason for firing

06/10/2011

Here’s an important reminder to heed when you must discipline employees: If an employee commits a major rule violation that justifies termination, rely on that reason alone. Resist the temptation to pile on additional reasons. It may make defending a lawsuit that much easier.

Court upholds $40 million verdict for Xcel lineman

06/08/2011

A lineman for Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy will collect $40 million from Qwest Telephone as a result of a 2004 accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down.

Your 10-point checklist to ensure an NLRA-compliant handbook

06/06/2011

A poorly written or overly broad handbook could result in unfair labor practices charges from the National Labor Relations Board. That’s true even if your workforce isn’t unionized. Review your handbook for policies relating to the following 10 “red flags” that attract the NLRB’s attention.

Make work safe for older employees (and everyone else, too)

06/03/2011

As an employer, you want to eliminate accidents. But paying particular attention to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s safety recommendations for older workers should make your workplace safer for everyone.