Training

Keep age out of mix when deciding who gets education benefits

05/01/2001

Dan Esberg wanted to cash in on his company’s educational assistance program. The company paid Esberg $16,000 for his bachelor’s degree after he had turned 50. But when Esberg decided to …

‘Downtime’ pay: When to pay for travel, rest, on-call time

05/01/2001

It’s a deceptively simple concept: You have to pay nonexempt employees for every hour they work. But employers often trip over interpretation of that law when it comes to exceptions such …

Harassment: Your response makes all the difference

04/01/2001

Case 1: The ‘sex’retary Lesley Gentry’s boss constantly hugged her, kissed her and made suggestive comments, such as asking her to “try out the back counter” with him. He gave …

Performance reviews: Cut liability, add punch to annual chore

03/01/2001

Your performance evaluation system probably isn’t “meeting expectations” and may “need improvement.” One of the biggest problems: grade inflation. Managers routinely give employees higher marks than their performance warrants. As …

Don’t shrug off same-race harassment

02/01/2001

Odis Ross’ boss at the county jail refused to call him Officer Ross. Instead, he addressed him as “black boy” and “nigger” and often referred to Ross’ wife, who is white, …

Series of ‘minor’ incidents
can add up to hostile environment

11/01/2000

Cheryl Conner blew away her male co-workers in skills training for her new metal-processing job. The trouble started when she went from the classroom …

Sexual orientation: Adapt policy to local, state law

11/01/2000

Although Congress has debated the idea, no federal law specifically prohibits job discrimination based on an employee or applicant’s sexual orientation. Employees …

Don’t rely on written policy to prevent harassment

09/01/2000

Q. Our company is considering anti-harassment training for all employees. Some individuals are concerned that it will stir up lawsuits. Do you recommend such training? —J.R., Maine

Make managers aware of potential personal liability

08/01/2000

Want to get your managers to take sexual harassment claims seriously? Here’s how one human resources director does it: He begins each training session …

Recover training costs

07/01/2000

Q. Can we require an employee to sign an agreement to reimburse the company for half the expenses related to training, if the employee resigns within six months? —S.D., Northern Marianas