Month: March 2011

Probationary Period? Get Rid of It!

Yesterday’s Advisor featured legal tips about probationary periods. Today, Hunter “Please Sue Me” Lott says, “Get rid of your probationary period.” Otherwise you risk negating your employees’ at-will status. Lott says that any “probationary period” or “introductory period” (or as one company calls it, “comfort time”) is a threat to the employer’s at-will status because […]

Hot List: Bestselling “Organizational Behavior” Books on Amazon.com

Amazon.com updates its list of the bestselling books every hour. Here is a snapshot of what is hot right now, March 28, in the “Organizational Behavior” section of the “Business and Investing” category. 1. Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. The authors of Made to Stick: […]

A Playbook for Success from Coach Mike Krzyzewski

Last Thursday night, the Duke men’s basketball team lost its game in the NCAA tournament to the Arizona Wildcats, ending the Blue Devils’ season. Had Duke been able to win the game, its coach, Mike Krzyzewski, would have equaled Bobby Knight’s record for the most victories in college basketball history. Instead, Krzyzewski went home one […]

Probation

Probationary Periods — Dangerous Device or Necessary Tool?

Many employers start employees off with probationary periods during which the employer can let the new employees go without worrying about just cause and lawsuits. Sounds good, but there’s a downside, says attorney Sandra Rappaport.

Employer Has More Latitude than Police to Search Teacher’s Porn-Laden Laptop

By Maria Giagilitsis and Brian Smeenk In a decision released earlier this week, the highest court in Canada’s most populous province, Ontario, issued a surprising ruling on workplace privacy law. The case involved criminal charges against a teacher accused of possession of child pornography. The court said the employee has a reasonable expectation of privacy […]

Rising Gas Prices: How Employers Can Help Workers

From the nightly news to the employee break room, one of the hottest topics right now is how the cost of gas keeps going up, and with the crisis in the Middle East continuing to escalate, there is no end in sight. Employees are feeling the pain of rising gas prices and some may be […]

Pay for Performance? Find Out Who’s Doing What

Robert Brady CEO, Business and Legal Resources Just My E-pinion Pay for performance—it’s hot, and for good reason. It focuses attention on the goals, ties some pay directly to results, and keeps down that ever-creeping base pay number.  But exactly how to implement it and for what level of employee? That’s what we’re going to […]

Wait Is Finally Over! EEOC Finalizes Regulations Interpreting ADAAA

More than two years after the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) went into effect, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has finalized regulations interpreting the law’s requirements. For the most part, the final regulations provide exactly the type of comprehensive guidance employers were hoping for. In any event, they are a dramatic departure from (and an […]

Long-Awaited ADAAA Regs Finally Released

The EEOC has announced that the long-awaited final regulations implementing the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) will be published tomorrow in the Federal Register. They are, however, available for public view now on the Federal Register website.