Supreme Court Looks at When Ordinary Language Is Evidence of Bias
The U.S. Supreme Court has weighed in on a case that underscores the importance of providing comprehensive antibias and harassment training for managers and supervisors.
Archives
Free Retirement-Planning Resource from DOL
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) has published a new resource to help workers calculate the financial resources they’ll need to ensure a secure retirement. The new publication, “Taking the Mystery Out of Retirement Planning,” is specially designed to assist workers who are within 10 years of retirement to calculate their […]
Short Takes: Personal Use of Company Computers
I’d like to keep my employees from using their company computers for personal stuff like e-mail. Can I prohibit this? 400+ pages of state-specific, easy-read reference materials at your fingertips—fully updated! Check out the Guide to Employment Law for California Employers and get up to speed on everything you need to know. In general, while […]
Short Takes: Use-It-or-Lose-It Vacation Policies
Can we institute a use-it-or-lose-it vacation policy to encourage our employees to take their vacations? 400+ pages of state-specific, easy-read reference materials at your fingertips—fully updated! Check out the Guide to Employment Law for California Employers and get up to speed on everything you need to know. Use-it-or-lose-it vacation policies are not allowed in California. […]
Employee Shift Switching May Pose Multiple Legal Problems
We are a hospital. Our employees often switch shifts or take extra shifts for someone else. They have their own informal system for handling switches and it works—we always have coverage. But I’m worried about compensation issues. They handle their pay as though they had worked their normal shifts, and they take care of paying […]
Recruiting: Are We Allowed to Recruit Employees from Competitors?
Our company’s hiring managers always want me to recruit from certain competitor companies. I’d like to know what legal and ethical limits there are on my right to recruit employees from other companies. Can I cold call someone in a competing firm and ask if they would be interested in working for my firm? What […]
You’re the Expert: What can I do when references checks give me little to no information?
They are always saying be sure to check references, but a lot of companies are reluctant to give me anything but name and job title. What can I do to get references to open up a little?
Training: We’ve Done Our Sexual Harassment Training; What Other Types of Harassment Training Do We Need?
We’ve gotten through the initial round of our required sexual harassment training. Whew! But I want to expand it to include other types of harassment, such as religious harassment, disability harassment, and so on. Which elements do you recommend we include, and should we incorporate this training into the sexual harassment training, or do it […]
Employee Business Travel: Sample Policy
Driving: How Do We Properly Calculate Reimbursements?
We’re trying to straighten out our auto reimbursement policy. First, we have employees who drive their own cars between worksites each day as well as to different sites each day. The miles vary from 10 up to 100 miles in a day. Do we have to reimburse them and, if so, at what rate? We […]