Archives

6th Circuit: Employee May Be Fired Over Facebook Slur

An employer could lawfully terminate an employee who used a racial slur on Facebook, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals (whose rulings cover all Ohio employers) recently concluded after applying a test that balances a public employee’s First Amendment right to free speech against the employer’s interest in maintaining an effective workplace.

hybrid

How HR Teams Can Leverage Data to Prepare for the Hybrid Workforce

It’s hard to believe we’re almost a year into the pandemic, which also means a year of working from home. Working from home has taught us many lessons about productivity, efficiency, employee resilience, and company culture. It’s also taught us that supporting employees in a hybrid setting comes with new challenges and complexities. As we […]

flexibility

Survey Demonstrates Importance of Post-COVID Workplace Flexibility

What seemed to many like a temporary shift to remote work in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic has stretched out for almost a year, with no end in sight. As companies look deep into 2021 when considering when and even if to bring staff back to the office, it’s important for companies to be […]

3 Essential Steps to Successfully Reopen Businesses, No Matter the State of the Pandemic

With no official playbook from federal, state, or even local governments on how to reopen businesses, universities, healthcare facilities, sports teams, major venues, and other organizations, employers and HR leaders have been left to fend for themselves. Developing an effective return-to-work strategy while keeping employees safe and lowering liability risks is a tall order, but […]

Duty to Bargain Extends to Immigration Compliance

An employer should have bargained with a union over the effects of its decision to require employees to complete new I-9 forms, a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) administrative law judge (ALJ) recently ruled. The decision serves as a reminder of the broad scope of the duty to bargain under the National Labor Relations Act […]

3 New Habits to Eradicate Meeting Madness and Improve Team Communication

Great teamwork is more essential now than ever. Today’s teams face increasingly complicated challenges, and their success is contingent on efficiently and effectively working together. In other words, the core fundamentals of group collaboration and proper “enabling conditions” can still give teams a competitive advantage.

FLSA

Bonus Coverage: Discretionary vs. Nondiscretionary

Many companies annually prepare business goals and establish incentives for employees if the goals are met. One common incentive is the quarterly or annual bonus. While the reward process seems straightforward, it can come with unexpected obligations and complicated calculations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Let’s take a closer look at exactly which […]

Without HR Tech, Employers Would Not Have Been Ready for the Pandemic

Something that I hear repeatedly from HR experts is the idea that if the pandemic had happened 10 years ago, we’d all have been doomed. Without videoconferencing and remote virtual private networks (VPNs), remote work would have been nearly impossible. But what about HR technologies? What role did they play in the last year? Today’s […]