Category: HR Management & Compliance

There are dozens of details to take care of in the day-to-day operation of your department and your company. We give you case studies, news updates, best practices and training tips that keep your organization fully in compliance with ever-changing employment law, and you fully aware of emerging HR trends.

Red Flag Flying: Tips for Detecting Employee Embezzlement

Sadly, in the past 12 months, I have been hired to investigate or assist in investigating employee embezzlement more times than in the past 15 years combined. Embezzlement is the theft or misappropriation of funds or property placed in one’s trust, belonging to one’s employer. Employee theft costs are on the rise, and they are […]

Managing the Human-Digital Workforce of the Future

Even before the pandemic, organizations of all sizes and across industries were embarking on digital transformation journeys. The pandemic shifted these journeys into high gear, especially as remote and hybrid work became (and continues to be) the norm. To be successful in today’s highly competitive and ever-evolving business environment, organizations are turning to automation to […]

Unwelcome Office Birthday Party Leads to $450K Verdict, Lessons on Disability Law

Misunderstandings over an office birthday party recently taught a Kentucky employer an expensive lesson about disability discrimination. A jury awarded $450,000 to the affected employee who didn’t want the party and allegedly suffered a panic attack afterward. The employer’s alleged, repeated mishandling of the worker’s behavior after the episode offers the best explanation for the […]

Employment Verifications: One Size Doesn’t Fit All

Imagine a stack of finalist job applications sits on your desk. One is the clear front-runner, but there’s a close second, a candidate who appears almost as qualified as the first. How can you be certain you’re hiring the most qualified candidate? A critical first step is to properly review those applications for potential discrepancies. In […]

NLRB General Counsel Seeks to Facilitate Union Organizing

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel (GC) Jennifer Abruzzo is taking aggressive positions designed to help unions be more successful in organizing. The GC is the agency’s top lawyer. While she can’t unilaterally change the law, she can argue prior precedent was wrongly decided and urge the present union-friendly NLRB members to change the […]

All Fortune 100 Companies Now Have DEI Policies

Diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts have gained remarkable traction in recent decades. In the final third of the 20th century, DEI was effectively dominated by and focused exclusively on affirmative action—the idea that employee racial and gender demographics should more or less match the population-level demographics. It didn’t necessarily matter whether women and people of […]

Student Athletes Sue to Be Classified as ‘Employees’

Since last year’s monumental Supreme Court decision in Alston curtailing the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) ability to limit student athlete compensation, the landscape continues to shift in unprecedented ways. In September 2021, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced its position that certain student athletes at private institutions should be considered employees for purposes […]

Reducing Liability: How Employers Can Be On the Hook for Employee-To-Employee or Third-Party Racial Harassment

Although employers may be automatically liable for supervisors or administrative personnel harassing subordinate employees under certain federal laws, they may also be held liable if another employee (even one subordinate to the harassed employee) or a third-party such as a customer or vendor harasses an employee based on their race. What Will Courts Consider When […]

College Shoots ‘Airball’ in Basketball Coach’s FMLA Lawsuit

An “airball,” or a basketball shot that misses the backboard, rim, and net entirely, sums up an appeals court’s recent opinion about the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) retaliation and interference claims filed by a college coach. The ruling contains multiple lessons for all Texas employers covered by the Act.

Ask the Expert: Can Employees Be Mandated to Work Overtime?

In our latest installment of Ask the Expert, brought to you by the team of industry experts at HR Hero®, we look at a recent question from a subscriber regarding an employer’s ability to require workers to work overtime. Let’s hear what our team of HR experts have to say! Q: Can employees be mandated to […]