Category: Learning & Development

Employees are valuing career development more than ever—it’s a sign that the company is willing to invest in their future. How are businesses approaching training today? What are their pain points, and what topics are being addressed in training?

The Dark, Ugly Side of Using Unpaid Interns (under the FLSA)

Unless they protect themselves, employers using unpaid interns risk running afoul of the Fair Labor Standards Act and state labor laws. Indie movie spinoff Fox Searchlight (a division of Twentieth Century Fox) has been slapped with a lawsuit by two interns who worked on the set of the award-winning film, Black Swan. In Eric Glatt […]

OSHA to Disgruntled Employees: Blow the Whistle!

The U.S. government is sharpening its whistleblower protection program, hiring and training more OSHA agents to cultivate employee complaints against their companies. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) wants to increase the number of “whistleblower managers,” who work with disgruntled employees to dig up dirt on companies for alleged violations of workplace laws. Their work […]

Expert Assessment: ‘HR Deserves a $5,000 Bonus’

In yesterday’s Advisor, Hunter Lott of Please Sue Me fame, offered his lawsuit avoidance tips. Today, his advice on legal exposure in 2011, plus an introduction to the new 24/7 leadership training system. What percent of charges did the EEOC drop last year? Lott asks. More than 64 percent. “That’s us!” Lott says. That’s HR […]

Please Sue Me? Teach Your Managers the YouTube Test

It used to be the “60 Minutes Rule,” but lawsuit avoidance expert Hunter Lott now encounters people who say 60 Minutes, what’s that? So he advocates the “YouTube Rule”—don’t do anything in the office, he says, that you wouldn’t want to see on YouTube. Lott, who is a popular speaker and consultant and owner of […]

(Hurricane) Irene Shares Her Favorite Last-minute Business Continuity Steps

Businesses are going to want to do more than just make sure the lights are turned out when they leave the office this weekend. In anticipation of Hurricane Irene, people all over the East Coast are stocking up on supplies, putting fresh batteries into flashlights and radios, filling up vehicles with gas, moving objects inside […]

Office of Special Counsel Aims at Fed Agencies with USERRA Project

A new project adds another layer of bureaucratic oversight about which federal employers should be aware when dealing with employees exercising their rights to job protection under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). The U.S. Office of Special Counsel has begun a three-year demonstration project expanding its role in enforcing military servicemember […]

Dan Ryan Talks Social Media, Technology, and AEIS 2011

Recently, we had a chance to talk with Dan Ryan, social media expert and president of Ryan Search & Consulting. A featured speaker at this year’s Advanced Employment Issues Symposium, Dan let’s us in on his best social media strategies, and what this year’s AEIS attendees can expect from this year’s “Social Media in the […]

Verizon ADA Settlement: More on leaves of absence as reasonable accommodation

Now that the dust is settling over the nationwide class-action disability discrimination lawsuit Verizon settled with the EEOC, we at the SmartHRManager blog wanted to ask HR professionals what this settlement means to their companies. To help you answer that question, take a look at the consent decree’s corporate improvement plan, which highlights what Verizon […]

UCLA Hospital to Pay $865,500 in Latest HIPAA Privacy Settlement

In the latest big-ticket enforcement action for alleged HIPAA privacy and security violations, the University of California at Los Angeles Health System (UCLAHS) has agreed to pay the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) $865,500 to settle allegations the hospital violated HIPAA’s privacy and security rules. The settlement, announced July 7, resolves two […]

SHRM 2011: Global Trends Are Affecting HR

HR professionals have to manage their day-to-day responsibilities and prepare for global trends that will affect how they do business – five of which were shared by HR guru Gary B. Kushner, president/CEO of Kushner & Company in Portage, Mich., at the 63rd annual conference of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). It was […]