Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Terminations are an inevitable part of employment, but despite their seemingly routine nature, even voluntary terminations can present a host of potential problems for employers. When handled properly, however, they can provide you with a valuable opportunity to gain insight into your organization, correct previously undetected problems, and increase your retention rate. For those reasons, […]
Not unlike an annual employee performance evaluation, an HR or employment law audit provides an objective means to measure the effectiveness of HR functions with respect to productivity, efficiency, and morale, among others. As a risk-management tool, an audit can identify obsolete or ineffective practices and flag compliance issues. In fact, employment practices liability insurance […]
What right do employers have to access personal e-mail records or personal e-mail accounts that are on company-owned computers? — Robert, HR Manager in L.A. Technology-related privacy concerns are on the rise for nearly every HR professional. We sought Trey Wichmann’s views on this question. In this situation, the employer’s rights depend […]
We’ve got some conflicting “affinity groups” at our organization. We thought it would be a good idea to support these groups and that doing so would help our diversity initiative. We support them a little financially, provide space, and let the groups organize on company time. Now some of the groups are getting a little […]
Recently, the abusive ex-husband of one of our employees entered our facility and threatened the employee and several of her co-workers. No one was injured, but the employees are now looking to us to do something. Should we encourage employees who are victims of domestic violence to notify us if there’s a possibility of this […]
We have two main types of nonemployee workers: temps (who usually work just a few days or weeks) and leased employees (who work basically full time). In both cases, we pay a fee to the agency and the leasing company, and they handle all the employment matters, including hiring, payment, and benefits. My question is […]
Three transit companies based in Pomona have agreed to pay a combined $100,000 to settle a race and sex harassment lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The EEOC’s lawsuit charged that a group of black female employees of Diversified Paratransit Inc., Paul’s Yellow Cab, and Inland Express were subjected to a hostile […]
An employee who sued for religious discrimination after she lost her job for violating her company’s antiharassment policy was handed a defeat in a recent Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal decision. We’ll explain what happened and give you tips for avoiding similar problems.
Many employers try to combat workplace bias with diversity programs that emphasize the company’s commitment to respecting differences, such as sexual orientation. But suppose an employee with strong religious beliefs posts messages offensive to a protected group. What are your obligations—to the employee and co-workers—in this situation? A new case addresses this problem.
Freddy Hernandez, a lead technician for Spacelabs Medical Inc. in Chatsworth and then in Redmond, Wash., was abruptly terminated after 20 years on the job—just weeks after he reported that a supervisor harassed a co-worker. We’ll explain why the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers California, said Hernandez can sue Spacelabs for retaliation.