Tag: business

Unions: How Far Can We Go in Discouraging a Union Drive?

We’ve gotten word that a union is going to try to organize our manufacturing arm’s workers. I’m not sure what to tell the managers and supervisors about how far they can go to encourage their workers to reject the union. Can you give some general guidelines? — Thomas T., HR Manager in Berkeley

Business School

LITIGATION VALUE: $30,000 (But it could have been much higher) “Business is always personal” is probably not the best motto for a manager. It could lead them to act impulsively. Like, say, moving an employee’s desk from the front of the office to an “annex” inhabited by the employee’s chatty, fashion-crazed, quasi (ex?) girlfriend as […]

Cell Phones: What If an Employee Gets in an Accident While Doing Business on Your Cell? February

Although I gather it’s not illegal yet to talk on a handheld cell phone while driving, I’ve been hearing about some situations in which the company was held liable for accidents when the employee was doing business on the cell phone while driving. Even while driving to a ball game with the kids and taking […]

Theft: Can We Deduct the Cost of a Loss from the Whole Team?

We have agreed to operate on a team basis in our organization. We share workload, bonuses, etc. Now we’ve got a problem. We think someone on the team has stolen something from the office, but no one will admit to the theft. May we deduct a certain amount from each employee’s check to cover the […]

Sex Discrimination: Pre-Hire Strength Test Was Biased, Says Court

A federal appeals court has ruled that a pre-employment strength test administered to applicants for jobs at Dial Corporation’s Armour Star sausage-making plant in Fort Madison, Iowa, discriminated against women. The decision upholds a lower court ruling last year ordering Dial to pay $3 million to a group of women who were rejected for hire […]