Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
We’re concerned about our supervisors’ and managers’ casual use of e-mail. They are saying things about employees that might come back to haunt us. When we talk to them, they say it all gets erased after a month anyway. What should we do?
If an employee gets injured at work, are you prepared to deal with the situation? The types of first-aid materials you must maintain in the workplace will depend on the nature and extent of hazards present. And Cal-OSHA standards require a basic level of readiness.
If you have employees who drive, even occasionally, as part of their jobs, it’s important to provide training in motor vehicle safety. Here’s a quick quiz you can administer and discuss with employees to drive home some key road safety points. (The answer key follows the quiz.)
How do you recommend that we handle alcohol at our holiday party? We do want to serve alcohol, but we want to limit consumption in some way.
Most employers know they can wind up with a bias lawsuit on their hands if they’re not careful about the language they use when placing a help-wanted ad in the newspaper or online. Here’s a quick checklist you can use to evaluate your ad to help ensure it won’t be a ticking time bomb. A […]
It’s important to instruct employees who make work-related phone calls from their automobiles how to use the phones safely to avoid causing potentially tragic accidents. Here are some safety guidelines recommended by the American Automobile Association and the California Highway Patrol:
You fire an employee for breaking a company rule. This common event may not seem risky, but a recent verdict shows that how you handle a termination can often get you in more trouble than the firing itself. In fact, Wal-Mart is now facing a whopping $20 million verdict partly because of how it discharged […]
It’s not always easy to know when inappropriate behavior becomes illegal harassment. While a single offensive comment alone may not be enough to justify a claim, there isn’t always a clearcut test for harassment. In the accompanying story beginning on page 1, the jury found that racial harassment had occurred, but the results in similar […]
During the month of February each year, most public and private employers are required to post OSHA Form 200 in a conspicuous place. This ‘Log and Summary of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses’ calls for details about on-the-job injuries and illnesses that occurred between January 1 and December 31 of the preceding year. Unless you’re in […]
What You Can and Can’t Ask About Criminal Records As the accompanying story highlights, you could be hit with big damages for asking illegal questions about a person’s criminal record. To help you steer clear of trouble, the following language can easily be modified for use in your application forms or when interviewing prospective or […]