Tag: information

ADA Doesn’t Protect Train Engineer From Turning Over Medical Records

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) limits an employer’s right to require a current employee to provide information about his medical conditions. Only in situations where the need to obtain such health information is necessary to determine whether the employee can perform the job functions and do so in a safe manner is the medical […]

The Science Behind Uncertainty and Anxiety

A pandemic and resulting business closures and economic turmoil have rattled not just the business world but also virtually every aspect of daily life for workers around the globe.

Handling Inappropriate Comments Not Covered by Other Policies

It’s likely your organization already has anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies in place. You probably also have some form of anti-violence or anti-bullying policy too. But how do you handle it when an employee is acting in a way that’s clearly inappropriate but may not fall neatly into one of the written policy frameworks? Here are […]

SCOTUS Limits Scope of Cybersecurity Law

The U.S. Supreme Court recently issued a ruling interpreting the scope of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), a 1986 federal statute that imposes civil and criminal liability for unauthorized computer access. In short, the Court decided that as long as an individual is authorized to access a computer and data, he doesn’t violate […]

Vaccine

Employers Offer Incentives for Employees to Get Vaccinated

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently issued guidance about whether employers may offer incentives to employees or their family members to get vaccinated for COVID-19. Although the guidelines are general in nature and don’t provide specific answers about the amount you may offer as an incentive, they do provide some clarity on the do’s […]

Poor Firing Practices Can Lead to Poor Outcomes, Including Violence

An HR person was firing a supervisor, who then said, “I have a knife in my pocket and a gun in my shoe. And if you weren’t who you are, I’d be using it right now.” That terrifying encounter comes with a very important lesson: You never know how someone will react when fired. If […]

company culture

2021: A Progress Report

My last contribution to this blog happened to be the first post of 2021. I titled it “Welcome, 2021. Let’s Talk …” and offered up some lighthearted suggestions for how the new year could improve on 2020’s nightmarish experience. One “suggestion” I gave to our new year was the following:

Lack of Secrecy Dooms Employer’s Suit to Stop Former Sales Reps’ Use of Customer Lists

The Illinois Trade Secrets Act (ITSA) prohibits misappropriation of trade secrets and allows recovery of attorneys’ fees in suits to enforce the Act. A recent decision by the Appellate Court of Illinois is a cautionary tale for employers wanting to protect customer lists and other information.

What Is Talent Intelligence?

Have you heard the term “talent intelligence”? Talent intelligence, as the name implies, is the process of collecting, analyzing, and using information about your market’s talent pool, both at your organization and in competing organizations. This type of information helps a company better understand the available talent pool and make data-based decisions. Having good data […]

5 Ways to Protect Trade Secrets During, After Pandemic

As we hopefully head toward widespread COVID-19 vaccinations and back to some sort of new normal, employers should remember business information is often valuable because it’s secret, and it’s secret and protectable only when you use reasonable efforts to preserve its confidentiality. Almost every business relies on trade secrets that, if properly preserved, can be […]