01/31/2012
The U.S. Department of Labor has proposed new FMLA rules that would formalize several statutory amendments that expanded military family-leave rights in 2008 and 2009. The new rules would officially incorporate into the FMLA amendments that were tacked onto the National Defense Authorization Act. If you're covered by the FMLA, these rules will apply to you.
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01/31/2012
Employees who sue for discrimination have to prove they are members of a protected class, were qualified for the position they held, were terminated or subjected to another adverse action and were treated less favorably than employees outside their protected class. Employers that can show the employee was insubordinate can quickly win such cases.
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01/27/2012
There’s no guarantee your employees’ personal devices are as well-protected as company-issued devices. To ensure the safety of employee-owned smartphones and continued access to your company’s information, take these six steps before allowing employees to use them for work.
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01/27/2012
If your employees post on their work-related Twitter accounts, a pending lawsuit in a federal California court could answer an important question: Who owns that Twitter “handle” and those followers when the employee leaves?
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01/18/2012
Q. We do not have a workplace violence policy and would like to prepare one. What should we include in the policy?
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01/18/2012
Q. We’re re-examining our workplace violence-prevention strategies. What guidance is available to employers?
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01/18/2012
When romance blooms at work, trouble may lurk not far behind. That’s especially true when co-workers fight over the same love interest. A spurned employee may be out to get her rival, leading to all sorts of conflict. Fortunately, this isn’t the sort of thing that employers have to intervene in—as long as there’s no workplace violence.
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01/12/2012
Here’s something to remember the next time you agonize over discharging an employee for breaking a rule: While you should treat all employees honestly, you don’t have to conduct a mini trial to determine “guilt.” It’s enough to believe you had a legitimate reason to fire the employee—even if it later turns out you were wrong.
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01/12/2012
Here’s some good news for employers that work hard to prevent sexual harassment. Employees who wait decades to report harassment won’t get far if their employer had an effective harassment policy and enforced it.
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01/05/2012
A major focus of emergency planning concerns how to help people with disabilities. However, employers must remember that federal laws may restrict what employers can do in emergencies.
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01/05/2012
Q. Can we set a dress code policy that bars visible tattoos and multiple piercing on our receptionist but not other workers who have less public contact?
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12/26/2011
While today's Iowa caucuses feel like the end of a long campaign season, it’s really just the beginning of a heated political year … one that could spill over into your workplace. Follow these tips for handling political activity in your workplace and employees' political advocacy outside of work.
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12/20/2011
The DOL's FMLA regulations provide employers with several options for calculating how much leave employees are entitled to at any given time. According to the regulations, employers are permitted to choose any one of the following methods for measuring the “12-month period” in which the 12 weeks of leave entitlement occurs.
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12/20/2011
Employees who intentionally don’t follow directions are insubordinate. That means you can fire them—even if they recently filed discrimination charges. Just be sure you can justify your action.
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12/20/2011
More than a decade after creating their first sexual harassment policies, some employers may be getting lax. That might be especially true if they haven’t received any complaints. If that rosy scenario sounds like your organization, you might be courting trouble.
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