Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
by Lauren M. Cooper Employers must take all reasonable steps to prevent harassment from occurring. You must also promptly correct any sexually harassing behavior that has occurred. Effectively investigating harassment complaints and promptly intervening are critical to both of those goals. Prevention of the harassing behavior is the ultimate objective. Effective and immediate intervention also […]
Employees are becoming more and more sophisticated in ways to abuse the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), particularly using intermittent leave when vacation and sick leave are not available, says attorney W. Melvin Haas, who offers 12 steps to minimize abuse. In order to minimize disruption in the workplace, an employer must detect and […]
A Colorado-based company that is not a religious organization got a temporary reprieve in complying with the Obama administration’s mandate that health plans cover contraceptives without patient cost sharing, under a new ruling from the U.S. District Court in Colorado. The reform requirement takes effect for non-grandfathered and non-religious employer health plans on Aug. 1. […]
By Jane Meacham The U.S. Department of Labor on July 30 quickly revised its field assistance bulletin on retirement plan fee disclosures to clarify a contested question’s impact on so-called brokerage windows and self-directed accounts, which allow plan participants to select investments beyond those designated by an employer-sponsored plan. In the clarification, a new question […]
The number of wage and hour lawsuits continued to increase and hit a new high in 2012, according to data released on July 20 by law firm Seyfarth Shaw in Chicago. More than 7,000 Fair Labor Standards Act cases were filed in federal court during the 12 months ending March 31, a slight increase over […]
Oswald, who is CEO of BLR, blogs on business and leadership in the The Oswald Letter. View his original post here. Here are representative comments: I have this same problem every year. Some managers will rate all their direct reports as "exceeds expectations," because they think that “meeting expectations” has a bad connotation (like a […]
During ethics training, employees should gain a thorough understanding of company policy, as well as the importance of maintaining an ethical workplace. Here are some practical guidelines for ethics training: Introduce new employees to the organization’s ethics policies and standards during their orientation period. Make sure that all employees—old and new—get awareness training that introduces […]
For a more detailed explanation, we turned to BLR/HRhero’s HR Guide to Employment Law, written in part by Desmond, who is a Partner in the New Orleans, Louisiana office of Jackson Lewis LLP. You could set yourself up for a disparate impact suit, Desmond says, if : Your listed requirements on the job description are […]
They assist you in clarifying what skills or traits you expect an applicant to meet. They help you to defend yourself in court should you be sued over your hiring decision. We found details in BLR/HRhero’s HR Guide to Employment Law, written in part by Desmond, who is a Partner in the New Orleans, Louisiana […]