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Discipline / Investigations

Insurance agent charged in DOI investigator’s death

07/01/2008
Michael Howell, owner of Dilworth Insurance Agency in Charlotte, has been charged in the death of North Carolina Department of Insurance (NCDOI) investigator Sallie Rohrbach. Rohrbach was auditing Howell’s agency, which had been dropped by GMAC Insurance for not promptly remitting premiums …

NCA&T employees helped themselves, audit finds

07/01/2008
An annual audit of North Carolina A&T State University found that 27% of scholarships reserved for the Bookstore Scholarship Fund for needy students were awarded to relatives of university employees …

Review all reprimands so they don’t become ‘Adverse actions’

07/01/2008
Even something as routine as a reprimand may end up being the basis for a lawsuit. That’s why someone in the HR department should be in charge of making sure that all disciplinary actions, including reprimands, are applied fairly and evenhandedly …

Restrictions on paid administrative leave?

07/01/2008
Q. We hired an employee on a short-term arrangement, but then placed her on administrative leave after we received complaints about her. The leave will continue until the end of the term, and we are going to pay her while she is on leave. Is this permissible? …

HR Specialist Editors Bring You the Best from SHRM Chicago

06/24/2008
For a week each year, the Society for Human Resource Management’s Annual Conference becomes the center of the HR world. HR Specialist editors have joined 13,000 of our peers in Chicago this week for four days of professional development covering HR’s hottest topics and presented by the profession’s  leading experts. Here’s some of the best from the world’s biggest HR conference.

Can we search an employee’s car if we think she’s using drugs at work?

06/17/2008
Q. We suspect an employee has been getting high at work. Over the past two weeks, co-workers have reported that the employee’s pupils were dilated and her speech was slurred. She stares out the window for extended periods of time, she fell while walking down the hall, her appearance is disheveled, and she takes multiple “rest breaks” to go to her car throughout the day. We want to search the employee’s car, but she refuses to let us. Can we search her car anyway? …

Insist all harassment allegations go to HR for review

06/12/2008
Nothing will cause trouble faster than a manager or supervisor who doesn’t report a subordinate’s alleged harassment. If no one reports the problem, it may resurface later—for example, after the employee has been discharged for valid reasons …

Take steps to reduce your liability for co-Worker retaliation

06/12/2008
The United States 6th Circuit Court of Appeals has joined a growing number of federal courts holding that employers are liable for co-worker retaliation. The decision, in Hawkins, et al., v. Anheuser-Busch, increases employers’ liability when an employee retaliates after another worker has complained about improper conduct …

Government employees have limited free-Speech rights

06/11/2008
The days are just about over of public employees speaking out against their employers’ actions and claiming they were simply exercising their First Amendment right to free speech. The Constitution doesn’t provide protection for those acting in an official capacity …

DOCC not responsible for employees’ racist remarks

06/10/2008
A court has ruled that the Hennepin County Department of Community Corrections (DOCC) did more than enough to address two employees’ complaints about civil rights violations …