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Discipline / Investigations

Immediately investigate sex harassment claim

01/07/2014
When an employee tells a supervisor that she’s being sexually harassed, that’s a signal that action is required. Her complaint should immediately set into motion an in­­ves­­ti­­ga­­tion. Make sure your supervisors have strict instructions to contact HR right away.

Possible porn: Can we search computers?

01/03/2014
Q. An employee recently complained about re­ceiving inappropriate email messages and links to porno­graphic websites from some of her co-workers. We would like to review the messages to figure out exactly how large a problem we face. Can we do this?

Keep tabs on employees socializing at work

01/03/2014
Sometimes, employees’ social interactions cross the line from productive to disruptive. Before you punish friendly co-workers, consider quantifying their behavior. That makes it easier to defend against charges that you singled out some chatty co-workers for harsher treatment than others based on their protected status.

Parrot Cellular pays $4.2M to stop EBSA squawking

01/03/2014
Executives of Parrot Cellular, a Cen­­tral Valley and Bay Area cellphone retailer, have agreed to pay just under $4.2 million to the company’s em­­ployee stock ownership plan (ESOP) following a probe by the U.S. Depart­­ment of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA). Investigators found that company owners had the plan buy company stock at highly overvalued rates.

EBSA sours on Sunkist’s retirement fund accounting

01/03/2014
A U.S. Department of Labor Em­­ployee Benefit Security Admin­­is­­tra­­tion (EBSA) investigation has revealed that Sunkist Growers and its fiduciaries improperly used retirement plan funds to pay salaries and benefits for several employees and managers.

Deflecting Cupid’s arrow in an environment shaped by #MeToo

01/01/2014
With Valentine’s Day on the way, now is an excellent time to reexamine sexual harassment policies.

Use formal hiring and promotion process to protect against discrimination suits

12/18/2013
Job-seekers who know how to apply for open positions can’t claim discrimination unless they can also show they followed the process. At the same time, a standard process lets employers track applications and easily show a judge why someone didn’t get the job she sought.

Chronic complainer? Ignore her at your peril

12/18/2013
Handle every complaint the same way, no matter the source. Don’t fail to investigate just because an employee has cried wolf in the past.

OK to discipline worker who has complained, but be sure you can justify your decision

12/17/2013
Courts don’t want to tie management’s hands; they just want to protect employees from genuine retaliation. That’s why the standard for retaliation is anything that would dissuade a reasonable worker from complaining in the first place. Most minor discipline doesn’t reach that level.

Union president in Longview sentenced for embezzlement

12/16/2013
A federal judge has sentenced the former president of GMP Allied Workers Local 284 to 12 months and one day in prison after he pleaded guilty to embezzlement charges. The union official admitted taking $124,181 from the Longview-based local between 2000 and 2011.