• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Employee Relations

No unemployment if employee quits during investigation

09/01/2012
An employee who quits during a suspension and pending investigation isn’t eligible for unemployment benefits.

Fired employee reinstated? That doesn’t excuse more misbehavior or poor performance

09/01/2012
Take heart if you have ever de­­cided to reinstate an employee or re­­scind discipline because the employee threatened litigation. Doing so won’t wipe clean his disciplinary record or imply that you admitted he’s living up to your expectations.

HR investigations: Good faith–not perfection–required

09/01/2012
Courts don’t expect perfection from an HR investigation. They just want to see that someone in authority took reasonable steps to learn the truth.

Complaint + sudden criticism = retaliation

09/01/2012

Juries like simple cases. If an em­­ployee complains about discrimination and management does nothing, that’s one thing. But if suddenly the employee is criticized, placed on a performance improvement plan and then fired, jurors may see retaliation.

Worker fired for gross misconduct? No COBRA

09/01/2012
Employers can’t terminate em­­ployees just because a sick dependent increases health insurance costs for the employer. That violates ERISA. But if the employee is terminated for unrelated gross misconduct, he has no ERISA or COBRA claim.

Supervising Introverts: 5 Tips for Managers

08/29/2012
Introverts may be less noisy, but they actually outnumber extroverts in the workplace. But in today’s extroverted business world, introverts can sometimes feel overlooked, excluded and misunderstood. Jennifer Kahnweiler, author of the groundbreaking book, The Introverted Leader, suggests managers follow these five tips for supervising their introverted employees …

5 rules for documenting HR decision-making

08/25/2012
The best way to prevent lawsuits or to get a quick dismissal of unfounded charges is to document every employment decision carefully. Following these five simple rules can convince judges and juries that your HR decision-making is legit, above board and fully in line with the law.

Document disciplinary details to show why same violation resulted in different punishment

08/14/2012

You probably have some general rules about what employees are and are not allowed to do. If you’re smart, your rules are flexible enough for you to tailor punishment that fits the crime. Faced with such inherent ambiguity, be sure to document the specifics of all discipline.

Consistent discipline makes it easier to beat employees’ discrimination lawsuits

08/13/2012
For employers, the best way to win discrimination lawsuits is consistency. When you enforce a workplace rule, do so for everyone who violates that rule—every time. That makes it difficult for an employee to cry discrimination over a discipline dispute.

Slackers need not apply to New Jersey training company

08/08/2012
The owners of interactive training company Red Nucleus make it a point to hire only what they call “passionate” employees. In fact, its website uses bold language to warn off would-be applicants who “go into work every day, go through the motions and go home.”