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Employee Relations

Has interoffice competition become more cutthroat?

08/28/2008
About half (46%) of senior execs say employees are more competitive with each other today than they were 10 years ago, according to a new OfficeTeam survey …

6 Steps for Managing ‘Difficult’ Employees

08/27/2008

Act fast to stop co-Worker harassment

08/27/2008
The key to winning co-worker harassment cases is to show that you took swift, just and effective action as soon as you learned about the harassment. The following case proves that’s a winning strategy …

Ensuring the confidentiality of HR info

08/27/2008
Q. I’m the HR director of a 45-employee company and have one assistant. Due to the firm’s growth, I’m considering giving my assistant more responsibility. My concern: The assistant is very friendly with about 10 other employees, two of which are her roommates. What’s to stop her from divulging information to her friends? I have said nothing to her about my concerns yet. What can I express to her without overstepping her legal rights? …

When janitor was caught reading, IUPUI leaped, then looked

08/26/2008
Last fall, two black employees of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) objected when they spotted janitor Keith Sampson reading Notre Dame vs. the Klan: How the Fighting Irish Defeated the Ku Klux Klan in a campus break room. The cover of the book features white-robed Klansmen and burning crosses …

Is it legal to discipline an employee for tardiness by suspending her without pay?

08/26/2008
Q. I work in HR at a customer call-in center. To make sure we have enough coverage to handle calls, we have a strict tardiness policy. Recently, one of our customer service agents was late for work several days in a row. She is an otherwise outstanding performer and we don’t want to fire her. In the alternative, we would like to suspend her for one week without pay. Is that legal? …

State troopers charge ‘Arbitrary, antiquated’ processes are biased

08/25/2008
Twenty-three black and Hispanic state troopers are suing the New Jersey State Police, alleging bias in promotions, training, special assignments and discipline. The lawsuit claims the department’s promotion system is “an arbitrary, antiquated and subjective process that is skewed in favor of male Caucasians.”

Become an email ninja to survive

08/25/2008

When you’re not on top of your e-mail, you feel out of control. It can also torpedo your career, since people associate responsiveness with competence. It is possible to clear out your e-mail inbox—and keep it clear—daily. But you must be willing to change your behavior. Here are four steps …

What are the rules on recording an investigative conversation?

08/22/2008
Q. We need to investigate a claim of misconduct against an employee and will interview the employee in person or over the phone. May we record the conversation without telling the employee? …

Termination by phone: legal but unwise

08/21/2008
Q. We have an employee who has been working from home. We’ve decided we really need someone in the office. Can we terminate her by phone? Or do we have to call her into the office? — V.N., Florida …