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Employment Law

How to make ‘one rule’ discipline work

02/01/2012
If you want to streamline your employee manual and disciplinary process, you may be tempted to create one general misconduct rule. It might state, for example, “Violating company policies can result in discipline, up to and including termination.” But before you adopt such a rule, make sure HR is ready to administer it.

Beware contradictions in performance reviews

02/01/2012
Do you evaluate employees’ overall performance and then conduct a special appraisal to determine extra rewards such as bonuses? If so, make sure both processes paint a true performance picture and don’t contradict each other.

Use objective measures to make firing decisions

02/01/2012
If you terminate subpar workers, it goes without saying that you must be prepared to show they were, in fact, poor performers. Do so by using objective performance measures. Let the facts and figures speak for themselves.

He said, she said: What if they both did? Trust investigation to reveal harassment truth

02/01/2012
If your sexual harassment policy is comprehensive, any complaint may trigger an investigation that uncovers many violations—perhaps even by the complaining employee. When that happens, the best policy is to let the investigation take its course and document everything. Then discipline everyone who violated the policy.

OK to insist on initial retirement request

02/01/2012
When an employer doesn’t have a set policy on whether an employee can change his mind about retiring, refusing to rescind a retirement request isn’t enough to support a discrimination or retaliation lawsuit.

Stay out of court with consistent discipline

02/01/2012
Employers that punish some em­­ployees more leniently than others for breaking the same rule are asking for trouble. That’s especially true when a lesser offense seems to have warranted especially harsh punishment.

The ‘surge home’: Welcome service members back to work

01/31/2012
U.S. combat operations in Iraq ended in December, and the Depart­ment of Defense is gradually drawing down forces in Afghanistan. As you rehire employees returning from military service, make sure you follow USERRA guidelines. How to comply:

Heads up! Employment law in the news means employee chatter

01/31/2012
There’s plenty of employment law news making its way into the mainstream media. That means the workplace will be buzzing with em­­ployee chatter about working conditions, pay and unions. Prepare now for how to react.

‘Black Swan’ interns sue, say they should have been paid

01/31/2012
Fox-Searchlight Pictures faces a class-action lawsuit in New York from un­paid interns who worked on the production of the hit film “Black Swan.” The interns claim Fox-Searchlight failed to pay them for their work in violation of the FLSA and re­­cent DOL guidelines.

President proposes new pay rules for home health workers

01/31/2012
In an attempt to right what he ­­per­­ceives to be a wrong-headed Supreme Court decision, Presi­dent Obama is asking the U.S. De­­­part­­ment of Labor to change Fair Labor Stand­­ards Act regulations covering home health care workers.