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Hiring

Early perks, paid volunteer time among benefits for new hires

09/28/2010
New hires at Cydcor don’t have to wait long for their benefits to kick in: Team members are eligible the month following their hire dates. Beginning in their first year, each employee receives 15 days of sick and vacation time. The organization also allows each employee to use eight paid workdays a year to volunteer off site.

You can’t hide behind your vendor! Before relying on tests, be sure they’re valid

09/24/2010

Are you considering using personality or other screening tests to decide which job applicants to hire? If so, make sure you fully understand what you are doing and how those tests work. There are plenty of companies eager to sell you tests and assessments that they say will take some of the work out of the screening processes. But if those tests aren’t valid and end up screening out members of a protected class, you may be buying more than a test.

Would-be bartender pours Applebee’s a shot of trouble

09/24/2010
An Applebee’s restaurant in Fayetteville is facing an EEOC sex discrimination lawsuit after managers allegedly reneged on a promise to promote Amanda Antisdel to a bartending position and then hired a less experienced man instead.

Is dyslexia an ADA disability?

09/24/2010
Q. Is dyslexia considered a disability under the ADA? Can we legally screen potential employees for it through our pre-employment tests?

May we ask applicants about criminal records?

09/24/2010
Q. We’re going back and forth on this question: On an employment application, can we legally ask about an applicant’s prior conviction record or arrest record?

Hazleton’s illegal-immigrant law overturned: Federal law prevails–for now

09/24/2010
The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned the city of Hazleton’s local ordinances that attempted to regulate employment of undocumented immigrants. The court reasoned that the federal government has the sole authority to oversee illegal immigration.

Get it in writing: Creating effective and legal job descriptions

09/24/2010
Job descriptions are the cornerstone of communication between management and staff. Good job descriptions make sure bosses and employees alike know what kind of performance is expected. They’re the basis of every effective performance-appraisal system. At a minimum, a job description should include these elements:

Strike 3 for bill banning applicant credit checks?

09/23/2010

The California State Senate and State Assembly have approved a bill that would restrict the use of credit reports by employers that conduct background checks on job applicants and employees. But enactment isn’t a sure thing, based on the recent history of similar legislation.

Summer intern sues law firm over rescinded job offer

09/22/2010
Sometimes, the employee not hired is the one who causes the most legal trouble. A San Francisco law firm is facing a discrimination lawsuit after it declined to hire a young lawyer who had interned there. Her suit alleges that Howard Rice discriminated against her on the basis of gender, national origin and race when it decided to defer and later rescind her associate contract.

13 applicants you don’t want to hire (plus 7 tips for decoding resumes)

09/21/2010

Desperate times mean job-seekers are resorting to desperate measures to make their résumés stand out in a crowd. Alas, many of those strategies backfire. Witness these résumé bloopers recently uncovered in a nationwide survey of hiring managers. Then check out our sure-fire advice for smoking out résumé untruths and exaggerations.