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Employer may be liable when employee attacks

04/18/2008
Sometimes an employee gets into an argument with a customer, and what began as a war of words turns into actual violence. When that happens, the employer may be on the hook for damages. Under the right conditions—or more precisely, the wrong ones—the employer may be liable for physical altercations its employee may engage in while working …

Justify drug testing program with business-Related rationale

04/18/2008
Many government employers ask applicants to submit to drug testing before beginning work. A recent 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling may make employers rethink that strategy and prepare to clearly articulate a business-related reason for drug tests. A blanket testing policy may spell trouble …

Employee or contractor? Degree of control is key factor

04/17/2008
The IRS and the courts are increasingly ignoring the “independent contractor” label that companies increasingly slap on their workers. Instead, they’re reclassifying those relationships as “employees.” And that’s not good for employers …

Are you ready to explain each and every promotion decision?

04/14/2008
Lawsuits sometimes seem to come out of nowhere. While you can reduce your risk through prevention, you can’t eliminate it entirely. That’s why you need a backup strategy. For failure-to-promote lawsuits, that strategy should involve being ready to explain each and every promotion decision with solid business reasons …

Inadequate screenings at DCF

04/14/2008
Following the arrest of Department of Children & Families (DCF) spokesman Al Zimmerman on child pornography charges, the DCF inspector general launched a review of the department’s hiring procedures. A report on the results revealed serious security gaps …

Cleaning executives get prison time

04/14/2008
Three executives of Rosenbaum-Cunningham International (RCI), a Palm Beach firm that provided cleaning services to restaurant chains including Hard Rock Cafe, Dave & Busters, House of Blues and Planet Hollywood, will serve jail time and pay $48.9 million in restitution for employing illegal immigrants and evading taxes …

Make common sense the driving force of your business

04/10/2008
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Cleaning executives get prison time

04/10/2008
Three executives of Rosenbaum-Cunningham International, a Florida firm that provided cleaning services to restaurant chains including the Grand Traverse Resort and Spa in Acme, will serve jail time and pay $48.9 million in restitution for employing illegal immigrants and evading taxes …

Feel free to expand candidate search even if your policy favors hiring from within

04/10/2008
If, like many companies, you have a policy that encourages promotion from within, you may hesitate to look outside for additional candidates. Fear of a lawsuit might make you especially reluctant if one of the few internal candidates belongs to a protected class. As the following case shows, those fears are unfounded …

Resist the temptation to misclassify employees as contractors

04/09/2008
You’re writing your unemployment insurance checks, paying workers’ compensation premiums and remitting payroll taxes to the government when a bright idea occurs to you: If only your employees were independent contractors, you wouldn’t have all these expenses. The Illinois General Assembly understood the appeal of that daydream—and took action to slap you back to reality …