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New regulations issued regarding Social Security ‘No-Match’ letters

10/01/2007

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued new final regulations detailing how employers must respond to Social Security “no-match” letters. That means employers that receive no-match letters now have new legal obligations when it comes to verifying and maintaining federal I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification documents …

Interview and consider applicants even if they’re receiving SSD payments

10/01/2007

Applicants and employees who are so disabled they are eligible for Social Security Disability (SSD) payments can still sue for disability discrimination under state law. Why? Because claiming you are totally disabled and unable to work (as required to get SSD benefits) doesn’t mean you don’t think you could do some type of work with reasonable accommodations …

Know applicant’s race? Don’t try to deny the obvious

10/01/2007

You know you aren’t supposed to consider race in hiring decisions. And ideally your organization takes steps to ensure the hiring process is as color-blind as possible. But let’s face facts: Sometimes the person screening applications is going to know the job-seeker’s race (especially when a current employee seeks a promotion). Denying that fact won’t help you if an applicant who doesn’t get the job decides to sue—and it may actually hurt. The applicant can raise the denial as evidence of illegal motive or intent …

Can we conduct medical exams before we make offers to out-of-state applicants?

10/01/2007

Q. My company would like to institute a policy of conducting medical examinations on out-of-state applicants when workers interview here for jobs. This would reduce the number of trips an applicant would have to make before beginning employment with our company. The test results would be sealed (so the information cannot be relied upon in making job offers) and would be reviewed only if we offered, and the applicant accepted, a conditional offer of employment. Would such an arrangement violate the ADA? …

3-Month ‘Future Leave’ Helps Retain Employees

10/01/2007

Employees at Accenture, a management consulting company, can take three months off—for any reason—and their jobs will be waiting for them when they return. As part of the company’s Future Leave program, which grants unpaid leave of up to three months with continued benefits, supervisors don’t even ask why the employee wants to take the time off …

Fed HR reps don’t like the government’s pay system

10/01/2007

One-third of the federal government’s chief human capital officers say their employer should replace its general schedule pay system with pay for performance …

Be alert to employment law issues related to older employees

10/01/2007

Employment laws give older workers unique protections that younger workers lack. Specifically, the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act and Ohio’s Fair Employment Practices Act prohibit discrimination because of age against workers 40 and older. However, employers are getting a reprieve of sorts from a new EEOC regulation …

Is mortgage meltdown affecting your employees, applicants?

10/01/2007

Recently, more and more Georgia homeowners are having trouble paying their mortgages. In fact, Georgia is in the top five states for foreclosures this year. And that’s driving down home prices, as foreclosed properties flood the Georgia market, especially in the Atlanta metro area. Here’s why that’s important for employers …

This cup’s for you: The right way to test for drugs

10/01/2007

With an increasing number of employees just saying “yes” to drugs these days, you can expect more Indiana companies to develop random drug-testing programs and establish rules that allow them to fire workers who test positive or don’t cooperate with the test. One note of caution: Make sure you can demonstrate that your drug test results are accurate and reliable …

Georgia-Pacific’s literacy test fails to make the grade

10/01/2007

The U.S. Labor Department recently ruled that Georgia-Pacific’s use of a literacy test to screen applicants for jobs at its paper mills is discriminatory. The reason: Paper-mill workers don’t need to read well and black applicants are far more likely to fail a literacy test than whites, the department said …