• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Hiring

Screening candidates: To Google or not to Google?

05/15/2007

More HR professionals are turning to search engines and social networking sites to dig beyond a candidate’s résumé. But the benefit of uncovering such red flags can carry some big legal risks. Here’s how to Google for candidates in the most legally safe way …

Ban smoking or ban smokers? How far can you legally go?

05/15/2007

Thirty states and the District of Columbia have established “lifestyle discrimination” laws that prohibit employers from discriminating against employees or applicants based on the person’s off-duty use of tobacco or participation in other legal though controversial activities …

Use job-Related standards to kill discrimination suspicion

05/01/2007

Do you have clear and objective criteria for internal promotions? Prepared to justify those criteria as business-related? If so, you have little to fear from employees who were passed over for a promotion even if that means your management isn’t a perfect reflection of the racial makeup of the local work force …

Cut reinstatement risk by tracking laid-Off jobs

05/01/2007

Discharged employees who sue may ask the court to order their reinstatement if they can prove discrimination …

Discovered new hire’s litigious background? Don’t retaliate

05/01/2007

Hired a dud who, you just found out, has a history of crying discrimination? Make sure you have solid, business-related reasons for any discipline you take. Here’s why …

Teach boss to hold his tongue; oral pacts may be binding

05/01/2007

Just because a deal is not written down, that doesn’t mean it’s not enforceable. Oral agreements can be binding contracts in New York under certain conditions, as one Tony Award-nominated theater company learned in March …

Settling a case? Make sure the agreement includes a ban on re-employment

05/01/2007

Sometimes, the best way to end a discrimination claim is to settle the case before it goes to court. But if you do settle, make sure you don’t create a bigger problem down the line. That can happen if the employee applies later for an open position and is rejected …

Amputee fought discrimination, wins chance to fight fires

05/01/2007

The New Jersey Merit System Board has ruled that an amputee who wears a prosthetic leg must be reinstated to the hiring list of the Paterson Fire Department Academy, overturning the city’s attempts to bar him from entry …

Manager who did the hiring also should do the firing

05/01/2007

It may be a good idea to track who in your organization makes the decisions to hire specific employees. That way, those managers can also be part of the decision to discharge employees who turn out to be duds …

Pick qualification standards and stick with them

05/01/2007

Sorting through candidates for promotion? Make sure you apply the same education and experience standards to all of them. If you don’t, chances are at least one spurned candidate will consider a lawsuit …