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

HRIS / Technology

How liable are we for an employee’s accident that occurred while he was on the phone?

05/26/2010
Q. One of our managers was talking on his company cell phone while driving when he struck and injured a pedestrian. Can the pedestrian sue the company?

Don’t rely on software alone to determine employee’s FMLA eligibility

05/26/2010

Many employers use software to track FMLA eligibility. Most of the time that works fine. But if you decide to terminate an employee because the software told you she wasn’t eligible for FMLA leave, double-check the calculation first. If you confirm she hasn’t worked a total of 52 weeks, you can terminate her.

7 elements of a social media policy that limits your liability

05/26/2010

Online social networking sites provide a variety of benefits to organizations. They can help you collect industry-based knowledge, reach new customers, build your brand and publicize your company’s name and reputation. But those benefits come with their fair share of legal risks. You need a comprehensive social media policy to guide employees on your expectations about their online behavior.

What should we do? We’ve heard rumors that some employees are downloading porn at work

05/24/2010
Q. All of our employees have Internet access at work. We have heard rumors that several employees have been logging onto pornographic and other inappropriate sites, and have been displaying or disseminating objectionable material to others in the workplace. Even though we have not received a formal complaint, do we have an obligation to address this now?

New technologies, old problems: Social media in the workplace

05/18/2010

Social media is on the rise, creating many questions for employers. Should we use social media to develop business or recruit new talent? Should we let employees use Facebook and Twitter at work? What restrictions do we need? Can we monitor off-duty conduct? And what are the potential liabilities?

E-Mail and Internet Usage: Legal Risks & Sample Policy

05/11/2010

Employers have any number of legitimate reasons to monitor employees’ e-mail and Internet usage. Beyond personal productivity issues, you risk significant loss should an employee download a virus or other damaging software or engage in illegal activity conducted on company computers. Here’s a discussion of the risks, plus a sample policy …

Can we use personal e-mails we discovered to defend against former employee’s lawsuit?

05/11/2010
Q. After a recently terminated employee sued our company for discrimination, we undertook a forensic examination of her work-issued laptop. We found, saved in the cache of the web browser, e-mails she sent to her attorney from her web-based, personal and private e-mail account. Can we use these e-mails in the lawsuit?

Stealing employee passwords as easy as 1-2-3…4-5

05/03/2010
A new report by Internet-security firm Imperva says “123456” is the most common computer password, followed by “12345”, “123456789” and “password.” The report analyzed 32 million passwords recently exposed during the breach of an online retailer.

N.J. Supreme Court backs e-mail privacy on company PCs

04/28/2010
The New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that an employee has a reasonable expectation of privacy when she accesses and uses a web-based e-mail account on company computer equipment, but doesn’t save her password on the computer.

Enterprising techie rents city’s phones to family, friends

04/28/2010
An IT technician for the city of Philadelphia spotted an opportunity when she discovered 28 city cell phones that were going unused. She rented them out to friends, family members and eight city employees. The beneficiaries of her entrepreneurship then racked up more than $30,000 worth of phone calls and texts … She agreed to plead guilty to third-degree felony theft, obstruction and misuse of public property.