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HR Management

Peers name Mercer top HR consulting firm

09/24/2012
Mercer has been voted 2012’s top HR consulting firm in a poll conducted by the career planning website Vault.com.

Plug in: Making the leap to electronic HR records

09/21/2012
Many employers are making the leap to “paperless” HR. Digital records are easy to access and cheap to archive. But despite the many benefits of electronic records storage, a host of legal problems could derail even the best-intentioned digital records plan. Here are the issues to consider before you make the transition.

Can we implement a civility code that prohibits employees from name-calling?

09/20/2012

Q. I’d like to institute a civility code that goes beyond the basic racial and sexual slurs to include any name-calling that is demeaning, crude or rude. What do you suggest as punishment?

Investigate or else! When harassment surfaces, HR inquiries and action could be worth millions

09/20/2012
If you can’t find a way to end persistent workplace harassment, a court may conclude that your organization acted recklessly in denying an employee’s civil rights. That may mean you’ll owe a huge punitive damages award.

Smart telework options can reduce absenteeism

09/20/2012

Telework challenges businesses to ensure that remote employees are working when they’re supposed to be. Yet it’s also a way to curb absenteeism. Here are examples of what works, from employers that have fully integrated telework into their operations:

What should we do about consensual relationship between manager and subordinate?

09/17/2012
Q. We just found out that one of our managers is having a consensual sexual relationship with someone who reports directly to him. If we confirm with the subordinate that she believes the relationship is consensual, do we need to do anything else?

Facebook could prove our employee lied! How far can we go to gain access?

09/17/2012

Q. One our employees called in sick for a shift during a recent holiday weekend. He told several co-workers that he didn’t come to work because he was having so much fun at his cabin. According to a few co-workers, he made several Facebook posts about his various recreational activities on the day that he was allegedly too sick to work … Can I ask one of the co-workers to show me the Facebook posts?

Can you fire an employee for smelling like tobacco smoke?

09/17/2012
Since 2007, when Minnesota’s Freedom to Breathe Act took effect, smoking has been banned in Minnesota workplaces. Now, new studies about the harmful effects of “third-hand smoke” have caused some employers to take their no-smoking policies to new heights.

Religion, workplace safety tangled up at Le Center bakery

09/17/2012
Dianne’s Fine Desserts faces a complex conundrum after 30 Somali workers left work following a June labor dispute at the commercial ­bakery’s Le Center manufacturing plant. The workers claim they were told to leave. The company says it only barred the workers from the plant floor until they complied with a new dress code.

Managing e-records: Guidelines for purging email

09/16/2012

Smart organizations educate employees about acceptable email use and follow a policy of regular computer-file purging to keep the company network free of unnecessary data storage. But what if your organization thinks it may be a lawsuit target? Should you keep purging email messages in accordance with your regular policy?