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HR Management

Spring cleaning means dusting off New Year’s resolutions

05/03/2011
Staying at work too late—again? “Springing forward” into daylight saving time means more after-work daylight to enjoy—improving both your mental and physical health. You can organize your workload so that you can get out in time to enjoy the season.

Enforce e-mail usage rules–if only to avoid PR nightmare

05/03/2011
If you let employees ignore reasonable restrictions on how they use company e-mail and other communications tools, you may find yourself having to scramble to prevent embarrassing information from becoming public.

Follow the 3-day rule on your ‘to-do’ items

05/03/2011
If a task on your to-do list is more than three days old, the Harvard Business Review blog suggests you do one of these four things with it:

Download new USCIS handbook to prepare for I-9 audits

05/02/2011
Are your I-9s in order? More and more employers are finding themselves under scrutiny from inspectors from the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Employers now have a new tool to help them stay on the right side of the law.

Save the day! Stop borderline behavior early

05/02/2011

When HR finds out a supervisor has acted in a way that could be inter­preted as offensive, take immediate action. That doesn’t necessarily have to include discipline. Instead, remind the supervisor that the behavior—though it doesn’t rise to the level that could be considered harassment—must stop.

The HR I.Q. Test: May ’11

05/02/2011
Test your knowledge of recent trends in employment law, comp & benefits and other HR issues with our monthly mini-quiz …

Delete your liability: Copy Xerox response to harassment complaint

04/29/2011
You can’t prevent every vulgar act an employee may commit. But you can and should act fast when you learn about misbehavior. As the response by Xerox managers in the following case shows, a single incident that doesn’t involve outrageous behavior or a physical assault typically isn’t sexual harassment in the eyes of the court—unless the employer ignores the incident and allows the problem to escalate.

Can our substance-abuse policy also apply to out-of-town travel?

04/28/2011
Q. Our drug and alcohol policy states: “While on company premises and while conducting business for the company off premises, no employee may use, possess, distribute, sell or be under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs.” Some of our staff asked if this also applies to them when they travel or attend out-of-town seminars at hotels. Does our policy still hold up in this situation?

Get ready now! New ADAAA regs will mean more litigation

04/28/2011
In the two years since the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA) became effective, employers have begun to experience its profound impact. Now the regulations for implementing the ADAAA have been finalized. Since courts generally defer to such reasonable administrative interpretations, these regulations will be an important factor in future ADA cases.

Congress kills controversial 1099 reporting mandate

04/28/2011
President Obama signed legislation on April 14 that repeals a controversial provision of his health reform law that would have dramatically expanded employers’ reporting duties for 1099 forms.