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HR Management

Texas employer honored for disability hiring

09/01/2006

The EEOC recently honored Fluor Corporation of Sugar Land, Texas, as one of seven companies across the country cited for their efforts in promoting inclusion of people with disabilities in the workplace …

Employee blogs raise privacy, confidentiality issues for employers

09/01/2006

Most organizations have comprehensive Internet, e-mail and electronic communications policies that spell out what’s acceptable usage and what’s not. But few employers have addressed a growing problem: the proliferation of employee Web logs, or "blogs" …

Labor Department Offering Low-Cost Training Solutions

09/01/2006

Could your employees benefit from work skills training, but you’re operating on a limited training budget? The state’s Labor Department, through its Pennsylvania Career Link offices, may provide a solution …

Résumé-Screening software: legal risks and precautions

09/01/2006

The federal job anti-discrimination law (Title VII of the Civil Rights Act) prohibits two types of discrimination: disparate treatment and disparate impact. Because automated tests, such as résumé-screening programs, are blind to applicants’ race, religion, gender and national origin, they likely can’t create a disparate-treatment case. However, such programs can still have a disparate impact on minorities …

Win the talent war: Today’s pipeline is tomorrow’s lifeline

09/01/2006

Two consecutive years of explosive job growth in the executive employment market are creating hiring headaches for HR professionals across the country. According to a recent ExecuNet survey, two-thirds of corporate recruiters already believe that the supply of qualified executive talent falls short of the growing hiring demands of corporate America …

Tighten policies on laptop usage and security

09/01/2006

An increase in laptop thefts and several new state laws on data-theft disclosure are pushing more U.S. employers to establish tougher security policies for employees’ laptops, PDAs and other tech devices …

Bias complaints can be ‘Filed’ after 180 days

09/01/2006

If you’re like most employers, you breathe a little easier when 180 days have passed since you discharged an employee. You know that’s how long fired workers have to file a complaint with either the EEOC or the Texas Workforce Commission if they are bringing a claim under the Texas Labor Code …

5 tricky issues in accommodating mental disabilities

09/01/2006

A top-performing employee is diagnosed with depression and now says her medication makes it impossible for her to make it to work on time. Must an employer change her work schedule? A job applicant volunteers that he is intellectually disabled but says he can perform his job with a job coach. Is that a reasonable accommodation? Are you prepared to answer those questions … and more?

Housing grants help employees reduce their commutes

09/01/2006

While some Baltimore residents suffer through a one- or two-hour commute every morning, employees at Johns Hopkins University are sleeping a little later. Since the university began participating in Baltimore’s "Live Near Your Work" program in 1998, about 220 employees have received $2,000 grants to buy homes close to the university’s three campuses …

‘Cool’ music company creates transition plan for new moms

09/01/2006

Detroit-based music company, Handleman Co., hosts impromptu concerts in the lobby and gives free CDs to employees. Such perks landed the firm on a list of 60 "Cool Places to Work" in Michigan. But cool wasn’t cutting it for the company’s working moms, who wanted more flexibility after having babies …