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Policies / Handbooks

Video résumés failing to catch on: Ahead of their time, or too hot to handle?

09/18/2008

Despite much discussion about their pros, cons and legal implications, video résumés aren’t yet catching fire with employers or employees. CareerBuilder recently discontinued its video résumé service. Recruiters have shown little demand for them …

Can we talk? A guide to political expression in the workplace

09/18/2008

The presidential campaign has everyone talking politics, and inevitably a lot of that talking takes place at work. As the campaign season moves toward the general election, many employers are re-examining their workplace policies concerning political activities and speech. Evidence suggests employers must educate employees concerning workplace political speech …

Sample Policy: Overtime

09/16/2008
Login Email Address Password I forgot my password To continue reading this page, become an HR Specialist Premium Plus member today! Your subscription includes: Ask the Attorney: Answers to your HR legal questions Compliance Guidance: Access to 7,000 HR news articles, updated daily, sorted by state State-by-State: Summaries of HR laws in all 50 states […]

Bigfoot in his mouth: Officer loses job over fraudulent story

09/15/2008
Officer Matt Whitton of the Clayton County Police Department lost more than his credibility when his amazing “Bigfoot” discovery turned out to be a soggy polyester ape costume. The moment the news reached Police Chief Jeffery Turner, he fired Whitton …

Post this story to curb employee credit card abuse

09/15/2008
Donna Gamble, of Marietta, whose purchase card abuses cost the Georgia Institute of Technology more than $300,000, has been sentenced to two years and eight months in federal prison and ordered to pay full restitution to the university …

The rules of company blogging: Avoiding employee misuse and abuse

09/12/2008

Spend any time scanning the world’s 112 million blogs and you’ll find plenty of employees discussing their work. Sometimes that spells legal trouble for employers. By implementing an effective company blogging policy, you may avoid many of the pitfalls …

Use seniority to assign tasks and take bias off the table

09/10/2008
Employees who sue for race and many other forms of discrimination must prove they were treated differently than a similarly situated co-worker who doesn’t belong to the same protected class. But when employers adopt and follow a seniority system to assign tasks, employees who try to claim discrimination have a tough time finding someone similarly situated to compare …

Don’t make handbook promises you’re not prepared to keep

09/10/2008
Drafting employee handbook language can be tricky. You don’t want the whole handbook to become a binding contract, but you do want employees to understand they have to follow the rules. But you may want some sections of the handbook to be binding—such as an agreement to arbitrate any employment disputes. So what’s the best approach? …

Muslim corrections officer keeps beard, gets fired, sues

09/10/2008
Abal Zaidi, a former corrections officer in Geneva, has sued the Kane County Sheriff’s Department, claiming he was fired for refusing to shave his beard …

HR Must Referee Employees’ McCain-Obama Debates: Know the Law

09/09/2008
John McCain and Barack Obama aren’t the only people embroiled in political debates this fall. So are some of your employees. And their water-cooler conversations may turn especially heated in the next few weeks. How HR handles political speech may spell the difference between workplace civility and civil war.