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Policies / Handbooks

Then again, where’s a fashion cop when you need one?

12/01/2007

Tacky dress might have been an improvement over what one suburban Columbus teacher routinely wore to pick up his morning paper: nothing. The Westerville City Schools placed the man, a singing teacher, on paid leave …

Despite rising health care costs, Oregon offers full benefits

12/01/2007

With health care costs on the rise, most state governments are cutting back on their share of employees’ health insurance premiums. Oregon is not one of them. State employees and their families still receive fully paid health insurance …

E-mails and messages may come back to haunt managers

12/01/2007

Increasingly, courts hearing discrimination cases order employers to turn over e-mails and text messages. These communications may include correspondence employees may have sent or received from clients and customers. One reason is that federal court rules on electronic discovery now require employers to retain vast amounts of information for use in litigation …

Limit attacks on purging records with a clear retention policy

12/01/2007

If you develop a reasonable retention policy and follow through by regularly deleting information you don’t need, chances are an employee later won’t be able to say you intentionally interfered with the ability to present a legal case …

$4.3 million to settle Hispanic workers’ discrimination suit

12/01/2007

B & H Foto and Electronics Corp., the enormous 9th Avenue photo mecca in Manhattan, will pay $4.3 million to settle a race discrimination lawsuit by the EEOC. The lawsuit alleged B & H paid Hispanic warehouse workers less than others …

How to develop an employee handbook that avoids liability

12/01/2007

With employment litigation rising steadily, the employee handbook has become an essential tool in the employer’s arsenal to defend against liability for employment decisions. A good handbook tells employees what the rules are and how they will be enforced …

Follow the discipline rules in your handbook to defeat discrimination claims

12/01/2007

Your organization’s employee handbook exists for a reason. It serves as a simple and effective way to let employees know what the rules are and what you expect in the way of behavior. If you can show that employees received copies of the handbook and were expected to be familiar with its contents, you have a good shot at defeating any discriminatory discharge claims if you disciplined according to the rules set out in the handbook …

Health insurer pays $1.8 million to settle sex harassment suit

12/01/2007

United HealthCare of Florida has settled for $1.8 million in a same-sex harassment and retaliation lawsuit involving a former regional vice president. A male senior account executive in the company’s Sunrise office claimed he was subjected to verbal sexual harassment by a male vice president …

Rule against document removal supports legit business need

12/01/2007

Does your organization have a rule against removing company documents from the workplace? If not, consider adding one. Documents should remain on the premises, and allowing them to “walk” can spell big trouble. For example, employees may be tempted to remove and copy documents they think will aid a later lawsuit against the company …

It’s OK to have higher expectations of employees during probationary period

12/01/2007

If your organization uses a probationary period to test out employees before making permanent hiring decisions, know that you can—and perhaps should—expect more during that period than you may later. It’s not unreasonable to expect new employees to be on their best behavior …