• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Policies / Handbooks

Make sure employees know about internal job openings

04/01/2007

It pays to make every effort to publicize job openings to your current staff and make clear how employees should apply. If you don’t, you face potential discrimination claims …

Worker Doesn’t Have to Say ‘Harassment’ to Make Complaint

04/01/2007

Don’t wait for employees to use the magic words—“sexual harassment”—to begin investigating a complaint. It’s up to you to decipher an employee’s protests to determine if they could fall into that legally dangerous harassment-complaint zone …

What should you do if an employee gets arrested?

04/01/2007

It’s Monday morning, the coffee has yet to be brewed and already a huge problem has dropped onto your desk. An employee left a voice mail saying he has been arrested. He doesn’t say what happened, but the very next message is from a local newspaper reporter asking for details about the employee’s work history …

Can we ban dating among co-workers?

04/01/2007

Q. We recently defended a workplace harassment lawsuit against our company involving two co-workers who broke up. To avoid future problems, can we impose prohibitions against co-workers dating to avoid future problems? …

Accommodating a driver who can’t drive

04/01/2007

Q. One of our drivers is not medically able to drive company trucks. Should we offer alternative employment? Should we adopt a formal policy covering disabled drivers?

How to draft a telecommuting policy

04/01/2007

Q. More employees are asking to telecommute, as are prospective hires for difficult-to-fill positions. If we have such a policy, what should be included to ensure there isn’t any favoritism among workers?

Termination for excessive absenteeism

04/01/2007

Q. Our handbook states that employees will be terminated if they are absent more than 10 days in 12 consecutive months. An employee has been absent for seven days so far this year, three of which were due to the flu. He called out sick four days ago. When he returns, he will have exceeded the 10-day limit. Can we terminate him?

Let cops search computers; don’t fear a privacy lawsuit

04/01/2007

With all the talk about workplace privacy, remember that your organization, not the employee, owns the computers and the data in them. You needn’t fear a privacy lawsuit if you give permission for law enforcement to read e-mail, search hard drives or access phone numbers on company-owned cell phones …

State may limit your right to ban guns on premises

04/01/2007

 Legislation proposed in at least 10 states would guarantee employees the right to keep registered guns in their cars while at work …

Planning for a pandemic flu: Is your organization prepared?

04/01/2007

After preparing for Y2K, anthrax and hurricanes, HR and legal professionals must now turn their attention to pandemic planning …