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Policies / Handbooks

Employment contracts: Can your workers claim an ‘implied’ contract?

02/01/2004
Issue: Drafting a legally sound employment contract and avoiding “implied contract” claims.
Benefit/risk: While employment contracts can offer your organization additional legal rights, they also expose you to new legal …

Clarify your vacation policy or cough up extra pay

02/01/2004
Issue: Must you always pay employees for their unused vacation time when they depart your organization?
Risk: An unclear vacation policy could allow terminated employees to sue you and collect …

Stop disgruntled staff from hijacking your Web domains

02/01/2004
Issue: Former employees with an ax to grind against your organization can register Web domain names that your organization may want for itself. Benefit: You can prevent them from doing …

Office betting pools: Nice diversion or super problem?

02/01/2004
Issue: This is prime office-pool season: the Super Bowl, followed by the NCAA basketball tournament. Risk: Betting pools can sap productivity, but the real danger comes from compulsive gamblers on …

You can’t play politics with employees’ political choices

02/01/2004
Issue: In this election year, politics will become a hot topic around the water cooler.
Risk: Retaliating against employees for their off-site political activities or comments can run you into …

Review state law on voting leave

02/01/2004
Issue: Some states require you to give employees time off to vote. Benefit: You typically don’t have to pay for this “voting leave.” Action: Learn your state law and …

Use software to block employee music downloads

02/01/2004
Just one hip-hopping employee downloading tunes can sap your computer resources, expose you to legal problems and kill productivity. Advice: Make sure your computer-use policy prohibits music downloads and outlines punishments. …

Break time must be uninterrupted time

01/01/2004
Spread the word that nonexempt employees’ breaks and meal times should be used for those purposes, not for work. And put the policy in writing. That may force you to juggle …

Not all ADD, ADHD diagnoses qualify as protected ‘disability’

01/01/2004
Unfortunately, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) doesn’t come with a laundry list of conditions that qualify as disabilities. So what about attention deficit disorder (ADD) or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder …

You can set ‘no rehire’ policy for workers fired for misconduct

01/01/2004
The Supreme Court last month handed employers more power to set and enforce policies that deny rehiring to employees fired for misconduct. The court said such “no-rehire” policies are valid reasons …