Layoffs

The new HR toolkit: Resources you need for tough times

11/04/2008

As the impact of the global economic crisis filters down from Wall Street to office cube farms and shop floors, HR professionals will find their expertise in greater and greater demand. Unfortunately, you may have to spend much of your time on the least pleasant of all HR tasks—planning and executing layoffs and other staff cutbacks.

Pay and benefits concessions keep paper from folding

10/27/2008

Wage freezes and other employee concessions negotiated in October brought New Jersey’s largest newspaper, Newark’s The Star-Ledger, back from the brink of a sale or possible bankruptcy.

If we have to lay off employees, is severance pay mandatory?

10/24/2008

Q. Our company is about to have a layoff. Are we required to pay severance to the employees we lay off? …

Must we recall laid-off employees if the economy turns around and conditions improve?

10/24/2008

Q. If we lay off an employee, are we required to recall the employee at a later time if we have work? …

Layoffs: The right way to prepare and execute

10/23/2008

The U.S. economy was already on the brink last month when the Wall Street-fueled financial crisis came and pushed it over the edge. Organizations nationwide are being forced to slash costs, which often means cutting payrolls. Too often, however, employers make tactical errors during layoffs. Here are six key steps to help keep layoffs as legally painless as possible:

Government workers squeezed as economy shrinks tax base

10/21/2008

Georgia ended its fiscal year with a $1.6 billion budget shortfall, money it will have to squeeze out of its spending in the coming fiscal year. As a result, state workers in numerous departments and agencies are facing layoffs, pay freezes and reduced hours.

Change your computer passwords often: Study casts suspicious eye on departing IT staff

10/17/2008

Exercise extreme caution when terminating employees with knowledge of your IT systems. More than eight in 10 IT security professionals admitted that, if laid off tomorrow, they’d take valuable and sensitive company information with them, according to a new Cyber-Ark Software survey.

State agencies grapple with personnel moves to meet budget

10/08/2008

State department heads have taken different approaches to achieve the $2 billion in budget cuts mandated by Gov. Rod Blagojevich for this fiscal year. The Department of Children and Family Services cut 179 positions and planned to transfer 127 workers to vacant spots in more-urgent areas …

Use blind process to decide who loses during RIF

10/07/2008

No one likes a layoff, especially the affected employees—who may look for a reason to sue. Smart employers can stop many baseless lawsuits by using objective, neutral criteria to select which workers will lose their jobs. That’s what happened in the following case …

Document when you first told worker of termination

10/06/2008

Employees who have been terminated don’t have long to file a complaint about alleged discrimination. Employers that suspect they might be sued can capitalize on the short statute of limitations by starting the clock as soon as possible. Here’s how …