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Employee Relations

Can dermatologist tell worker to tone down the tan?

02/06/2012
Q. We’re a dermatology practice and one of our new em­­ployees is excessive with tanning. She has a dark tan and sometimes is sunburned. We promote the opposite of what she does. She also wears tight low-cut tops. Are we allowed to say something in both regards?

Pay cut for poor work? Document carefully

02/03/2012
If an employee isn’t working as hard as you expect, reducing his pay might conceivably provide enough of a kick in the pants that he’ll pick up the pace. As long as you carefully document why you are making the pay cut, he won’t win a discrimination case even if his pay puts him at a lower level than others outside his protected class who perform the same job.

Communicating benefits: 3+3 strategy works best

02/03/2012
Giving em­­ployees at least three weeks to review benefit information and providing that information in at least three different formats is the key to benefits training that sticks, says new research from benefits provider Unum.

Tell bosses: Follow 3 cardinal rules to document discipline

02/02/2012

To be successful, employee feedback should be routine, not a once-a-year event. In the same way, managers should make documentation of employee performance, behavior and discipline a regular habit. But how managers document their observations can mean the difference between winning and losing, should an employee ever decide to take you to court.

Is there a way to ensure sensitive investigation records remain confidential?

02/02/2012
Q. One of our employees has just filed an internal complaint claiming that she has been sexually harassed. We are concerned that if we discipline the alleged harasser based on our findings and note this incident in his personnel file, he may demand to inspect our investigation records. May we avoid this by maintaining a separate investigation file?

Beware defamation claims based on discipline write-ups

02/02/2012

Remind supervisors and managers to stick with verifiable and documented facts when writing up an employee for poor performance, a mistake or other disciplinary matter. That’s because a false write-up could be grounds for a later defamation lawsuit.

Carefully review sudden claims of disability during discipline

02/02/2012

Some employees, forced to confront poor work habits, workplace mistakes or other disciplinary problems, decide to tell their employers that they have a disability. Don’t take the bait.

Be sure to document the effective date of all new disciplinary policies

02/02/2012
When you change a disciplinary policy, make sure you document exactly when the change went into effect. That way, an employee who is punished more severely can’t point to the earlier disciplinary actions as evidence he was unfairly singled out.

How to make ‘one rule’ discipline work

02/01/2012
If you want to streamline your employee manual and disciplinary process, you may be tempted to create one general misconduct rule. It might state, for example, “Violating company policies can result in discipline, up to and including termination.” But before you adopt such a rule, make sure HR is ready to administer it.

Beware contradictions in performance reviews

02/01/2012
Do you evaluate employees’ overall performance and then conduct a special appraisal to determine extra rewards such as bonuses? If so, make sure both processes paint a true performance picture and don’t contradict each other.