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Employee Relations

Loose lips sink employers: How a manager’s convenience store visit cost $100,000

05/18/2010

Employment law risks don’t disappear the minute your managers leave the building at the day’s end. Those risks follow managers around constantly. That’s why you should make clear to supervisors that they should never discuss personnel matters outside the workplace—even at the corner Kwik-E-Mart.

Disciplinary mistake? Set it right–pronto!

05/17/2010

We all make mistakes, especially when acting in haste. Unfortunately, a mistake in the employment law world can mean an expensive lawsuit. But courts are inclined to forgive employers that genuinely try to make things right. That’s why employers should fix errors and make sure they remove any potential negative effects of disciplinary actions.

What do employees want from their managers?

05/14/2010

Inspiring leader … Quiet problem-solver … Compassionate mentor. Different employees crave different things from their managers. Unless you’re a mind reader, it’s impossible to know exactly what your staff wants from you. But a survey of 500 U.S. employees—published in the book, What People Want, by Terry Bacon—reveals what matters most to workers.

E-Mail and Internet Usage: Legal Risks & Sample Policy

05/11/2010

Employers have any number of legitimate reasons to monitor employees’ e-mail and Internet usage. Beyond personal productivity issues, you risk significant loss should an employee download a virus or other damaging software or engage in illegal activity conducted on company computers. Here’s a discussion of the risks, plus a sample policy …

When creating job descriptions, focus on ‘essential functions’ employees really perform

05/10/2010

Courts hearing ADA cases generally trust employers to establish which job functions are essential and which ones are not. But that doesn’t mean you can trump up job descriptions with “essential functions” that are never performed. Courts sometimes see that as a way to avoid having to reasonably accommodate disabled employees. They’ll only consider those functions that employees perform in reality.

Policy alone isn’t enough: Take the next steps to stamp out harassment

05/10/2010

Sexual harassment cases aren’t going away. Employers that don’t take such harassment seriously put their companies in peril. It isn’t enough to come up with a policy. You must also train employees at every level about that policy and explain where harassment victims can go for help. Then you have to follow through and promptly investigate harassment claims. Finally, you must make sure your response is good enough to end the harassment.

PDA: No special treatment for pregnant workers

05/10/2010
As the name clearly implies, the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) makes it illegal to discriminate against women who are pregnant. But it doesn’t mean pregnant employees are entitled to special privileges. In fact, the PDA merely makes clear that employers must treat pregnant employees the same way they treat every other employee.

Employee is pregnant? You can still discipline or fire if she violates your policies

05/07/2010
Federal courts don’t have much patience for faulty logic. A U.S. District Court in New York recently issued a particularly stinging rebuke to a nurse whose pregnancy discrimination case hinged on the “fallacious syllogism” that “I was fired; I was pregnant when I was fired; therefore, I was fired because I was pregnant.”

No employee ‘right’ to affair with subordinate

05/05/2010
The U.S. Constitution guarantees citizens the right to free association without government interference. Courts have used that right to strike down laws that prevent members of different ethnic backgrounds from marrying each other. But what about the right of public employees to free association? Can a public employer punish an employee for having a romantic relationship with a subordinate? That was the question recently answered by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Keep good disciplinary records, win lawsuits

05/01/2010

You know how important it is to consistently apply disciplinary rules and ensure no form of bias creeps into the disciplinary process. That’s one reason it’s crucial for HR to keep disciplinary records on file. If employees allege that you disciplined them in a discriminatory way, you’ll be able to show no one was treated more favorably than anyone else.