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Employee Relations

So you need to trim your training budget … but where?

06/01/2009
Training programs are among the first areas to take a hit when the economy falters. If you haven’t scaled back training expenses yet, your boss may soon ask. To examine training programs and avoid eliminating those that do work, ask the following questions:

How to legally handle chronically late workers

05/27/2009

Employers expect employees to get to work on time. Occasional problems with traffic or family issues sometimes make employees late. But chronic tardiness is another thing altogether. While most employers track tardiness occurrences, they should do more. How?

Investigation results don’t have to be accurate—just honest

05/27/2009

When HR investigates discrimination complaints, you don’t have to act like a court of criminal law, deciding whether an employee is telling the truth “beyond a reasonable doubt.” So don’t feel paralyzed if a discrimination investigation boils down to one employee’s word against another’s. Use your best judgment to decide who is telling the truth and go with that judgment.

Can we do anything about an employee who files false harassment claims?

05/27/2009

Q. An employee of ours has filed several sexual harassment complaints. But when we have investigated, they have turned out to be false. Can we do something about her?

Former aide to Ridge apparently embezzled—again

05/27/2009

Lauretta Simmons was convicted of embezzling $93,500 from then Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge’s campaign in 2000. Ridge went on to become the nation’s first Secretary of Homeland Security. Simmons apparently went on to greater things as well—to the tune of more than $300,000.

Firing after FMLA leave: How soon is ‘too soon’?

05/27/2009

An employer fired a worker just six weeks after she returned from FMLA leave. Six weeks is like a nanosecond on the retaliation stopwatch. But the court still dismissed the case. Why?

So an employee tells you she’s seriously ill … now what?

05/27/2009

It’s sad enough when an employee becomes seriously ill. What makes it tougher is that work doesn’t stop. Deadlines remain, customers need service and paperwork piles up. Mistakes can mean not only hurt feelings but also potential legal liability problems. Here are four ways supervisors and HR can handle such situations with tact and legal skill.

Can a lazy worker collect unemployment?

05/27/2009

Q. We have an employee who does not work very hard and her production is marginal. If we terminate the employee, will she be able to collect unemployment compensation?

How can we terminate a morale buster who is in ill health?

05/27/2009

Q. We have an employee who was out six months with a heart condition. He has had performance problems on and off since then. Now we face a morale issue because he constantly talks about his illness, and his co-workers feel he isn’t performing. If we terminate him, what is the best approach?

What should we do? We’re afraid our diabetic employee is a danger to herself and others

05/27/2009

Q. One of our employees, who has diabetes, is on the road a lot tending to patients in their homes. We’ve heard that she is having trouble seeing patient charts and difficulty pricking patients’ fingers for tests. What should we do?