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Employee Relations

Root out subtle but pervasive hostility—It’s harassment even if it’s not severe

08/12/2008
Tell your managers to take note: Allowing one or two employees to poison the workplace, even with low-level harassment, is dangerous. A constant barrage of racially tinged comments may warrant a jury trial if someone claims the workplace is a racially hostile environment. The charge: The harassment is pervasive, even if it is not severe …

Civility is great—But you don’t have to guarantee it

08/12/2008
It’s a fact of life—not every employee is going to get along with everyone else in your shop. Some managers and supervisors will have more trouble managing a particular employee than others. However, unless the reason for a supervisor’s criticism is the employee’s protected status (e.g., race or age), the employee won’t win a hostile-environment lawsuit if the “hostility” isn’t extremely severe …

3 Keys to Creating ‘Employee Lifetime Value’

08/12/2008
Savvy business people have long focused on customer lifetime value—the gains to had from cultivating lifelong relationships with customers eager to patronize them again and again. Here are three keys to nurturing those same kinds of relationships with employees—and reaping the same kinds of rewards.

Poor performance review and improvement plan alone aren’t signs of retaliation

08/12/2008
Good news for managers and supervisors: Giving an employee a poor performance review and then placing the employee on an improvement plan isn’t an adverse employment action on its face. Employees can’t successfully sue unless a pay cut, lost benefits, a lost bonus or some other tangible, negative results accompany that poor evaluation or improvement plan …

Court rules employers must provide harassment-Free workplace

08/11/2008
Earlier this year, a federal jury in Florida awarded $630,000 to 14 female prison employees who alleged that the state Department of Corrections created a hostile work environment by failing to prevent lewd behavior by male inmates. The court made it very clear that employers must ensure all employees have a harassment-free workplace, regardless of who the harasser is …

Extra work, harsh treatment may not be reverse discrimination

08/11/2008
Resentment may run high if employees feel like they’re picking up the slack for other employees they perceive as doing less than required—especially if they believe management isn’t making others pull their fair share because of race or nationality or some other protected classification. But that doesn’t necessarily amount to reverse discrimination …

Prepare thorough record if ‘Star’ employee begins to fall

08/11/2008
Nothing looks worse to a jury than an employer who fires an employee for poor performance after the employee receives stellar performance reviews. That’s why you must make sure supervisors and managers prepare honest evaluations, avoid gushing assessments and stick to objective measures …

Before assuming you must accommodate under ADA, evaluate disability and ability

08/11/2008
The ADA requires employers to reasonably accommodate disabled applicants and employees within a tight set of parameters. But an employer only has to offer reasonable accommodations that allow a disabled employee to perform the essential functions of a job. Employers don’t have to create new jobs or restructure jobs to such an extent that essential functions are dropped …

How can our process elicit more specifics when the union files grievances?

08/08/2008
Q. We have a lot of trouble with our employees’ union in terms of processing grievances. The form the union uses does not provide enough information for my HR office to determine if the grievance has merit or not. We would like the union to identify the contract provision that it believes has been violated, along with sufficient facts to understand the issue. Any thoughts? …

Act fast to investigate, correct hostile work environment signs

08/08/2008
It’s not unusual to read about racially motivated incidents that occur at work. Slurs, graffiti and other acts of intimidation can lead to hostile environment lawsuits. By the time the graffiti shows up or the slurs are uttered, some of the damage has already been done. However, smart employers react immediately and try to limit the damage …