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Employee Relations

Managers can refuse bias-tainted orders, court says

07/01/2003
Issue: Courts won’t consider a manager “insubordinate” for ignoring a boss’s order if the manager believes the order is discriminatory. Risk: Increases danger of retaliation …

State law dictates your payroll frequency

07/01/2003

Q. Is it legal to adopt a once-a-month payroll for hourly employees? What other issues come up with a monthly payroll? —J.S., California

Keep employees growing … so they won’t leave

07/01/2003
Issue: “Intraplacement” involves the entire company in identifying job-growth opportunities for ready employees. Benefits: Boost retention, cut recruiting costs …

Don’t sugarcoat benefit changes

05/01/2003
Many companies are cutting costs by changing their employee benefits programs. But don’t shoot from the hip when explaining these changes to employees, …

Treat disability assistance requests with speed, or risk court action

05/01/2003
When an employee asks you to accommodate her claimed disability, don’t put the request on the back burner.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires an “interactive process” with employees …

Monitoring staff phones? Hang up when you realize it’s a personal call

05/01/2003
You can monitor your employees’ communications, within reasonable limits. But you can’t let your monitoring escalate to eavesdropping and violate workers’ …

Don’t let abusive staff use disability as excuse; you can fire for behavior

05/01/2003
Don’t allow employees to use their disabilities as justification for poor behavior, especially if it clearly threatens your workplace. Even if an employee is …

Workers can’t demand telecommute option

04/01/2003
Don’t be bullied by a disabled employee who says you must let her work from home as an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accommodation. It’s true that a reasonable …

Employee handbooks: Craft with care to secure ‘at-will’ policy

04/01/2003
THE LAW. While law doesn’t directly regulate employee handbooks, they are extremely important legal tools. A handbook documents your policies, builds trust …

Don’t try to block employee’s lawyer from talking with your staff

03/01/2003
If Disgruntled Don in accounting sues your company, his lawyer can talk with other employees and, under most state laws, there’s not much …