Privacy

HIPAA: Compliance Rules

11/15/2014

HR Law 101: The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 made changes to three areas of the continuing-coverage rules that apply to group health plans under COBRA …

Facing legal action? Know when to put a ‘litigation hold’ on your email purging

11/06/2014

Most employers aren’t aware of the risk of deleting old emails at the wrong time.

NLRB: Firing employees for Facebook posts was unlawful

10/08/2014

Here’s another reminder to employers to exercise caution in imposing discipline for conduct on social media.

Onboarding: How to prevent confidentiality breaches by new hires

09/29/2014

Although most employers are sensitive to the need to protect their own company’s confidential information, they may not be as attuned as they should be to the other side of the coin.

Social media & HR: Know your state privacy law

09/25/2014

The Seyfarth Shaw law firm has created a free report, the Social Media Privacy Legislation Desktop Reference, that explains each current state law concerning social media and employees’ rights to its use.

How do we rein in our staff on social media?

09/19/2014

Q. What are the rules and laws about social media? We have employees who have generated Facebook pages with our company name. They are also posting information that we are not ready to publish—such as the opening of another store in a new city.

Drug tests: What to do about ‘watered down’ results?

09/12/2014

Q. We have a couple of workers who keep getting “negative dilute” results of drug tests. Our policy is to not accept the result and to retest. Can we require the retest to be an observed collection?

7 steps to protect against electronic sabotage by former employees

09/02/2014

With nothing more than a few taps on the keyboard, a vengeful ex-employee can cause far more disruption to the workplace than some of your most vocal employees.

How far can I go to ban guns at work?

07/31/2014

Q. As the owner of a Texas company, I want to institute a policy that strictly forbids employees from bringing guns to work—both into the office building and in the parking lot outside. Can I legally draft such a policy?

Am I allowed to search a worker’s backpack?

07/23/2014

Q. One of my workers brought a backpack into work today that I have reason to believe contains illegal substances. The worker stored the bag in his company-provided locker. Can I search his belongings?