• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Privacy

Can we open all mail delivered to our address?

09/10/2009

Q. Our company’s mailroom routinely opens all mail before distributing it. Some employees say they sometimes get personal mail delivered to them at the office, and the company has no right to open it. Should we change our mailroom practices?

What should we do before we start taping employees’ phone conversations?

08/26/2009

Q. For quality-control purposes and to ensure that workers are not making personal telephone calls, we would like to tape-record the calls employees make on company phones. Would that be legal?

Should we require a nondisclosure agreement?

08/26/2009

Q. Should we require new employees to sign a nondisclosure agreement in order to protect our trade secrets, customer lists, etc.?

Are drug testing programs constitutional?

08/26/2009

Q. An employee says our drug testing program violates his constitutional rights. What can I tell him to prove that we’re well within the law?

Preventing identity theft: 6 steps to protect employees’ data

08/11/2009

Employers have a duty to protect their employees from identity theft. The federal Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACTA) says employers that negligently or purposely let employees’ personally identifiable data fall into the wrong hands can face fines of up to $2,500 per infraction. Here are six tips on developing a data security strategy:

Hacked! Limiting employer liability for breaches of employee data

07/24/2009

Imagine this nightmare scenario: You’ve contracted with a vendor to enter personnel data into a new computer system, including employees’ Social Security numbers, addresses, names of dependents, health records and bank account routing numbers. Then the vendor notifies you that employee data was somehow stolen or lost. What do you do?

Can we open employees’ ‘confidential’ mail?

07/17/2009

Q. Can we legally open all mail delivered to employees at the office? What if it is stamped “confidential,” can we still open it? This is getting to be a problem because our mailroom opens all mail automatically.

Delphi learns the hard way: Don’t mess with medical records

07/06/2009

Auto parts manufacturer Delphi has settled a suit with the EEOC alleging the company made prohibited medical inquiries into employees’ health and retaliated against staff who objected. Delphi required employees returning from sick leave to sign releases allowing the company to probe their medical records …

Exonerated, gone anyway: You can independently assess misconduct

06/26/2009

A New Jersey appeals court has upheld the termination of an employee even though a government agency cleared him of the alleged misconduct that led to his dismissal. That means employers still have the right to make their own decisions about conduct and what they believe happened.

Monitoring the virtual water cooler: Facebook and beyond

06/26/2009

Odds are that many forms of social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, are already thriving in your workplace. As an employer, it’s best to make a conscious decision about how to address social media issues with your employees. Proactively develop a policy so you don’t get stuck doing damage control—perhaps becoming the latest talk heard ’round the virtual water cooler.