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Hiring

Attract and keep great employees with these 5 ‘Best practices’ benefits

10/23/2007

As the HR profession celebrates National Work and Family Month—you knew October was National Work and Family Month, didn’t you?—it’s time to stock up on innovative benefits ideas from U.S. employers. From wellness incentives to “future leave,” these best practices help attract and retain great workers …

Ridiculous resumes, inane interviews liven up the hiring process

10/16/2007

Recruiting and interviewing potential new hires can be time consuming, but for many employers the process is far from boring. In fact, given some of the wacky things candidates include on their résumés and blurt out during interviews, hiring may be the funniest part of an HR pro’s job.

Judge Stops Implementation of ‘No-Match’ rules

10/11/2007

A federal judge has stopped implementation of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) new rules on how employers should respond to “no-match” letters. Now unless the judge rules differently at trial, it’s back to square one for DHS.

Will the EEOC audit your Internet and campus hiring practices?

10/09/2007

Unless you take great care to document how you use Internet and university job sites, you may find yourself spending quality time with an EEOC auditor.

How to provide religious accommodations in NC workplaces

10/01/2007

North Carolina mirrors America’s growing diversity in many ways. Today, mosques occupy old churches, co-workers wear burqas and yarmulkes, and some employees request “prayer breaks.” Religious diversity is a reason for celebration, but it also presents challenges in the workplace …

At Novartis, nursery rhymes are in, motherhood out

10/01/2007

That’s what a dozen female Novartis employees, recently granted class-action certification in Manhattan federal court, will try to prove in their gender discrimination suit against the Maalox maker …

Governor signs Employee Classification Act

10/01/2007

Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed Illinois’ Employee Classification Act into law in early August. The law targets the construction industry with the intent to prevent employers from misclassifying employees as independent contractors. Under the law, people performing construction work are presumed to be employees unless they can meet the ABC test …

Watch what you promise: Michigan employment contracts can be oral

10/01/2007

In Michigan, employers and employees can enter into employment contracts without using written agreements. As long as one of the parties can prove what the terms of the agreement are, a court may enforce the agreement. One way to protect your organization is to have all new hires sign an acknowledgment that no oral promises are binding, and that all contracts must be in writing …

Mandating New-Age spirituality at work can trigger an Old-School lawsuit

10/01/2007

While you can encourage employees to follow certain Judeo-Christian values at work, such as cooperation, honesty and kindness, it’s never appropriate to require adherence to a particular religion or religious practices. Even if your organization’s leaders have strong religious beliefs, it must accommodate workers who don’t agree with that stance. That may mean excusing workers from retreats, prayer groups or other religious-based activities …

New Jersey cracks down on employers that misclassify employees

10/01/2007

Warning! Employers that intentionally misclassify employees as independent contractors face new penalties in New Jersey. Employers that intentionally misclassify workers unfairly stifle business competition because the practice lets them reduce labor costs between 15% and 20%, according to some estimates. That leaves employers that don’t cheat at a competitive disadvantage. Plus, employee misclassification strips workers of benefits and disability protection, and cheats the average taxpayer out of revenue …