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HRIS / Technology

Employee blogs raise privacy, confidentiality issues for employers

09/01/2006

Most organizations have comprehensive Internet, e-mail and electronic communications policies that spell out what’s acceptable usage and what’s not. But few employers have addressed a growing problem: the proliferation of employee Web logs, or "blogs" …

Labor Department Offering Low-Cost Training Solutions

09/01/2006

Could your employees benefit from work skills training, but you’re operating on a limited training budget? The state’s Labor Department, through its Pennsylvania Career Link offices, may provide a solution …

Résumé-Screening software: legal risks and precautions

09/01/2006

The federal job anti-discrimination law (Title VII of the Civil Rights Act) prohibits two types of discrimination: disparate treatment and disparate impact. Because automated tests, such as résumé-screening programs, are blind to applicants’ race, religion, gender and national origin, they likely can’t create a disparate-treatment case. However, such programs can still have a disparate impact on minorities …

Win the talent war: Today’s pipeline is tomorrow’s lifeline

09/01/2006

Two consecutive years of explosive job growth in the executive employment market are creating hiring headaches for HR professionals across the country. According to a recent ExecuNet survey, two-thirds of corporate recruiters already believe that the supply of qualified executive talent falls short of the growing hiring demands of corporate America …

Tighten policies on laptop usage and security

09/01/2006

An increase in laptop thefts and several new state laws on data-theft disclosure are pushing more U.S. employers to establish tougher security policies for employees’ laptops, PDAs and other tech devices …

Online tool helps workers earn back wages

08/01/2006

The Labor Department’s Wage & Hour Division launched a new Back Wage Employee Locator online tool to help people determine if they’re owed back wages as the result of an investigation …

New Pa. law restricts use of Social Security numbers

08/01/2006

Pennsylvania employers will have to go to greater lengths to keep employees’ and customers’ Social Security numbers private in the wake of new legislation signed by Gov. Rendell this summer …

Heed legal limits of video monitoring in the workplace

07/01/2006

Monitoring employees with video cameras likely won’t violate employees’ privacy rights, but employers should make sure they don’t step over the line of reasonable privacy concerns. Stay in the legal zone by monitoring only public areas of the workplace, and use soundless recording …

Retention: If you want to keep them, let them go

07/01/2006

You’ve probably had great employees quit because they wanted to try their hand at a radically different career. Here’s a way to let employees "test drive" a career and still keep them on staff …

New guidelines sound alarm on race, color bias

06/01/2006

The EEOC just revamped its guidance on racial and color discrimination in the workplace. These changes signal increased race-bias enforcement, plus more EEOC attention to "subtle" discrimination …