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HR Management

5 Ways to Contain Workplace Negativity

06/17/2008
Left unchecked, a negative workplace usually becomes even more negative. Don’t let that happen to your HR team. These five steps can lighten the mood and restore productivity to your office.

Sting nets state worker who allegedly sold private data

06/11/2008
Yvette Beler, a data-input worker for Secretary of State Jesse White, has been charged with selling personal data about auto owners to an informant of the federal government …

Can we tap company phones to investigate possible theft?

06/11/2008
Q. Our company distributes steel from one of our warehouses. A substantial amount of product has gone missing. We suspect that our warehouse manager is conspiring with one of our former employees to take it, possibly creating a false paper trail to cover the theft. Our camera surveillance is not picking up any irregular activity on the loading dock. We believe the manager may be talking to the ex-employee from his office phone. Can we legally monitor the manager’s phone without violating any privacy rights that he might have? …

UAW, Caterpillar workers sue for the right to smoke

06/11/2008
The United Auto Workers (UAW) has filed an unfair labor practice charge against Caterpillar Inc., claiming the company has no right to ban smoking without negotiating the terms in collective bargaining. Peoria-based Caterpillar banned smoking in all its U.S. facilities effective June 1…

Identity theft and liability: How to reduce the risks facing your business

06/10/2008
How safe is the confidential customer information your company keeps? The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse says that, since February 2005, the personal information of 88 million people has been compromised by data security breaches at companies or government agencies …

E-Mail policies and the NLRA

06/10/2008
Q. I work in the HR department of a unionized company, and our CEO wants me to draw up an employee e-mail use policy. Can I restrict personal e-mail use without violating the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)? …

The wisdom of correcting I-9s

06/10/2008
Q. As the HR person at our company, I just recently concluded an internal audit of the Form I-9s that we have on file. I am concerned that many of those forms may be incorrectly filled out. Should I just throw them all out and complete new Form I-9s for our employees? …

Mission Foods fires Muslim women over dress code

06/10/2008
Mission Foods of New Brighton dismissed six Somali women for refusing to wear uniforms instead of their traditional loosefitting skirts and scarves. The women refused to comply with a new dress code requiring trousers and shirts, which are considered immodest by Islamic standards …

Dining-Out dogs take precedence over illegal immigrants

06/10/2008
The 2008 session of the Minnesota Legislature closed without hearings on any illegal immigration bills, despite Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s calls earlier this year for a crackdown. “We had time to debate whether dogs should be allowed to eat in cafés … But we didn’t have time to stop identity theft or human trafficking,” House Minority Leader Marty Seifert groused …

DOCC not responsible for employees’ racist remarks

06/10/2008
A court has ruled that the Hennepin County Department of Community Corrections (DOCC) did more than enough to address two employees’ complaints about civil rights violations …