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HR Management

Cut health costs by dangling the right opt-out incentives

11/01/2005
Issue: Employee health premiums have jumped 73 percent since 2000 and are predicted to rise 10 percent more in 2006.
Benefit: Offering employees a lump-sum payout or other incentive to …

Even small changes to employees’ schedules can equal retaliation

10/01/2005
To prove retaliation claims in court, employees must be able to show they suffered negative employment action in response to their lawsuit, such as termination, lowering of pay, denying a promotion …

Drug testing is perfectly legal … if done properly

10/01/2005

Q. I have an employee who says that our drug-testing program is a violation of his constitutional rights. What can I tell him (or show him) to prove that we’re well within the law? —S.H., Texas

Katrina’s lesson: Update your crisis-management plan

10/01/2005
Issue: Hurricane Katrina’s devastation woke up many employers to the need to revisit their disaster plans.
Risk: Even if you drafted a plan after the 9/11 attacks, you may find …

Attract the best by guarding your firm’s reputation

10/01/2005
Issue: Right now, your organization’s public image may be under attack on Web sites, chat rooms and blogs.
Benefit: By putting out such brush fires before they rage out of …

High gas prices offer retention opportunity

10/01/2005
With gas prices jumping over $3 a gallon, employees with long commutes may be thinking about working closer to home. Ease their pain by: 1) Talking with the top brass about …

Use random tests to combat drug-test cheaters

10/01/2005
Can you trust negative drug test results anymore? The Internet is flooded with products, more than 400 by one count, that help employees and job candidates cheat on drug tests. The …

Beware of hidden legal risks in annual HR audits

10/01/2005
Issue: HR audits can help you identify weak points in your employment-law compliance.
Risk: If you don’t act on the audit’s recommendations (and employees find out) that mistake can kill …

Don’t play ‘Name game’ with newly wed employees

10/01/2005

Q. One of our employees recently got married. She’s informally going by her new last name, but she hasn’t changed her name on her Social Security card to her married name and doesn’t plan to. We submit all payroll information using her maiden name. Do we face any liability? —L.K., Missouri

A surprise inspection can uncover discrimination before it’s too late

10/01/2005
There may be areas of your workplace that supervisors, and maybe even HR, rarely visit, such as locker rooms, loading docks and break rooms. But don’t take a “hear no evil, …