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Policies / Handbooks

Employee handbooks: Are they mandatory?

08/21/2008
Q. I just joined a new company that’s never had an employee handbook and doesn’t seem interested in doing so.  Do we have to create one? — K.D., Colorado …

5 Steps for Communicating Benefits Changes

08/19/2008

As your organization shifts more responsibility to employees to manage their own health and retirement expenses, you risk alienating your work force. But it doesn’t have to be that way …

‘Razor-Free Fridays’ help cut water use

08/19/2008
The Georgia Department of Agriculture is encouraging employees to skip their morning shaves on casual Fridays to help alleviate drought conditions gripping much of the state …

Work Marathon Interrupted by Olympics Online

08/19/2008
The Games of the XXIX Olympiad are in full swing, and that means a certain number of your employees are watching on the web. According to a CareerBuilder.com survey, 12% of workers say they plan to watch some of the Beijing Olympics at work. Should you crack down … or see what life lessons the Games can offer?

Breaks required—But forcing employees to take them isn’t

08/15/2008
In what may end up being a landmark decision, a California Court of Appeal has held that Golden State employers aren’t required to ensure employees actually take meal and rest breaks. Employers are in the clear as long as they permit breaks and do not prevent or discourage employees from taking them …

What are our responsibilities concerning breastfeeding in the workplace?

08/15/2008

Q. A number of our employees are pregnant. What are our obligations to accommodate their need to breastfeed when they return to work? …

Ensure handbook doesn’t make FMLA promises you can’t keep

08/13/2008
An Indiana employer must now respond to charges it misled employees when it promised FMLA benefits in its handbook, even though the company is too small to be covered by the FMLA. The case, recently decided by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, shows the problems that arise when employers promise more than they are willing to deliver in their employee handbooks …

Not to split hairs, you can’t sell Harleys looking like that

08/12/2008
Craig Berg joined Apol’s Harley-Davidson of Alexandria as a salesman in May 2006. During his tenure of less than a year, Berg received at least 10 warnings from supervisor Thomas Brenden about his appearance. Brenden objected to Berg’s facial hair, which he shaved every few days. “If you want to grow a beard, grow a beard,” Brenden told him. “If you don’t want to grow a beard, then shave.” …

Can we withhold accrued vacation pay if employee doesn’t give two weeks’ notice?

08/12/2008
Q. Our company policy is to not pay an employee for unused vacation time if the employee resigns without giving the required two weeks’ notice. A former employee has challenged this policy and is threatening to take the company to court. Is this policy lawful? …

Take steps to ensure employees aren’t exposed to porn at work

08/11/2008
Perhaps because controlling Internet access to pornographic images isn’t technically difficult, and because word tends to get around pretty quickly if a co-worker is showing porn to co-workers, courts now are clamping down more on employers that don’t do enough to make sure the workplace is not a sexual cesspool …