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Policies / Handbooks

Plan Ahead for Take-the-Kids-to-Work Day: April 27

03/01/2006

Annually, the fourth Thursday in April (April 27 this year) is Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day, hosted by the Ms. Foundation for Women. To head off requests and confusion about whether/when the kids can come, establish some ground rules …

EEOC Targeting Cases of Years-Old Discrimination

02/01/2006

Don’t think that an employee who quietly suffers name-calling for years can’t sue. Courts and the EEOC won’t be swayed by your argument that "he put up with it for 20 years, so how bad could it have been?" …

Beware false promises in handbooks; explain ‘what,’ not ‘why’

02/01/2006

Just the facts, ma’am. Your employee handbooks should clearly state your organization’s rules and benefits without including any excess or superfluous language. If you embellish the document with needless explanations, you may end up eating your words …

Use-It-or-Lose-It Sick Leave Pushes Absence Costs Higher

02/01/2006

Employers’ costs for last-minute no-show employees continue to climb. A recent CCH survey found that the average per-employee cost of unscheduled absences rose to $660 per employee in 2005, up from $610 in 2004 …

Interpret Military Leave Law in Most Employee-Friendly Way

02/01/2006

Due to widespread confusion over the federal military leave law, the Labor Department issued its first regulations that try to clarify the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act …

Office romance: Don’t ban it; manage it the right way

02/01/2006

Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act prohibits employment discrimination based on a person’s sex. When office romances sour, scorned lovers often use this law to allege that their former lover was a sexual harasser …

Set a clear policy on confidential talks with employees

02/01/2006

Should you guarantee employees confidentiality when they voice complaints to you or to supervisors? Blanket promises of confidentiality could blow up in your face; some laws require you to report illegal or unethical conduct …

Popularity of 401(k) plans continues to grow

02/01/2006

In the past two decades, 401(k) plans have become the dominant retirement plan offered by employers. In fact, 64 percent of plan sponsors responding to a recent Hewitt survey said a 401(k) accounts for their organization’s primary retirement-savings program …

Debt by 1,000 Paper Clips: Office-Supply Theft Rises

02/01/2006

Two-thirds of people responding to a Vault.com survey said they’ve taken office supplies from work, and a majority said they don’t consider it stealing …

Show your defense cards early in the lawsuit game

01/01/2006

By having a tough anti-discrimination policy and a clear complaint procedure, you establish what lawyers call an "affirmative defense," meaning you have a weapon to defend yourself in court. But you must put forth those affirmative defenses very early in a lawsuit …