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Training

Don’t let policies rot on a shelf; educate staff or lose your defense

06/01/2001
Sprint wasn’t ignorant of sexual harassment. The company had distributed a human resources policy guide to all employees in 1990 and posted it in all offices. Its code of ethics urges …

Even religious groups can’t favor employees based on religion

05/01/2001
Diane Roh worked her way up to director of nursing at a nursing home affiliated with the Church of Christ. She wanted to join a program that would train her for …

Keep age out of mix when deciding who gets education benefits

05/01/2001
Dan Esberg wanted to cash in on his company’s educational assistance program. The company paid Esberg $16,000 for his bachelor’s degree after he had turned 50. But when Esberg decided to …

‘Downtime’ pay: When to pay for travel, rest, on-call time

05/01/2001
It’s a deceptively simple concept: You have to pay nonexempt employees for every hour they work. But employers often trip over interpretation of that law when it comes to exceptions such …

Harassment: Your response makes all the difference

04/01/2001
Case 1: The ‘sex’retary Lesley Gentry’s boss constantly hugged her, kissed her and made suggestive comments, such as asking her to “try out the back counter” with him. He gave …

Performance reviews: Cut liability, add punch to annual chore

03/01/2001
Your performance evaluation system probably isn’t “meeting expectations” and may “need improvement.” One of the biggest problems: grade inflation. Managers routinely give employees higher marks than their performance warrants. As …

Don’t shrug off same-race harassment

02/01/2001
Odis Ross’ boss at the county jail refused to call him Officer Ross. Instead, he addressed him as “black boy” and “nigger” and often referred to Ross’ wife, who is white, …

Series of ‘minor’ incidents
can add up to hostile environment

11/01/2000
Cheryl Conner blew away her male co-workers in skills training for her new metal-processing job. The trouble started when she went from the classroom …

Sexual orientation: Adapt policy to local, state law

11/01/2000
Although Congress has debated the idea, no federal law specifically prohibits job discrimination based on an employee or applicant’s sexual orientation. Employees …

Don’t rely on written policy to prevent harassment

09/01/2000

Q. Our company is considering anti-harassment training for all employees. Some individuals are concerned that it will stir up lawsuits. Do you recommend such training? —J.R., Maine