Blog
WHAT’S GOD GOT TO DO WITH IT?
Office Holiday Survival Guide II: Respecting Employee Religious Practices Christians and Jews hold far from a “monopoly” on December as a major holiday month. Here is your end-of-the-year interfaith and cultural diversity line-up for 2010 (to the degree we could determine with a few Google searches): Dec 1: Suijin-Matsuri – Shinto Dec 2-9: Hanukkah – […]
OFFICE HOLIDAY SURVIVAL GUIDE
A Risky Cocktail: Alcohol and an Employee Party Tradition dictates year-end celebration and resolution. For an office’s annual party, should such a “celebration” include alcohol? If management’s answer is “yes,” then common sense ought to be applied to maximize the safety and well-being of all attending as well as the public. For example: Hold the […]
INTERVIEWS GONE WILD!
How Not to Interview a Potential Employee In our expanding world of regulation and – right or wrong – of widening political correctness, interviewing job applicants can be a precarious adventure. The federal Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discriminatory hiring on the basis of race, color, religion, sex/gender and national […]
FREE SPEECH AND WORKPLACE INSUBORDINATION
Fired over Facebook Post – Labor Board Intervenes The National Labor Relations Board has stepped in to defend a worker terminated over disparaging remarks she posted on Facebook about her supervisor. The NLRB asserts that employer American Medical Response’s firing decision — as well as its policies prohibiting employees from writing about the company on […]
PART-TIME EMPLOYEES ARE PEOPLE TOO
Shorter Schedules Do Not Equal Shorter Legal Requirements Whether your business is expanding or you are circling the wagons to weather an economic downturn, hiring part-time employees may be part of the game plan. However, hiring for shortened hours or for fewer days does not absolve an employer from complying with the full range of […]
TO FIRE OR NOT TO FIRE
Employee Termination the Right Way Terminating an employee is never high on a manager’s fun list. No doubt, it can be a delicate task. Firing an employee the wrong way can lead to a nightmare of expensive accusation and counter-accusation, destroying workplace production and executive morale. Prevention is key. Two recent articles cover the topic […]
WINNING THE FIGHT AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING
The Effect of California Anti-Trafficking Law on Business An estimated 12 million people are enslaved worldwide, 50,000 in the United States every year. By far, more individuals are trafficked and made slaves today than at any time when the practice was “legal.” The State of California has responded with the recent passage of Senate Bill […]
SOLVING UNFAIR OR DANGEROUS EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS
Is There a Wrong or Right Way to Complain? Kevin Kasten says he complained to his employer Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corporation about an improper location of the company time clock and that the company illegally retaliated against him as a result. Saint-Gobain says it could not have retaliated against Kasten as his protest was only […]
DISABILITY EMPLOYMENT
Employing Big Eaters, High Rollers and Voyeurs Unusual Mental Disability Claims on the Horizon? Sarah, the company receptionist, is often away from the front desk during her work hours. Her supervisor, Jane, begins looking through Sarah’s time clock records and notices Sarah also has been taking extra long lunches without authorization. Jane concludes that Sarah […]
NEW CALIFORNIA WORKERS’ COMPENSATION POSTING AND PAMPHLET REQUIREMENTS
New California Workers’ Compensation Posting and Pamphlet Requirement Deadline: October 8, 2010 All California employers must post a new workers’ compensation notice and must distribute a new workers’ compensation benefits pamphlet to new hires by October 8, 2010. California’s Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) has recently enacted regulations that require employers within California to post […]