With some help from Charles Dickens.
Marlie was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of her burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge...more
12/22/2023
/ CFOs ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Hostile Environment ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Threshold Requirements ,
Wage and Hour ,
Willful Violations ,
Working Time Regulations
Was that impolite?
Miss Manners (or her kids, who are doing Judith Martin's old column much of the time) have weighed in on some employment law issues lately.
They really need to stick to advising their audience to send...more
Not in my opinion.
The following scenario was in this morning's Miss Manners column. You may need a paid subscription to access, but here's the gist:
Employee is 20-something, happily married, and just learned that she is...more
Then again, it may have been that "FU" text I sent the boss.
You can't make this stuff up.
For those of you who think I'm too hard on employers, today is your day. There was an excellent pro-employer decision recently...more
Mental illness can cause problems at work, and keep employees from getting help.
If my experience is typical (and it may not be), it seems that a significant percentage of employers’ legal and Human Resources problems come...more
3/31/2023
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Attendance ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Mental Health ,
Performance Reviews ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Retaliation ,
Social Media ,
Termination ,
Title VII ,
Wage and Hour
You won't go wrong.
Top o' the mornin'! This post has nothing to do with St. Patrick's Day, but I hope you're having a good one.
When I conduct harassment training for supervisors and managers, we spend a good bit of time...more
Even if the employee doesn't qualify.
Picture this. You ask your boss whether you can take leave under the FMLA. Your boss asks why you want the leave, and you say your cat is sick.* It's your favorite cat. Your boss...more
Inquiring minds want to know!
It's been a slow week for real news, and we have a long weekend coming up. But I found two stories relating to employees (one was a law partner, so technically not an employee) who blew their...more
Employers, don't be too rigid about employee notice requirements.
Weird case from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Imagine this: You're the HR manager at a manufacturing facility. An hourly employee has...more
Fictional, but based on a true story.
It was a dark and stormy night.
There I was, the second shift HR supervisor, trying to renew my annual subscription to SHRM during some down time. It was about 9:30 p.m.
"Your credit...more
There was this disability discrimination issue . . .
An employer who shall remain nameless had a tradition of throwing a little birthday party for each of its employees on their special day.
The birthday of one employee...more
4/22/2022
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Social Anxiety Disorder ,
Termination ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Violence
Here's how an HR pro would have handled it.
There I was, a hard-boiled, cynical, grizzled, war-torn Human Resources professional, working late, as is my wont.
Suddenly, my phone rang. Odd to be getting a call at the office...more
The questions that people send to advice columns!
"I sent $10,000 worth of birthday presents to my grandchildren, and not one of them wrote me a thank you note. Can I stiff them next year?"
"My boyfriend cheats on me...more
How could something so convenient be so risky?
Artificial intelligence in Human Resources is the greatest, right? It can screen thousands of applications in nanoseconds and narrow the field just to the types of people with...more
Just before the Memorial Day holiday, we had a “breaking news” bulletin about the revised guidance published Friday by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission about employers’ and employees’ rights when it came to...more
6/3/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Confidential Information ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Documentation ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
GINA ,
Guidance Update ,
Health Care Providers ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Incentives ,
Personnel Records ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Exemption ,
State Labor Laws ,
Termination ,
Title VII ,
Vaccinations
And then you go and make it worse.
The Volokh Conspiracy posted last week about a Human Resources Business Partner who sued his former employer in federal court (Oregon).
I am in a charitable mood as I write this post,...more
4/23/2021
/ Background Checks ,
Confidential Information ,
Depositions ,
Electronic Records ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Public Records ,
Sanctions ,
Sealed Records ,
Sex Discrimination
Before the coming crackdown.
We expect federal agencies under the Biden Administration to move in a not-so-employer-friendly direction as soon as they have a chance to get settled in. While they're still settling in, this...more
4/16/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Biden Administration ,
Caregivers ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Independent Contractors ,
Minimum Wage ,
Misclassification ,
NLRA ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
OSHA ,
Performance Reviews ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Videoconference ,
Workplace Safety
Vaccines, unemployment, and more!
I had a COVID return-to-work quiz back in May, but a lot has changed since then, so I thought it might be fun to do an updated version. So . . .
How much do you know about COVID in the...more
2/26/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Biden Administration ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Documentation ,
Employer Mandates ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Incentives ,
Layoffs ,
Masks ,
Quarantine ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Exemption ,
Social Distancing ,
Trump Administration ,
Unemployment ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
Should the employer force the issue?
You Human Resources professionals are familiar with this scenario.
You are present while a supervisor is disciplining an employee. The supervisor has a write-up, pre-approved by you, and...more
Not a word about this week's goings on. I promise!
I was having a hard time coming up with a blog topic this week that didn't involve the never-ending election of 2020. (I propose that voting in 2024 be done via...more
Do you make the grade?
How much do you know about the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, work, and school? Take our quiz and find out! As always, the answers are provided at the end of each question, so you can cheat...more
The EEOC updated its guidance this week.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission this week updated its Q&A guidance on coronavirus and the federal anti-discrimination laws -- primarily, the Americans with Disabilities...more
9/11/2020
/ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Personal Data ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Remote Working ,
Screening Procedures ,
Workplace Safety
A resume liar, or a candidate who gives you the hard truth?
Let's say you have a great candidate for your vacant position of Director of Widgetary Management. Work experience is on point, excellent presentation in the...more
This is not your usual summer, Gentle Reader.
Dear Miss Mannerly:
Last week, we had our office picnic, but everyone is still working from home, so we did it on Zoom. About 30 employees were on the call. Everybody chose an...more
Avoid a seasonal faux pas!
Dear Miss Mannerly:
My office is business casual -- until June. Even though we don't have a lax summer dress code, many of our employees just "assume" they can dress like hooligans. We have all...more