Why you need this tool:
These three tools allow you to alter your zero tolerance policy to accommodate medical marijuana.
COMPLIANCE
How to protect your practice against costly FLSA and EEOC claims
September 28, 2014 by
Do an HR audit at the start of each year
Today’s protection against tomorrow’s employment law claims is a human resources audit.
An audit is essential to keep the firm’s employment processes accurate and current – and also followed, says Joseph Godwin, human resources consultant for F&H Solutions Group in Ashville, NC.
The audit needs to be done every year, because with time, things get overlooked. Or bad habits crop up and people take easier routes such as signing off on incomplete I-9 Forms. Or new managers come in with their own HR methods and…
SOCIAL MEDIA AND HIRING
Model Tool: Privacy Risk Assessment
August 29, 2014 by
Why you need this assessment:
Information collected about individual job applicants is considered personal information subject to privacy laws, regardless of whether the information is publicly available. You need to consider these privacy risks you face before using social media sites like Facebook to gather personal information about job applicants.
SOCIAL MEDIA AND HIRING
Model Tool: Pre-Employment Screening Notification
August 29, 2014 by
Why you need this notification:
Collecting information about job applicants from social media websites like Facebook can get you into legal hot water. That’s because the information you collect may be considered protected, personal information to the extent applicants can show they had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the material.
MANAGING STAFF
Model Policy: Progressive discipline and employee termination
August 8, 2014 by
Why you need this policy:
There’s no point in having any policies, procedures, and standards unless you’re prepared to discipline employees who disobey them. The problem is that discipline is not only unpleasant but likely to result in some form of legal grievance, especially if the employee belongs to a union. That means you’ll end up having to defend your action before an arbitrator or court.
ELECTRONIC WORKPLACE
HR law and employee social networking
August 1, 2014 by
Can you discipline employees for social networking offenses?
Answer: It depends.
Explanation: Frittering away time, disclosing patient records, bad mouthing the practice and other offenses are grounds for discipline when they occur “off line.” So why should it make a difference if employees do these things online while social networking?
In theory, it shouldn’t.
The problem, of course, is that the HR laws were forged in a different era and haven’t yet caught up with the realities of social networking.
Eventually they will. But until then, you face the challenge of applying 20th…
ELECTRONIC WORKPLACE
Employees fired for social networking offenses
October 16, 2013 by
Here are a few examples of cases in which a court or arbitrator upheld the decision to fire an employee for social network abuses. Note that the existence of a clearly written, specific social networking policy was a factor in each of these cases:…
RISK MANAGEMENT
Today’s growing insurance need: EPLI coverage
September 28, 2012 by
It’s becoming increasingly necessary for all firms, yet only about 50% have it. It’s employment practices liability insurance.
EPLI is coverage for claims brought by disgruntled employees, and in the current “downsizing environment” it’s a necessity, says Uri Gutfreund, specialist in law firm insurance at Singer Nelson Charlmers in New York whose actual title is Law Firm Insurance Guru.
“In the good old days when the market was hot, a law firm could let people go and they’d get picked up the next day by a different firm.” But today getting another job isn’t easy, “so they come after you.”
EPLI covers employment-related lawsuits such as claims of harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and…
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COMPLIANCE
Retaliation gets broader and more expensive and is hitting all offices
August 24, 2012 by
What’s the single greatest employment law risk employers are facing?
Retaliation. The EEOC reports that retaliation claims have been on the upswing for 10 years and now sit at the top of the list of employment law matters. Heightening the issue is the fact that an employee can cry retaliation – and the firm can have to pay out a lot of money – even if the complaint supposedly causing the retaliation is found to be groundless.
Almost all offices are at risk. While some types of retaliation claims are limited to employers with a certain number of employers, others apply to all employers, regardless of size, cautions attorneys and…
