Reminder to managers: Unless you’re a certified professional, don’t act as an employee’s psychiatrist — even if you’re worried the employee’s actions could put her co-workers in jeopardy. That’s the message in a recent case out of Erie, PA, where a city firefighter alleged she’d been fired in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. […]
Posted on November 10th, 2012 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 203 Comments »
This firm won on a technicality in court after it reassigned a woman on medical leave. Here’s what HR can learn from the case. Rachel O’Sullivan was a sales rep for Siemens Industries for 10 years when she took medical leave to give birth. When she returned, she learned that her manager had reassigned her […]
Posted on November 9th, 2012 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 187 Comments »
A black staffer files a race bias complaint, then gets fired and sues for retaliation. Did he win? Read the dramatized version of this real-life case and see if you can determine the outcome. “How did this mess with Randall Brown happen?” asked VP Bob Stevens. “Why do you ask?” asked HR manager Lynn Rondo. […]
Posted on November 8th, 2012 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 194 Comments »
If there’s a term that makes executives and HR managers shudder, it’s got to be this: FMLA intermittent leave. Here’s a look at one effective tool for fighting abuse of this type of employee absence. Numerous studies have identified managing intermittent leave as the “most difficult activity” facing HR professionals. HR’s No. 1 approach to […]
Posted on November 7th, 2012 by admin
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Just a reminder: Starting next year, a number of workers will be impacted by a health reform rule that alters what they can do with their flexible spending accounts (FSAs). That’s because on Jan. 1, 2013, employees can put aside a maximum of $2,500 each, a significant drop from the current $5,000 limit. Most not […]
Posted on November 6th, 2012 by admin
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Sounds like we can expect a continuation of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s aggressive approach to the enforcement of anti-bias laws. Richard B. Cohen, writing on Fox Rothschild’s Employment Discrimination Report, outlined the presentation of two EEOC attorneys at a conference last week. Some highlights of what Cohen had to report: The EEOC’s continuing its […]
Posted on November 5th, 2012 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 193 Comments »
Thanks to the Internet, applicants are better prepared than ever for interviews — which means HR pros need to work harder to find questions that candidates haven’t already memorized the answers to. Here are three interview questions you need to get rid of, and three you can start using instead, courtesy of The Resumator. Tell […]
Posted on November 4th, 2012 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 193 Comments »
Get this: A male manager who smacked his female employee on the behind did not commit sexual harassment, a judge has ruled. How could that be? The case involved Sandra Williams, an in-house sales associate for a time-share management company, and her supervisor Robert Griffin. After Williams closed a particularly difficult sale, Griffin celebrated by, […]
Posted on November 3rd, 2012 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 46 Comments »
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission wants to make sure you don’t violate the law when it comes to employees who become victims of domestic violence, stalking and sexual assault. That’s the message in the agency’s new fact sheet, released earlier this month. As usual, the fact sheet doesn’t set up any new employee protections via […]
Posted on November 2nd, 2012 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 186 Comments »
Turns out the EEOC has to follow the rules just like everybody else. That heartening piece of news came in a recent federal district court decision out of New Jersey. The judge ruled that the agency wasn’t exempt from the federal law that says if you want to file a discrimination complaint, you’ve got to […]
Posted on November 1st, 2012 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 179 Comments »
