By Celeste Blackburn
Are your employees gambling at work? With the Super Bowl and NCAA basketball tournaments coming up, it’s almost a sure bet that at least some employees are gambling on sports during company time, using company equipment. Sometimes, employees don’t wait for major sporting event to gamble, instead betting on the Oscars, American Idol, and coworkers’ pregnancy due-date pools. While employees see betting pools as harmless fun, employers can be the big losers due to the drain on productivity and resources as well as the legal issues that go with employees gambling at work.
HR Guide to Employment Law: A Practical Compliance Reference
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Posted in ADA, ADA, Employee Engagement and Retention, Employee Morale, Handbooks and Policies, Policies by: Celeste Blackburn
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by Steve Jones
Q: Can an employer send an employee who is returning from Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave to a company-appointed physician for a second opinion to verify that he is able to perform the essential functions of his job?
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Posted in Arkansas, Employee Leave, Employee Leave, FMLA, FMLA, FMLA Leave, Intermittent Leave by: Arkansas Employment Law Letter
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by Kara E. Shea
Independent contractors, by definition, are self-employed. Because they aren’t employees, they aren’t covered by employment, labor, and related tax laws. As a result, some employers may be tempted to reclassify employees as independent contractors to avoid taxes, benefits, record-keeping requirements, overtime, and other expenses.
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Posted in Classifying Workers, DOL, FLSA, Independent Contractors, Tennessee, Wage and Hour Law by: Tennessee Employment Law Letter
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Now that the calendar has turned to 2012, employers and employees alike are taking stock. Will the new year bring relief from a long recession? Will layoffs slow down and hiring speed up? Will discontented, overworked employees have a chance to recharge?
The answers are specific to individual employers and employees, but survey data provide some insights.
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Posted in Baby Boomers, Employee Engagement and Retention, Employee Morale, Employee Retention, Generation X, Millennials by: Tammy Binford
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The new year is off and running, but it’s not too late for human resources professionals to make a few employment law-related resolutions that should make their lives easier in 2012.
Sexual harassment policies
Boyd Byers a partner with Foulston Siefkin LLP in Wichita, Kansas, says attention to sexual harassment policies should top the list of resolutions this year.
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Posted in ADA, ADA, ADA Accommodation, ADA Amendments Act, Affirmative Action, Classifying Workers, Disability Discrimination, Documentation, Documentation, FMLA, FMLA, Genetic Discrimination, Handbooks, Kansas, Louisiana, Ohio, Sexual Harassment by: Tammy Binford
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Drugs, alcohol, and employment generally don’t mix well. Employers face tricky choices when creating policies that address workplace substance use and abuse while still ensuring they stay within the bounds of state and federal laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Employers must decide whether to require drug testing and then craft policies that comply with drug-testing laws and ensure compliance for any federally mandated testing. The fundamental goal is to promote workplace safety in an environment in which both legal and illegal drug use continue to grow.
Attorney Peter D. Lowe recently spoke about workplace substance abuse, including statistics, effects, and guidelines for creating workplace policies to minimize or prevent problems.
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Posted in ADA, ADA, ADA Accommodation, ADA Amendments Act, Absenteeism, Discipline and Employee Misconduct, Employee Misconduct, FMLA, FMLA, Handbooks and Policies, Intermittent Leave, Maine, Policies, Safety, Safety in the Workplace by: HR Hero Line
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Whether engaging in a specific project, such as working with IT to incorporate text-to-speech readers or other assistive technology in your online environment, or carrying out the seemingly simple task of adjusting your hiring and recruiting page, you must be up to date on Web access for disabled employees and applicants.
Are you aware of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accommodations and accessibility standards for the vision- and hearing-impaired under the new ADA regulations?
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Posted in ADA, ADA Accommodation, Disability Discrimination, Hiring by: HR Hero Line
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It’s the time of year when gift-giving shifts into high gear. Maybe a vendor sends an oversized tin of cookies or basket of fruit for the whole office to enjoy. Or maybe coworkers in neighboring cubicles pick out presents for each other. Sometimes a vendor or client hands over an expensive gift to one particular employee. Is it harmless fun or potential trouble?
A recent survey of employers by HRhero.com shows varying policies on workplace gift-giving. Some respondents say they have no policy and no problems. Others impose dollar limits on gifts employees can accept from coworkers or outsiders including vendors and clients.
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Posted in Handbooks and Policies, Policies by: Tammy Binford
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by Mark I. Schickman
At its heart, the Pennsylvania State University (PSU) football scandal is a criminal matter. But it’s also the ultimate example of sexual harassment being permitted to recur openly, continuously, and notoriously in a workplace. It’s a sober reminder of what can happen if any person or group believes they are bigger than the rules — immune from the consequences of violating the law and company policies.
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Posted in California, Commentary, Discipline and Employee Misconduct, Employee Misconduct, Pennsylvania, Sexual Harassment by: California Employment Law Letter
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The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division’s (WHD) recent enforcement efforts represent a flawed approach that assumes incorrectly that employers are deliberately violating the law, according to David Fortney, cofounder of Fortney & Scott, LLC, in Washington, D.C., who testified before a U. S. House of Representatives subcommittee November 3.
Fortney, editor of Federal Employment Law Insider, was among witnesses testifying before the House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, which titled its hearing “Examining Regulatory and Enforcement Actions Under the Fair Labor Standards Act” (FLSA).
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Posted in Classifying Workers, DOL, FLSA, WHD, Washington D.C. by: HR Hero Line
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