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, [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is trying to buck a trend. While government budget cuts have become the norm, the EEOC is requesting for fiscal year 2012 an $18 million increase from 2011. The agency says it needs more money to restore enforcement and legal staff positions, modernize technology, and expand training, among other [...]

The law that amended the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed in September 2008, and although more than three years would seem sufficient to digest the change a new law brings, the regulations for the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) weren’t effective until May 24, 2011. So HR professionals and attorneys alike in many cases [...]

by Joseph C. Pettygrove
Most employers recognize that there are times when employees have legitimate reasons to miss work, be tardy, or leave early. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon to suspect an employee’s stated reason for an absence (or a recurring absence) is a lie. Take, for instance, a worker who is repeatedly “sick” the Monday after [...]

by Reggie Gay
Q: We have a job applicant who worked for us approximately six years ago. There’s nothing negative in her file, but there were some issues with her job performance. Neither of her former supervisors wants to hire her back. She has applied several times and has received rejection letters, but she keeps reapplying. [...]

by Karen McAndrew
As of March 15, 2011, boa constrictors, ferrets, wildebeests, and rabbits are no longer considered “service animals” under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), so assuming the Attorney General’s Office of your state concurs, you will not have to let those animals dine in your restaurant or hang out in a cubicle at [...]

Raise your hand if your business has not been disrupted by the weather in 2011.
In the past two months, large parts of the Southeast and Midwest have been reeling from record numbers of devastating tornadoes; the West Coast had tsunami warnings following the earthquake in Japan; and the Mississippi River and its tributaries have reached [...]

Should our company use job descriptions? How long should they be, and what information should they contain? Do they really serve a useful purpose?
We get those questions all the time, and the answer is always the same: Yes, employers should use lean, practical job descriptions that accurately reflect essential job duties because they serve an [...]