Archive for the 'Workplace Technology' Category

When Weather Affects Your Business and Employees

May 24, 2011 at 3:57 pm by: Wendi Watts

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 [...]

Risk of Disclosure of Information on Stolen Laptop Could Support Employees’ Claims

February 24, 2011 at 9:00 pm by: Washington Employment Law Letter

Let’s say you’re an employer that maintains unencrypted employee information on a laptop computer and the computer gets stolen. Could you be liable for the possible harm that could come to employees if their personal information were disclosed? In a recent decision, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that affected employees might have [...]

Practical Steps for Addressing Theft in the Workplace

October 21, 2010 at 9:00 pm by: Idaho Employment Law Letter

by Robert A. Berry
Business is tough. It’s even harder in today’s climate — and that’s assuming all of your employees are working for the good of the business. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. It may be a valued and trusted employee with many years of dedicated service, or it may be someone new or [...]

Trying to Go Paperless? Guidelines for Electronic Personnel Documents

August 19, 2010 at 9:00 pm by: Indiana Employment Law Letter

by Joseph C. Pettygrove
Employers are increasingly looking at the feasibility of scanning hard copies of various types of employment documents and retaining only the electronic copies in the routine course of business. Generally speaking, you are allowed to do that if you ensure that your electronic record maintenance systems are secure, accurate, reliable, and accessible [...]

Trade Secrets, Confidential Information, and Employee Theft

April 29, 2010 at 9:00 pm by: Missouri Employment Law Letter

by John Vering
A recent national survey found that 59 percent of employees who quit or were laid off or terminated in the last 12 months admitted to stealing company data, and 67 percent admitted to using their former employer’s confidential data to find a new job. Read on to learn what you can do to [...]

Why Employers Can’t Ignore Social Networking Sites

September 11, 2009 at 10:54 am by: New York Employment Law Letter

Over the last several years, social networking websites like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and Twitter have evolved to the point where most employees use at least one, if not several, of them throughout each day. Social networking sites provide an easily accessible medium for individuals to stay in contact with friends, colleagues, clients, prospective clients, and [...]

iPhone Apps Break into Human Resources

August 21, 2009 at 9:07 am by: HR Insight

by David Kaufman
In April, a Connecticut teenager downloaded the billionth application from Apple’s iTune App Store. An “app” is an application or program that allows a user to play a game, surf the Web better, keep track of caloric intake, or tens of thousands of other things. In just nine months, Apple has created [...]

Legal Issues with Independent Contractors Plugged into Your Electronic Resources

May 15, 2009 at 11:41 am by: HR Insight

by David Micah Kaufman
Like many of us, several of my friends have recently suffered vocational dislocation (no matter what we name it, losing a job is still a tragedy). One of these friends called me a few weeks ago and told me he had landed a position as a independent contractor for a financial services [...]

Productivity Got Run Over by a Reindeer During the Holidays

November 21, 2008 at 11:25 am by: Delaware Employment Law Letter

by Margaret DiBianca
Hints of the holiday season are tucked away in every corner of the workplace. Cards from customers and vendors are tacked up in cubicles. Uneaten candy canes and tin canisters filled with chocolate-drizzled caramel popcorn continue to make appearances in the break room. The office-party circuit seems endless and, of course, requires a [...]

Perils of Sending Political Emails at Work

August 22, 2008 at 10:13 am by: HR Insight

by David Micah Kaufman
“Oh my!” my lunch colleague exclaimed after glancing at her Blackberry (R) during a break in the conversation. “I am being invited to Candidate X’s fundraiser by my boss. Why does she think I support him/her?”
‘Tis the season — election season — when perfectly normal people who usually [...]