Our editors boast more than 60 years of experience in employment law and HR related topics. Find advice to those tricky issues such as when to terminate, as well as stay up to date with the latest regulations as they occur.
Most handbooks explain the kinds of employee misconduct that might warrant termination. However, it’s impossible to envision every situation that might add up to a firing offense. That’s OK. If an employee does or says something that clearly requires immediate discharge, don’t let the lack of a handbook policy stop you from acting.
Read MoreNo law specifically prohibits a workplace rule requiring employees to only speak English on the job. However, the EEOC is aggressively challenging English-only rules under Title VII, which bars national-origin discrimination.
Read MoreEnforce your dress and grooming code too rigidly and you could find yourself on the losing end of a failure-to-accommodate lawsuit. Here’s a case showing that common medical problems may require employers to bend their dress-code rules to accommodate employee disabilities.
Read MoreWhy aren’t anti-harassment policies more effective at preventing harassment? The answer may lie in ineffective training and the failure of employers to follow their own policies.
Read MoreSay your marketing director breaks his leg during an after-hours employee softball game against a crosstown company. Who’s responsible? You might be surprised.
Read MoreIf you want to understand the difference between legal and illegal DEI, here’s what illegal looks like.
Read MoreEmployers can require employees accused of violence at work to take a drug test. But what happens if the test reveals the presence of marijuana in the system of an employee whose use of medical marijuana is authorized by state law?
Read MoreUnder federal and some state laws, certain information must be posted on a bulletin board where all employees can see it. But that shouldn’t be the same slab of cork where employees are allowed to offer free kittens, sell cookies or tack up a lost glove.
Read MoreSomewhere out there, there’s someone very unhappy that he either didn’t get the job he sought from you, or left on terms he didn’t get to dictate. Realizing there’s so little downside to suing an employer, he’ll soon identify one place he can cynically mine for loopholes that he and his lawyer can use to slam you. That place is your employee handbook.
Read MoreCourts don’t like to second-guess employers for managing their businesses as best they see fit. But how (and how consistently) you change those rules can make a big difference in your exposure to legal liability.
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