News

The good news is it’s generally easier to terminate probationary employees than regular employees. Here’s how to pull it off without triggering a lawsuit.

It’s increasingly difficult for employers to keep employees from finding out how much their co-workers are paid. However, a new study shows the unintended consequences when employers tell employees where they stand on pay.

Progressive discipline typically escalates from verbal warnings to written warnings to an adverse employment action, such as suspension or discharge. It’s crucial to do it right to avoid a lawsuit. Here are some key progressive discipline pointers.

“Can’t we sue them for this?” That’s the sentiment many employers express after being on the receiving end of a lawsuit that they think is based on untrue facts. Although it is never satisfying to be told “that wouldn’t be a good idea,” this is generally the right answer for various reasons.

Even if you don’t believe you will have to eliminate jobs any time soon, it’s probably a good idea to start formulating preliminary layoff plans now so you can move quickly if the need arises.

The Department of Labor will no longer enforce its 2024 independent contractor rule, issued during the Biden administration, which favored classifying workers as employees. Instead, it will rewind the classification clock, emphasizing an old standard that makes it much easier to consider workers to be contractors.

Intermittent FMLA leave is easy for employees to abuse. Fortunately, the FMLA certification documentation that employees must provide is the key to easing the HR headaches that intermittent leave often causes.

An employee failed to turn in his FMLA certification within the 15-day deadline. What should we do? I’ve heard there is a seven-day grace period. Is there a form for that?

Why 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.

If you have employees who work remotely at least some of the time, you know how difficult it is to track exactly what they are doing and when they’re doing it. That can be bad news if those employees are nonexempt. They must be paid for all work they perform—whether you knew they were working or not.