Hiring & Firing

That’s what she said: How to navigate the pitfalls of the FCRA

March 19, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

When the Fair Credit Reporting Act comes a knock knock knockin’ on HR’s door, who among you, will answer the call?

Fear not, kids. Cinch on your big boy/girl underpants! My colleague, Stacey Schor, in this post, has outlined a recent federal court decision that provides valuable guidance on how employers can comply with the strict requirements of FCRA, so that your hiring decisions are FCRA-bulletproofed.

This one goes out to all out FCRA freaks fans. Holler if you hear me!

Husband’s “kill list” is your green light to fire an employee on FMLA

February 4, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

Take it from your ol’ buddy Eric.

Let’s say that your employee is on FMLA…

And let’s say that, while your employee is on FMLA, you learn that her husband is involved in a motorcycle gang…

The hella-worst job interview blunders evah!

January 31, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

I heard this story once about a law-school graduate who was looking for his first job out of school. He applied to several local Philadelphia-area law firms, and ultimately received an interview from one of them.

The job interview was with two seasoned partners.

According to this recent Career Builder press release, when it comes to a job interview, the first few minutes may be the most crucial. Nearly half (49 percent) of employers know within the first five minutes of an interview whether a candidate is a good or bad fit for the position, and 87 percent know within the first 15 minutes.

Teacher fired over Facebook groping photo could get her job back

December 26, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

Back in October, I blogged here about Ms. Cook, an Idaho school teacher who lost her job after her employer learned about a photo on her Facebook page that showed her boyfriend touching her chest.

(Oh, fine, here’s the pic)

What made this story unique — yeah, I know, teacher getting in trouble on Facebook is fast approaching “death and taxes” status — is that the female teacher’s boyfriend, also taught at the same school. He was not fired; merely disciplined.

Well, according to this story from Jimmy Hancock at the Idaho State Journal, Ms. Cook should be getting her job back soon:

A grievance panel has determined that former Pocatello High School girls’ basketball coach Laraine Cook should again be allowed to work as a teacher and that she should be rehired as the girls’ basketball coach for the 2014-2015 season….Addressing the firing, the panel said it should be rescinded and considered a suspension without pay from the time of the termination until the time of the panel’s decision.

The panel further noted that the lack of a social media policy afforded Ms. Cook little guidance as to what the school considered online behavior that could cost her her job.

So, use Ms. Cook’s situation as a wake-up call to implement/revise your social media policy. Remind your employees that certain online conduct — even on their own time — could cost ’em their jobs.

So your public relations executive just tweeted a racist joke that went viral…

December 23, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

It doesn’t end well for the PR Exec. Just so we’re clear.

Click through to read the full story…

HR’s 2013 Performance Review (via SHRM’s #nextchat)

December 5, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

Yesterday, We Know Next, the muscle-bound social media arm of the Society for Human Resource Management, hosted a NextChat session on Twitter.

Oh, you don’t know NextChat?

NextChat is a one-hour session on Twitter, which runs every Wednesday from 3-4 PM EST on a topic du jour — that’s the soup of the day — affecting HR.

Each NextChat features 8 questions posed to an HR influencer. During theNextChat, other Twitter users may tweet along using the hashtag #nextchat, or simply follow along by searching for the #nextchat hashtag.

This week, the HR influencer was moi. (Go figure). The topic: HR’s 2013 Performance Review.

If you missed yesterday’s NextChat, check out all great tweets after the jump…

NLRB ok’s firing of two employees who trashed their company on Facebook

November 15, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

It’s been a while since we’ve discussed discipline for employee Facebook behavior. So, let’s go over some basics. Generally speaking:

one employee, griping alone on Facebook about his employer, can be fired; but

two employees, complaining together on Facebook about their employer, cannot be fired.

NJ votes to increase minimum wage to $8.25

November 7, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

On Election Day, NJ voters approved a constitutional amendment increasing the state’s minimum wage by $1, from $7.25 to $8.25. The new wage rate will take effect on January 1, and future increases will be tied to inflation.

Governor Chris Christie, who was re-elected on Tuesday had opposed the increase, claiming that the state’s economy would have a difficult time withstanding the increase.

New Jersey becomes the 20th state to establish a minimum wage higher than the federal minimum of $7.25.

Nearly half of employers investigate job applicants online

October 21, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

This according to a CareerBuilder.com survey (here) released last week.

Of the 2,775 hiring managers polled, almost half (48%) responded that employers will use Google or other search engines to research candidates. Nearly the same number (44%) will research the candidate on Facebook. Just over one quarter (27%) will monitor the candidate’s activity on Twitter. 23% will review the candidate’s posts or comments on Yelp.com, Glassdoor.com or other rating sites.

The survey cites these statistics as a way to encourage job seekers to keep their online personas clean from digital dirt. So, I’ll take a different approach and offer some tips for employers:

That’s what they said: Social media and the workplace and the lawsuits

October 16, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

One social media-related post in October. One may be good enough for the Red Sox — eat it, Detroit — not here.

So, with a little help from my friends, I’ve got three stories on the the impact that the technology in the workplace has on litigation proceedings.

Over at the Technology & Marketing Law Blog, Venkat Balasubramani writes here about a recent decision in which a court found that a passenger’s social media rant against and airline employee may not have been defamation, but it was enough to create a claim of “false light.”