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The Employer Handbook BlogU.S. employees had a lot of discrimination claims is FY2011
How many claims were filed? And how much money did the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recover for individuals? Find out after the jump…
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Top 5 Reasons Employers Give Their Employees the Boot
I’m in Las Vegas.
So, for today, Jane Smith has control of the The Employer handbook. Jane is a freelance writer and blogger. She writes about free background checks for Backgroundcheck.org. After the jump, check out her top 5 reasons employers give employees the boot. Questions and comments can be sent to: janesmth161@gmail.com
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POLL: Would you fire this employee for her Facebook comments?
I read this on ZDnet yesterday:
Administrative Law Judge Ellen Bass has ruled Jennifer O’Brien, a first-grade teacher at School 21 in Paterson, New Jersey, should lose her tenured job, because of a Facebook comment she made about her students. O’Brien has been on administrative leave since March, which is when she posted her status update saying “I’m not a teacher — I’m a warden for future criminals!” She claimed she wrote it out of exasperation after several students disrupted her lessons, one pupil hit her, and another stole money from her.
Bass said O’Brien “demonstrated a complete lack of sensitivity to the world in which her students live” and called her conduct “inexcusable.”
This is what a social-media policy in a unionized workplace looks like
Do you have a unionized workforce? If you have a social-media policy, it should not expressly restrict employees’ rights to discuss terms and conditions of employment. Otherwise, you may be violating the National Labor Relations Act.
And to those non-union employers who have social-media policies, don’t think for a second that you have carte blanche to control what employees say and do online. The National Labor Relations Act covers you as well.
So how can you draft a social-media policy that won’t run afoul of the National Labor Relations Act? Find out after the jump…
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6 things you must know about social media & your workforce
Cisco just completed this study, which shows just how much social media, device freedom, and mobile work means to the next generation. Thinking about banning social media in the workplace? Before you flip the kill switch, read the rest of this post after the jump…
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Post-employment acts don’t create a hostile work environment
When Krysten Overly, a financial advisor at a bank, told her male boss that she was resigning, Overly claims that he grabbed Overly’s arm to push her out the door. And as Overly left her boss’s office, he yelled, “Good riddance, bitch!”
What a jerk! But, as a matter of law, did he contribute to a sexually harassing hostile work environment? Find out after the jump…
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What if you forget to tell an employee about FMLA leave?
If you have 50 or more employees, you must abide by the Family and Medical Leave Act. The FMLA affords up to 12 workweeks of leave in a 12-month period, among other things, to care for a parent with a serious health condition. But let’s say that you have dropped the ball and failed to provide your employees with:
- information or notice explaining the provisions of the FMLA,
- information regarding how to file complaints for violations of the FMLA, and
- FMLA information in “any written guidance to employees concerning employee benefits or leave rights, such as in an employee handbook.”
Let’s even assume that one of your employees takes leave that would otherwise qualify under the FMLA, but you fail to tell that employee that the FMLA covers the leave.
Have you interfered with your employee’s FMLA rights? I’ll spin some Alice in Chains and drop the 411 after the jump…
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Employer lessons from Penn State (Hint: ignorance is not bliss)
This Jerry Sandusky situation is blood curdling. I won’t rehash the facts. But in case you’ve been living under a rock for the past few days, you can read about them here.
I am not going to comment on Penn State’s moral compass. Rather, as a labor-and-employment-law attorney, I see plenty of lessons for employers. Let’s just focus on three simple ones:
- Take complaints seriously. Always. Fortunately, most employers do. Those who don’t appear to condone the behavior.
What are the latest trends in social media and performance reviews?
In yesterday’s post, while highlighting the latest trends in social media and litigation, I noted that most companies in some way restrict employee access at work to social media content. However, the number of blockers is falling. In 2009, approximately 2 in 3 companies had some type of restrict. Last year, that number fell to 55%.
As some employers learn to embrace accept tolerate employee use of social media, some experts predict that others may embrace social media to the point where they begin to incorporate social media into performance evaluations. These evaluations will focus on social goals, feedback, and recognition. This infographic explains from where we have come with performance reviews and offers a potential online path to improving them.
What do you think? Sound off in the comments below.
What are the latest trends in social media and litigation?
This week I plan to dedicate a few blog posts to highlighting some of the latest trends in social media and [fill in the blank]. Today, after the jump, it’s social media and litigation…
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