If you’re considering hiring inmates through a work-release program, carefully weigh whether you will have to pay them as regular employees under the FLSA, or...
Current and former drivers of Bimbo Bakeries USA who sued the company for allegedly breaking California’s meal and rest break laws are now offering to settle for...
In today’s economic climate, you might be tempted to forgo hiring a temp to fill in for an employee who’s out on FMLA leave. Especially if you initially...
Are you maximizing all that your BlackBerry offers to simplify your life? Here are 10 shortcuts: 1. Create the @ symbol and the dot when typing e-mail addresses by...
Severe allergies may be considered disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), particularly since the definition of disability has been significantly...
If your promotion processes are haphazard—devoid of objective criteria and without a clear system for choosing candidates—you could wind up facing a...
If you discharge an employee after she exhausts time off available through the FMLA, sick leave and other benefits, she may still be eligible for unemployment...
Some employees try to fabricate a lawsuit by resigning and then alleging that some form of discrimination made their working conditions so intolerable that they had no...
The cardinal rule for employers is to punish like offenses the same way. But that doesn’t mean that you don’t have some flexibility. For example, when two...
Illinois’ long-standing mistrust of the federal government’s E-Verify employment eligibility verification program has now been codified into a new law...
Whether a group is dividing a restaurant bill or working on a shared budget, the more cooperative the group is, the more likely it can rise above a challenge. It helps...
With workplace budgets still tight, recession-weary employees need a morale booster now more than ever. It's time to use a little creativity to reward...
Employees who suffer from an impaired ability to become pregnant are disabled under the ADA. Since childbearing is a major life activity, conditions that interfere...
Just in time for March Madness … the new draft of a prominent American Psychiatric Association (APA) manual recommends expanding the category of “mental...
The FLSA allows employers to round off an hourly employee’s arrival or departure time to the nearest five minutes, tenth of an hour or quarter of an hour. But your...
Don’t, under any circumstances, use co-worker resentment over disability accommodations as a reason to transfer or terminate the disabled employee. If you’re...
Harry Truman didn’t go to college but educated himself through reading widely, from Plutarch and Shakespeare to Dickens and the Koran. His favorite author was Mark...
A reader of The HR Specialist Forum asks: “What can I do about a data entry employee who doesn’t sit upright? I don’t mean ordinary slouching; this guy...
Join The HR Specialist in celebrating the first-ever “HR Professionals Week,” a five-day tribute to all that human resources pros do to make American...
Child care is expensive, and many parents eager to avoid high day-care costs ask their own parents to watch the kids. That’s great if it works out. But in...
