Question: What do you advise regarding screening social media accounts during the hiring process? Answer: It is strongly recommend against reviewing a candidate’s social media accounts during the interview process. By doing so, you could be exposed to information about the protected classes to which your candidate belongs. For instance, if you went to their Facebook page, […]
Back in August, OSHA reported on the new OSHA rule, which would require certain employers to submit injury and illness data electronically. The new reporting requirement was scheduled to go into effect on July 1st of this year. However, OSHA just announced that the requirement has been delayed indefinitely. OSHA has not given the reason […]
You never know which terminated employee will sue you, or for what reason. That’s why you must always treat every pending termination as if you will have to prove that you had solid business reasons for your decision. Even if you don’t share the reasons with the employee being terminated, internal documents should clearly show […]
Q. We just hired a contractor for a special project. He has complained that he is sensitive to the smells in our office, which include personal fragrance, scent diffusers and “smelly” food. Since he isn’t our employee can we just tell him to put up with the odor? A. Assuming this person is properly classified as […]
You can help limit your organization’s legal liability by counseling managers to keep three basic principles in mind when documenting discipline. Documentation should be: 1. Immediate. Managers should take notes right after an incident occurs. It’s much harder for an employee to cast doubt on the boss’s motives if the written explanation comes right after […]
To be successful, employee feedback should not be an annual or even quarterly event. It should be a routine part of a manager’s day. In the same way, managers should make documentation of employee performance, behavior and discipline a regular habit. It’s OK if this documentation is informal, e.g., handwritten notes tossed in an employee’s […]
An employee is on leave, but you have a question. Is it okay to call them? Business stops for no one, even when an employee is out on leave, regardless of requested paid time off, FMLA, or otherwise. Why should you be inconvenienced? In this day and age of everyone being connected, it’s easy to […]
What is Radical Candor? That’s a great question. Here is the definition from the Radical Candor website. “Radical Candor™ is the ability to Challenge Directly and show you Care Personally at the same time. Radical Candor will help you and all the people you work with do the best work of your lives and build the best relationships of your career. […]
Earlier this month, executives from the giant online arts-and-craft website Etsy.com went to Washington to urge changes to how artisans, entrepreneurs and other independent workers are treated. Etsy hosts the online stores of some 1.4 million independent artists and crafts people from across the country, making it easier for them to sell their creations. The […]
Don’t let an employee tell you he should be excused from appropriate workplace behavior because of a disability. Employers have the right to expect employees to treat each other with a certain level of civility. You don’t have to tolerate any abusive, disruptive employee. Recent case: Robert worked as a television weather reporter for a decade […]
