Human Resources

Working mothers are 52% more likely than other women to leave their jobs if they work more than 50 hours a week in a field dominated by men, according to researchers at Indiana University.

A new study by the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern found that once candi­dates make it to the interview level, the most common mechanism by which they are evaluated is their similarity to the interviewer.

Under the FMLA regulations, if an employee is incapacitated, someone else can notify the employer, whose FMLA obligations are then triggered. But that doesn’t mean that a co-worker merely telling a supervisor that the employee is “sick” works as notification. Employers are entitled to better notice than that.

Employees who claim discrimination sometimes fill out EEOC complaint forms before they hire an attorney. That means they often fail to correctly mark the boxes that indicate the type of discrimination they are alleging. Fortunately, courts won’t allow claims for other forms of discrimination if an unchecked box on the form ­covered the claim the employee later asserts.

Lady Gaga’s former personal assistant wants the flamboyant performer and cultural phenomenon to cough up another $400,000 in back overtime pay. Claiming she was on call 24/7, the assistant’s lawsuit says she should have been paid overtime for 128 hours per week in addition to her $75,000 a year salary.

Employees of the Council of Better Business Bureaus spend nearly 30% of all their working hours at home. The 114-employee organization last year was able to move out of the office building it has occupied since the 1980s and into one about half its size.

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs has issued new guidance about how and when federal contractors may use a job applicant’s criminal background in the hiring process.

In a survey last month, employers said they planned to hire 2.1% more new college grads from the Class of 2013 than they did from the Class of 2012. Good news for young workers, right? Not so much.

If you place an older worker who has complained about age discrimination on a performance improvement plan  that is essentially impossible to complete, watch out! You’re setting yourself up to pay out huge punitive damages—even if the employee winds up winning just a modest retaliation verdict.

You can’t fire everyone who makes a stupid comment—or even two. But you also can’t ignore insensitive or offensive speech, just hoping for the best. The best approach is direct: Pull the employee aside and explain that neither you nor the company tolerate racist, sexist, ageist or other offensive comments ...