Human Resources

In 2005, Georgia Power discovered that more than 53% of its 8,500 em­­ployees had or were at risk of developing a chronic health condition. Since then, the utility has enrolled thousands of employees in its “Southern LifeStyle” wellness program, helping workers slim down, eat healthier and cut their risk for diseases.

When preparing to terminate a worker, you want to be able to produce the most solid documentation to defend a potential lawsuit. Just make sure supervisors know to document employee performance and behavior at the time it occurs—not just before or after the employee leaves the building.

Do you hand out periodic bonuses to employees? If so, be sure you can clearly describe how you calculate bonuses and what em­­ployees need to do to receive one. If you must later terminate an employee—and claim poor performance was the reason—she may point to the bonus as proof you fired her for discriminatory reasons.

When managers interview job candidates, it’s nearly impossible to get a good reading of a person’s moral compass. Here are some effective “situational” or “behavioral” questions and scenarios managers can pose.

Here’s a bit of good news. Just because an employee claims she was hurt at work and files for workers’ compensation doesn’t mean she automatically has a federal ADA retaliation case if she’s fired.

Many organizations serve customers who speak a language other than English, and require em­ployees to have specific bilingual skills. If that describes your organization, make sure you can defend the language requirement if you’re sued.

Some employees do well for years, only to have their performance slip. There may come a time when you have to let the employee go. But what about all those glowing evaluations from years past? If you can prove that the employee’s performance has genuinely declined, those earlier evaluations won’t cause any trouble in court.

You don’t always have to punish two employees who break the same rule exactly alike. Just make sure you explain the difference for the record. That kind of documentation will prove crucial if an employee decides to sue.

The National Labor Relations Board’s Division of Advice recently released a memorandum that should hearten ­­employers. It concluded that requiring employees to sign an agreement that contains a noncompete clause or a “moonlighting” provision would not unlawfully interfere with an employee’s exercise of rights under Section 7 of National Labor Relations Act.

A new law for 2013 requires Califor­nia employers that pay regular commissions to provide employees with a written contract detailing the formula for calculating commissions, as well as the method of payment.