An employee handbook can be the foundation of employee performance and a shield against lawsuits, or it can be a ticking time bomb that confuses employees and strips...
Q. One of our employees has tattoos on her upper arms. She usually wears long sleeves, but summer is coming. Can we require her to cover the tattoos? We don’t...
It’s expensive to train employees, especially if the job is highly specialized. Smart employers protect their investments by having new employees sign an...
The Supreme Court of Texas has just ruled that arbitration agreements are legally valid and enforceable as long as they are stand-alone contracts—and not part of...
Employees often have legitimate reasons for accusing their employers of retaliation. But sometimes, employees themselves retaliate against a company, either out of...
The Federal Jury Act makes it clear that employers may not “discharge, threaten to discharge, intimidate, or coerce any permanent employee by reason of such...
Q. Our company’s employee handbook states that workers receive two weeks of paid vacation a year. Some of our employees have accrued significant amounts of...
Here’s added incentive to have crystal-clear attendance policies: Employees who are terminated for violating unclear or confusing attendance rules may end up...
Your employee handbook can be a helpful reference providing needed information, or it can turn into a weapon that employees and their attorneys can use against you in...
There are many good reasons to regularly review your employee handbook. But here’s another good reason to review and update your policies: A poorly written or...
We don't say anywhere that employees can't have tattoos, but our president (we're a bank) wants to implement a policy. Is it OK to put in our dress code that all tattoos...
Frequently, absenteeism problems arise because a company has no clear policy on the issue. A company policy statement should be distributed to all employees,...
Q. Over the holidays, many of our employees received packages at the office. We are worried that this might be a disruption. Should we ban employees from receiving...
Q. I am a manager for a local bank. I strongly suspect that one of my tellers is stealing because his drawer is short every week. I have interviewed several employees,...
The widespread use of blogs and social networking web sites such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter has employers worried about what their employees are...
Under federal law, marijuana is illegal. Some states, however, have legalized medical marijuana; last month, New Jersey became the 14th state to do so. The...
Here’s a potential electronic communications problem you may not have considered. An employee who forwards e-mail from a company computer and e-mail account to his...
We’re updating our employee handbook and we would like to include a policy limiting employees’ use of the phones for personal business. We want to allow...
