Q. During the busiest period of the year, a veteran employee asked for time off to attend her nephew’s graduation. After being turned down, she called in sick on...
Q. We have a nonunion shop. It is not uncommon for our employees to insist that they have the right to have a witness present during investigatory interviews and...
You’ve done everything right. You have a solid anti-harassment and discrimination policy, a simple and effective complaint process and you strive to fairly,...
Faced with a performance problem, too many employers seize on the first reason to discharge an employee instead of thoroughly reviewing the person’s work and...
Organizations that develop systems to identify, evaluate and respond to
ambiguous threats are much better at averting failure than those that
don’t, according to...
EAP-provided telephone counseling is controversial but becoming more common. Still, quality varies among vendors. Screen potential teletherapy providers carefully using...
It’s Monday morning, the coffee has yet to be brewed and already a huge problem has dropped onto your desk. An employee left a voice mail saying he has been...
Q. In a previous issue of HR Specialist, you said that employers can’t force employees to visit a psychologist. Our Internet policy says that if we find employees...
Many employers who have progressive discipline and no-fault attendance programs believe they must stick to progressive discipline for every attendance infraction. But...
Insubordination is a perfectly logical and legal reason to fire an employee. But juries will be suspicious if it looks like one of your supervisors "set up"...
An otherwise good employee is acting out of character, and you think she needs help. Do you insist she contact the employee assistance program (EAP), and send her home?...
Q. How many times should we allow an employee to be late before giving an oral warning? We have a mandatory 8:30 a.m. production meeting. Everyone knows traffic is out...
Issue: If an employee believes a boss's order is illegal, she can refuse to do it. And you can't punish her for that defiance. Risk: You could run afoul of ...
Leaders have tremendous
power to inspire and encourage, but some techniques actually undermine
performance. Here’s Samuel Spitalli’s list of 10 no-nos:
Managers may want to "get tough" on employees who have given them trouble in the past. But, as the following case shows, employees can sue for retaliation if they can...
As part of your performance reviews or progressive discipline process, you probably ask for the employee's signature to acknowledge the issues discussed and actions...
Issue: Some supervisors believe in a "No complaints, no problem" motto. Risk: By ignoring blatant harassment or discrimination, supervisors open the organization to...
