Question: Tricky situation here: We have a great supervisor with a wonderful
track record and excellent evaluations. But recently he missed some
clear warning signs...
It didn't take fancy detective work for one employer to crack this case. A running shower, a sleeping man and a squad car parked out front was all one employer needed to...
While workplace bullying certainly has existed for as long as mean people have worked alongside others, only recently has it emerged as an issue for the courts to...
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 ...
