An employee was fired after breaking a company policy. She says her work was scrutinized more closely than others’ because of her race. Her boss says it was because she’d broken the rules before.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: audit, expense report, finance, performance standards, racial bias, treating one employee differently than others

Our team of experts fields real-life, everyday questions from HR managers and gives practical answers that can be applied by any HR pro in the same situation. Today’s topic: Asking laid-off employees to sign a non-compete in exchange for severance pay.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: financial incentive, layoff, non-compete, severance, termination

What’s HR’s strongest weapon in the fight against lawsuits? That’s right, documentation. But too often, documentation is weakened when managers make these common mistakes.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: discipline terminations, documentation, lawsuits, managers, mistakes, staying out of court

For managers, performance reviews aren’t always easy — especially when the employee disagrees with the assessment. Here’s one way you can help mitigate the damage:

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: disagreements, performance reviews, workplace conflict

Human Resources pros do whatever they can to keep their companies safe from lawsuits. But some courts are raising the stakes — and holding HR managers personally liable for legal slip-ups.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Family and Medical Leave Act, FMLA, HR manager, human resources manager, individual liability, individually liable, personal liability, personally liable

You know how careful a company needs to be when an employee is fired. But managers sometimes jump the gun and create legal risks. These questions can help guide them through the termination process:

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: checklist, firing, managers, termination

Was he let go for breaking the company dating policy, or because his relationship was interracial?

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: marriage, office romance, UPS

Say you’d always given one employee freedom in his scheduling so he could attend weekly religious services. But now staffing is tight, and you need to rethink that policy. Are you liable for religious discrimination? Read the facts and decide: Who won this case?

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: accomodations, religion at work, religious holidays

If a few pending laws are passed, employers in some states soon won’t be allowed to tell employees to keep firearms off of company property. Will your state be next?

Read the rest of this entry »