Empowering HR leaders with insightful content.
There’s glitter on the floor after the party Girls carryin’ their shoes down in the lobby Candle wax and Polaroids on the hardwood floor You and me from the night before -Taylor Swift, “New Year’s Day” Glitter should be the only mess a company needs to clean up after a holiday party. Holiday party season …
Continue reading “The Ultimate Holiday Party Planning Guide: HR Edition”
With the 2024 election quickly approaching, employers should expect an increase in political conversation and activity in the workplace. It is essential during political seasons for both employers and employees to understand how to navigate political speech and activity to maintain positive working relationships and overall productivity. Generally, public-sector employers have little flexibility to govern …
Continue reading “The Freedom—and Limits—of Political Speech in the Workplace”
Too often, job descriptions remain unchanged for years, merely given a perfunctory review each time an employer needs to hire a new candidate before being quickly rubber-stamped and attached to the job posting. Job descriptions are easy to breeze by when employers conduct compliance reviews – they are not typically legally binding documents and are …
Continue reading “Let’s Start at the Very Beginning – Drafting Job Descriptions to Minimize Risk”
In today’s world, countless individuals suffer from anxiety in its various forms. According to the World Health Organization, in 2019, 301 million people in the world had an anxiety disorder, which makes anxiety disorders “the most common of all mental disorders.”[1] But is “anxiety” a “disability” in a legal sense? Is someone with “anxiety” entitled …
Continue reading “The Difficulty of Defining a Disability—Anxiety”
On December 7, 2022, Congress passed the “Speak Out Act” (the “Act”), which codified into federal law limits on what types of information employers are allowed to include in nondisclosure or non-disparagement clauses. Specifically, under the Act, employers are now prohibited from requiring employees to sign pre-dispute agreements that contain nondisclosure clauses or non-disparagement clauses …
Continue reading “Why the “Speak Out Act” is More Like a Whisper”
On October 20, 2022, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) released a new workplace poster titled: “Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal.” According to the EEOC, covered employers* must post this poster within the workplace going forward. Those who do not comply may be subject to fines for noncompliance. The law currently requires covered …
Continue reading “Employers – Post the New EEOC Poster in Your Workplace (It is REQUIRED)”
Oftentimes, healthcare entities’ employees are also patients of the healthcare entity, creating a dual role as employer and employee as well as doctor and patient. But what can an employer do when they need to access an employee’s medical records? Are these medical records treated differently than non-employee patients? Throughout the last few years, we …
Although the COVID-19 pandemic has occupied a preeminent place in all of our minds for the past two years, it was not that long ago that the #MeToo movement swept the nation, forcing employers and employees to examine new—yet somehow also old—issues of discrimination, retaliation, and harassment in the workplace. From a cultural standpoint, #MeToo …
Continue reading “#MeToo 5 Years Later – How The States Took Over the Narrative”
The Federal Government has updated some of its standard forms employers are probably used to seeing. Last week, we discussed the EEOC’s addition of a gender marker option to its voluntary self-identification process and passport applications. This week, we will discuss the changes to Form I-9. Federal law requires that every employer who recruits, refers …
Continue reading “UPDATED FEDERAL FORMS PART 2: I-9 Identification Documents Must Be Unexpired”
The entire country has been abuzz about President Biden’s Plan for “Vaccinating the Unvaccinated.” The Plan would require private employers with 100 or more employees (“Covered Employers”) to ensure their workers are vaccinated from COVID-19 or tested weekly and to provide paid time off for employees to get vaccinated.[1] To execute this Plan, the Department …