Skip to main content

What I've Been Reading This Week: HR Edition


This week I came across several great HR related articles that I wanted point out for readers.  In particular, the article on the tips for investigating workplace complaints was one of my favorites and highly applicable to most/all employers.

As always, below are a few articles that caught my eye this week.


What Employers and Employees Can Learn From the Tom Brady Situation

The HR Capitalist has some great HR related articles that I always enjoy reading through.  This particular note on the Tom Brady situation jumped out at me in particular, as it gives employers and employees some good advice on what to do when caught in a situation where an employee is accused of lying.  Regardless of whether you are "defending the wall" for Brady or think the N.F.L. is on a witch hunt, this article has some practical advice that is worth a review.



I would be hard pressed to think of many employers who have never had to deal with a workplace complaint at one point or another.  As Casey Sullivan writes, there are seven tips that are suggested for how employers can investigate workplace complaints.  It is a short list, but well worth a read!



Ed Carlstedt incorporates a very useful Seinfeld analogy into how an employer should write employee performance evaluations to truly reflect an employee's performance, rather than taking the "easy" way out and sugar coating the review.  As the article notes, while it might be "easy" to write a positive review for an under performing employee (rather than being honest), this can come back to bite the employer later.  Word to the wise, when it is accurate, an employer needs to be brutally honest about under performing employees.  


Workplace Injuries: A Look at Cal/OSHA Procedures

Workplace injuries are an unfortunate matter that many HR offices have to deal with on a routine basis.  This article from Seyfarth Shaw has an interesting look at how some Cal/OSHA offices are handling the reporting requirements of workplace injuries.  As the article notes, California employers could face potential citations if they do not report incidents that have no relation to the work environment.  Tread carefully, California employers...


When A Subordinate Becomes Your FaceBook Friend...

Susan Hartmus Hiser has a good note on the often risky nature of accepting a friend request from a work subordinate on FaceBook.  As the article points out, while it may seem like a good way to build rapport with subordinates by engaging in social media activity together, it opens up a potential pandora's box of legal issues.  Like with any interaction between a supervisor and subordinate (especially on social media when posts, comments, etc. can be misconstrued or taken out of context), be careful.  Be very careful.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

NLRB: Discussion Among Employees About Tip Pooling is Protected Concerted Activity

  This Advice Memorandum from the National Labor Relations Board’s Associate General Counsel, Jayme Sophir, addressed whether employees which discussed and complained about tip pooling at work constituted protected concerted activity. In relevant part, an employer in New York operated a chain of steakhouses.  While tip pooling was in place at these steakhouses, some of the employees objected to it on the grounds that it was not transparent and improperly divided tips among the workers.  Employees were told not to complain or talk to each other about the tip pool and were told that doing so would endanger their jobs.  Despite the employer later attempting to provide some clarity as to how the tips were being divided, rancor still existed among some employees.  At one point, the employees were told by a general manager that some employees that had been talking about the tip pool were “cleared out” and the employer would continue to do so. In the Advice Memorandum, it was noted that emplo

Happening Tomorrow: Connecticut’s Minimum Wage Increases

For those employers and employees alike in Connecticut, mark your calendars as tomorrow, the minimum wage rate increases in the state from $13/hour to $14/hour. This wage hike comes after Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont had signed Public Act 19-4 into law in 2019 which progressively raised the state’s hourly minimum wage rate every year for five years.  In fact, next year, the hourly wage rate will top out at $15/hour.  Beginning in January of 2024, the hourly wage rate will be indexed to the employment cost index. For additional information:   https://portal.ct.gov/Office-of-the-Governor/News/Press-Releases/2022/06-2022/Governor-Lamont-Reminds-Residents-That-Minimum-Wage-Is-Scheduled-To-Increase-on-Friday

What I’ve Been Reading This Week

A few years ago, I remember when the “Fight for $15” movement was taking off around the country.  Lo and behold, it appears that a $15/hour minimum wage is not the stopping point, which should be no surprise.  As the below article notes, New York is aggressively moving to ramp up hourly wage rates even higher.  While all the  below articles are worth a read, I called particular attention to that one. As always, below are a couple article that caught my eye this week. Disney World Workers Reject Latest Contract Offer Late last week, it was announced that workers at Disney World had rejected the most recent contract offer from the company, calling on their employer to do better.  As Brooks Barnes at The New York Times writes, the unions that represent about 32,000 workers at Disney World reported their members resoundingly rejected the 5 year contract offer which would have seen workers receive a 10% raise and retroactive increased back pay.  While Disney’s offer would have increased pa