Human Resources

Facebook Firings: Think Before You Leap

Terminations based on employees' Facebook posts (or posts on other social media sites) are nothing new. The pace of such firings reached such a crescendo three years ago that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a legal memorandum summarizing how it had ruled in a variety of...

22 May, 2019

From the HR Support Center: Can We Require That At-Will Employees Give Notice Before Leaving?

How do I keep an employee at-will but require them to give notice before leaving? Unfortunately, an employer may not simultaneously utilize the at-will employment provisions and require that an employee provide notice ahead of separation. Instead, I recommend requesting that employees provide notice as a...

20 May, 2019

Learn the Value of Employee Self-Service

Employee self-service is a web-based tool that allows employees to retrieve information and perform specific transactions from a central portal. In many organizations, this portal is used to deliver HR, payroll and timekeeping information. Over the years, ESS has blossomed into a global phenomenon, and is...

15 May, 2019

From the HR Support Center: What You Need to Know Before Disciplining or Terminating an Employee

The prospect of corrective action or termination makes a lot of managers nervous. That’s understandable. For employees, being disciplined or losing their job can be anything from moderately embarrassing to financially devastating, but it’s rarely a happy occasion. For the employers, these actions always come...

13 May, 2019

Make Sure Employees Are Eligible to Work in the United States

Under the Immigration Reform and Control Act, employers are required to examine certain documents, such as drivers' licenses, when they hire new employees. They must then record the information on I-9 forms and keep the documents for a specified period of time. Responsibilities By law, employers must...

08 May, 2019

From the HR Support Center: If an employee comes to work sick, can we legally send them home?

Yes. You can absolutely send a sick employee home, but you’ll want to make sure you’re doing so consistently for visibly-ill employees. In fact, we would recommend having a policy to that effect and clearly communicating that policy to your employees. That way sick employees...

06 May, 2019

Payroll Compliance for the Multistate Employer

If your business has only one location, you need to worry about federal law and applicable state and local laws for only that single location. But if you're operating out of multiple states, you must heed federal law plus the rules for all the different...

01 May, 2019

From the HR Support Center: How Do We Increase Employee Retention?

We’ve seen a lot of employee turnover lately. Do you have any tips for increasing retention? Employee retention is one of the most difficult and expensive challenges faced by business owners, managers, and HR departments. Fortunately, the keys to retention are simple and straightforward, though certainly...

29 April, 2019

Mitigating Workplace Injury Risks for Telecommuters

First, the good news. The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) generally doesn't cover your employees' home offices. The Department of Labor (DOL) states that home-based workplaces aren't explicitly excluded by OSHA, but the law doesn't hold employers responsible for home offices and won't conduct inspections. An...

24 April, 2019

From the HR Support Center: Should We Ban Romantic Relationships in the Workplace?

Depending on the nature of the relationship, how you handle workplace romances is mostly up to your organization’s preference or policy. If the employees do not report to one another and are engaged in a mutually consenting relationship, no action may be needed. Some organizations prefer...

22 April, 2019