The Extramarital Affair at Work

Do you handle it differently from any other workplace romance? Gossiping. Backstabbing. Falling morale. Fading respect for leaders. What workplace event could cause all these things? An extramarital affair. Nearly one-quarter of workers who reported a workplace romance said their affair involved a person who was married at the time, according to the results of a…

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Deadline of September 30, 2019 Proposed for EEO-1 Comp Data

Start gathering that comp data, if you haven’t already. I have written before about the court order directing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to require employers to submit compensation data with their annual EEO-1 reports. The order came about in a lawsuit filed against the federal Office of Management and Budget and the EEOC by…

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Cell Phone Distractions in the Workplace

We’ve all seen the driver behind the wheel talking on his cell phone and weaving across lanes, making turns without signals, and all sorts of other dangerous maneuvers. One cannot talk on one’s cell phone and hope to really concentrate on other tasks. But what about the employee in the workplace who always appears to…

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How Would You Feel If Your Co-Worker Had a Violent Criminal Record?

Most say they’re more comfortable with those convicted of nonviolent crimes Most respondents to a recent survey said they’d feel comfortable working with or buying goods or services from employees who have nonviolent criminal records. But that sentiment changes drastically if fellow employees have violent criminal records, according to survey results released April 1 by…

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Tips For Drafting Job Descriptions for Exempt Employees

Each year, droves of employers are hauled into court to defend lawsuits in which salaried-exempt employees claim that, because of their job duties, they should have been classified as non-exempt and paid overtime. While a written job description alone cannot defeat such a claim, it will nearly always be one of the primary exhibits in…

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EEOC Announces Extension of EEO-1 Opening, Filing Deadlines

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has announced that it will extend the deadline for filing 2018 EEO-1 reports from March 31, 2019 to May 31, 2019. The survey, which usually opens in early January, will now open in early March of this year. This one-time extension was occasioned by the recent partial shutdown…

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7 Policies to Update in Your 2019 Employee Handbook

Handbooks are a key asset for communicating company policies and promoting fairness and consistency in the workplace, and ever-evolving federal, state and local laws make routinely reviewing and updating handbooks critical for employers. 2018 proved to be a busy year, particularly at the state and local levels as new and amended employment related laws took…

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Immigration Worksite Enforcement Surged in 2018

Immigration worksite investigations, Form I-9 audits and employee arrests spiked in fiscal year (FY) 2018 compared to the previous year, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data. Worksite investigations rose by more than 300 percent, and the agency set 10-year highs for the number of I-9 audits conducted and criminal charges filed. President…

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E-Verify Expired During Government Shutdown

“Three-day rule” suspended; most immigration-related services still running E-Verify—the federal electronic employment eligibility verification service—has expired due to a lapse in funding and will not be available during the partial shutdown of the U.S. government that began Dec. 22. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees the program, announced that the website www.e-verify.gov will…

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Preparing the Workplace for Generation Z

During the next few years, we will see an increase in the number of workers entering the workplace who are part of Generation Z. This generation, born after 1995 and now in their 20s, brings a new perspective on personal and professional values, an inherent understanding of technology and an acceptance of diversity unlike those…

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