WIRTW #89
This week’s highlighted post is courtesy of Dennis Westlind at World of Work . Dennis brings us a link to an online game, Card Checked: The ...
Archive: July 2009
A short rant, and a lesson on employee appreciation
By Jon Hyman
I’m always happy to answer an email or a phone call from a reader. Yesterday, I received an email from someone asking me a question about so...
Nashville jury rejects associational harassment claim
By Jon Hyman
If a white employee stands up for her black co-workers, and is then ostracized and called racially-charged names because of it, is she entit...
Do you know? Employers can communicate directly with employees’ health care providers for FMLA certifications
By Jon Hyman
The recent changes to the FMLA’s regulations make it that much easier for employers to gather information about the medical need for an empl...
Federal minimum wage increases, but does it matter to Ohio’s employers?
By Jon Hyman
On July 24, the federal minimum wage rate increased to $7.25 per hour. However, as of January 1, 2009, Ohio’s minimum wage raised to $7.30 p...
WIRTW #88
By Jon Hyman
A few weeks ago I cautioned about the dangers that lurk in positive recommendations on LinkedIn . Two of my blogging brethren disagree. Read...
Best Of... Department of Labor to step up enforcement; employers should step up self-audits
By Jon Hyman
You may have noticed that I write a lot about wage and hour issues. I do so because it’s an issue that often gets even well-intentioned busi...
Is “card check” really dead?
By Jon Hyman
Okay, so today is not “Best of…” as I had promised on Friday. This story is too important to pass on. The New York Times is reporting that ...
WIRTW #87
By Jon Hyman
Many harassment cases involve things being rubbed. Walter Olson, whose Overlawyered just celebrated its 10th anniversary, brings us what ma...
EEOC enters the fray on proper waivers of discrimination claims
By Jon Hyman
As unemployment heads towards 10%, layoffs have unfortunately become the norm for many employers. As predicted , the EEOC has seen both a s...
Employees’ social networking continues to confound employers
By Jon Hyman
Let’s suppose that you learn that a group of employees have created an on-line group that’s sole purpose is to provide a forum for other emp...
Do you know? Ohio has criminal penalties for unauthorized computer use or access
By Jon Hyman
Ohio has criminal statutes that cover employees’ unauthorized use or access of their employers’ computers. Ohio Revised Code 2913.04 crimin...
Court adopts no-harm, no-foul approach to employer misstatements about FMLA coverage
By Jon Hyman
By definition, the FMLA only applies to those businesses that employ 50 or more employees within a 75-mile radius. A smaller employer, howev...
WIRTW #86
By Jon Hyman
Welcome to this Michael Jackson-free edition of What I’m Reading This Week . As an update to my post yesterday on racism at The Valley Swi...
Sadly, racism is alive and well
By Jon Hyman
I grew up in Northeast Philadelphia. Not more than a mile from my house, just across the border in Huntingdon Valley, sits the Valley Swim C...
Announcing KJK’s Proprietary HR and Employment Law Audit
By Jon Hyman
I’ve written in the past about the importance of routine, proactive audits of employment policies and practices: Use a wage and hour au...
Is LinkedIn a risk for employers?
By Jon Hyman
One of the more interesting features of LinkedIn is the ability to recommend your connections. In fact, LinkedIn will prod you to recommend...
Do you know? Perfect attendance bonuses and the FMLA
By Jon Hyman
Before the recent FMLA regulatory amendments took effect, an employer could not deny a perfect attendance bonus to an employee whose only a...
Acting on inaccurate information is not enough to establish pretext
By Jon Hyman
Four years after an employer terminates an employee for lying, the terminated employee passes a polygraph test that showed that she likely d...
An Independence Day thought
By Jon Hyman
As we prepare to celebrate our freedom this July 4th, I thought I’d share the following letter to the editor about the Ricci decision , by C...
Court holds wage and hour laws don’t protect oral complaints
By Jon Hyman
Imagine an employee walks into your HR office and complains that the company has misclassified her as exempt and that she is owed overtime. ...
Employees’ web-based email may be off-limits to employers
By Jon Hyman
It is generally understood by employees and employers that employer-provided email systems belong to the the employer, and that employees do...