Ask The Attorney
Answers by Nancy Delogu, Esq.,
Littler Mendelson
Get answers to your most pressing employment law questions.
Fast Track HR Audit
Answer a series of multiple-choice questions to gauge your level of employment-law compliance. Your answers will generate a list of free forms, policies and other resources to help you plug your compliance holes.
State HR Law Summaries
Make sure your company is in total compliance with all state HR laws. Our State HR Law Summaries brief you on key HR laws in all 50 states and alert you to legislative or regulatory changes.
Forms
Forms Access more than 70 customizable forms and sample policies in Word and PDF format—from applications to termination letters and everything in between.
Employee Relations

Team dysfunction: Why it happens and how to fix it

1/27/2012
Managers can bring the most intelligent, creative people to their departments, but if the employees aren’t able to work as a team, the department’s productivity will suffer. If your team isn’t firing on all cylinders, it’s important to identify the reasons why … and what you can do to overcome the dysfunction.
HR Management

Staff Twitter accounts: Who 'owns' the followers?

1/27/2012
If your employees post on their work-related Twitter accounts, a pending lawsuit in a federal California court could answer an important question: Who owns that Twitter “handle” and those followers when the employee leaves?
Terminations

Need to conduct a layoff? Use same criteria you use for hiring

1/25/2012
Sometimes, layoffs are inevitable … and they’re always a legal minefield. Get it wrong and your attorneys’ fees can easily exceed the labor costs you hoped to save. Decide who should go in much the same way you decide who to hire. Look at the jobs that will survive and select the employees who best fit those jobs.
Compensation & Benefits

IRS tells how to make bonuses tax deductible for employers

1/25/2012
The IRS has clarified that em­­ployers can take a current-year tax deduc­­tion for a fixed amount of bonuses that will be paid to employees during the following year, even though the amount that each employee will re­­ceive, and even the identity of employees, aren’t known until after the tax year ends.
Employment Law

It's OK to discipline employees for stonewalling HR investigations

1/24/2012
Sexual harassment allegations often come down to he said/she said arguments. Without hearing from both sides, there’s no way to determine what happened. If one of the employees involved in the allegations won’t talk, you can discipline him for refusing to co­­operate and the courts will back you up.
Hiring

Sears aims to hire more military veterans in 2012

1/19/2012
Sears Holdings has publicly vowed to increase its hiring of veterans by 10% over the next year. Sears’ senior VP of human resources is a Navy veteran, who says as more military members return from active duty, U.S. employers have an obligation to support them, especially by offering jobs.
Article Archives

HR issues are a hot topic in state legislatures

Flex drives customer satisfaction, record profits

Step by step: Becoming a great manager, the Google way

DOL offers guidance on health plan rebates

How to become a great manager, the Google way

Nontraditional benefits set 'best and brightest' apart

What counts as illegal retaliation? DOL explains

FMLA: Flare-ups every Friday? Check it out

When can worker take 401(k) hardship distribution?

IRS clarifies fine points of VCSP classification initiative

Labor pains: NLRB keeps turning out anti-business hits

Indiana experiments with pay for performance

Health insurance premium penalties are taking hold

Marketing firm makes recruitment a game