HR Law 101: Under the law in most states, if there’s no employment contract, workers are employed on an “at-will” basis. That means employers have the right to fire employees at any time for any reason or no reason, and, conversely, employees have the right to leave the organization at any time ...

HR Law 101: The most reliable way to protect your organization from charges of wrongful discharge is to establish and enforce a system of progressive discipline. Make it clear to all your supervisors that they're expected to abide by your policy ...

HR Law 101: Some supervisors try to skirt the whole issue of firing someone by resorting to constructive discharge. Their logic: If we make an employee’s time at work so intolerable, he or she will choose to resign. That’s an unwise strategy ...

HR Law 101: One of the risks you run when key employees quit is that they could potentially leak valuable information. If you take the precaution of having them sign covenants not to compete and confidentiality covenants when they join your organization, you may be able to limit this risk ...

HR Law 101: Severance policies are generally considered employee benefit plans entitled to ERISA protection, many courts have ruled. For employers, that means conforming to ERISA’s recordkeeping and disclosure requirements ...

HR Law 101: The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act of 1988 requires certain employers to give affected employees 60 days’ notice of an impending layoff or plant closing. Employers can be liable for back pay to employees for any portion of the 60-day notice period ...

HR Law 101: Under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) of 1985, employers are required to continue offering health insurance benefits to employees and their covered dependents for a specified period after they leave the organization ...

HR Law 101: The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 made changes to three areas of the continuing-coverage rules that apply to group health plans under COBRA ...

HR Law 101: Under the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) and state laws, employers are obligated to pay payroll taxes to provide unemployment compensation to employees who lose their jobs. By understanding how the system works, you may be able to cut your state tax rate through efficient claims control ...

HR Law 101: Nowadays, most organizations conduct exit interviews with departing employees to determine why they’ve resigned. Exit interviews can be a great HR tool, but you have to know what questions to ask and, at the same time, what questions to avoid for legal reasons ...