Do we need to tell employees when employment laws change?

Possibly. As the employer, you need to stay up to date on legal changes that affect your organization, and your leadership team, managers, human resources, and payroll departments should be kept aware of any new legal requirements or rights that will apply to them or...

What do we do if we find a discrepancy in a background check?

It depends on the seriousness of the discrepancy, whether the information is pertinent to the job itself, and whether the candidate would be ineligible for the position. You probably don’t need to make an issue of a minor variance like a candidate telling you they...

What are the basic steps of a harassment investigation?

Investigating a claim of harassment can be intimidating. For this Q&A, we’ve provided a condensed overview of the steps for an investigation:   Select an interviewer. This person should be an impartial manager, company officer, or HR representative. Ideally,...

We have a longtime employee who’s no longer meeting expectations. The owner is afraid to hold them accountable because they’re over 40 and therefore in a protected class. What can we do?

In general, you shouldn’t let an employee’s protected class status deter you from holding them accountable to your performance expectations. After all, everyone belongs to protected classes. Being in one simply means you can’t be treated differently because you’re in...

Are there questions or topics we should avoid during the hiring process? How can we be sure we don’t accidentally get into one of those topics?

Answered by the HR Experts You should avoid asking questions that could be viewed as discriminatory or that infringe on a candidate’s privacy. Essentially, you want to avoid any questions that are not directly related to the candidate’s ability to perform the job....

What can we do about an employee who is taking too many restroom breaks?

Answered by the HR Experts Start by asking yourself if the employee’s restroom breaks are genuinely causing problems. Focus on the employee’s productivity and performance (as well as any coverage issues) rather than the amount of time spent in the restroom. If the...