2020
- Holidays...To Pay or Not to Pay, What is Required
- EEOC Update on COVID-19
- Protection of Employee Health Information
- Civil Rights Win for LGBTQ Employees
- OSHA Recordkeeping Requirements During the COVID-19 Pandemic
- The Line Between At-Will Termination and Wrongful Termination
- Regulating Firearms in the Workplace
- Social Media Use in Hiring
2019
2018
- What Not to Wear
- Vicarious Liability for Unlawful Harrassment
- Employee Surveillance & Union Formation
- A Lesson in Retaliation
- Employers May Sometimes Judge a Book By Its Cover
- Mind Your P’s and Q’s . . . and BFOQs
- Severance Agreements
- U.S. Department of Labor "Paid" Program
- Revisiting Records Retention
- Calculating the Regular Rate
- Independent Contractor or Employee?
2017
- Sexual Orientation Discrimination
- DRI Membership: It’s Personal
- Is Extended Leave a Reasonable Accommodation?
- Parental Leave
- Pay Disparity
- Religious accomodation in the workplace
- Equal pay and prior salary information
- I quit! How to avoid constructive discharge
- You Can't Shred Email
- Navigating Unemployment Claims
- Considering Criminal History in Pre-Employment Decisions
- Defamation Claims from Former Employees
- Mixed Motive Causation
2016
- Requesting Accomodation: Kowitz v. Trinity Health
- Antitrust Law in Human Resources
- An Evolving Standard: Joint-Employment
- What Does At-Will Employment Mean for Employers?
- Let's Talk About Wages
- THE FLSA: CHANGES ARE COMING
- Follow Up: Obesity and the ADA
- The Importance of Social Media Policies
- Is Obesity a Qualifying Disability under the ADA?
- Retaliation on the Rise: The EEOC Responds
- What Motivates You?
2015
- "But I thought ...
- Who’s expecting? And what is he expecting?
- Are You Still Doing Annual Performance Reviews?
- Who is Your Employee?
- The unpaid intern trap Part II
- “We’ve been the victim of a cyber-attack”
- So, a Hasidic Jew, a nun in a habit and a woman wearing a headscarf walk into your office?
- The unpaid intern trap
- Pregnancy in the workplace
- Let's talk about honesty.
- "Did You Know" Series - Part I
- Conducting an Internal Investigation
- What HR can look forward to in 2015!
2014
- The chokehold of workplace technology
- Does your company have trade secrets?
- North Dakota Construction Law Compendium for 2014
- Does the North Dakota baby boom affect you?
- Ban the Box? Why?
- The end of the world as we know it
- Everybody has an opinion
- Changes, Changes, Changes!
- Nick Grant presents at North Dakota Safety Council's 41st Annual Safety and Health Conference
- Email impairment: A potentially harmful condition
- Are Employers Required to Give Stressed-Out Employees Time Off?
2013
- Can you obtain a credit report when investigating employee wrongdoing?
- Can’t we just sidestep the ACA?
- Should Your Employees Telecommute? Part III
- Should Your Employees Telecommute? Part II
- Should Your Employees Telecommute?
- Proper Investigation of Employee Misconduct
- Battles in the Wellness War
- Rules are rules! Aren’t they?
- What's going on in Bismarck
- A glimpse ahead
2012
- Obesity as a disability under the ADA – reweighing the issue
- What’s next for your business under the Affordable Care Act?
- Criminal Background Checks
- Becoming a lawyer is a process, not an event [Section 5 of 5]
- Congress Says Yes To North Slope Energy Jobs Bill
- Test Your Knowledge of Social Media Policies and Employee Discipline
- Becoming a lawyer is a process, not an event [Section 4 of 5]
- What Every Employer Needs to Know About the NLRA
- Will the 2012 Elections Make A Difference
2011
- Where There's Smoke...
- Dress Code Etiquette: Is Casual Friday Becoming Freaky Friday
- The Next Disaster May Be Yours
- Hostile Work Environment Claims
- North Dakota Employment Law Links
- There's An App For That
- Am I a “Business Associate”? Why Should I Care?
- Do You Recognize a Cat's Paw When You See One?
- Cell Phones Can Cost a Lot, Part II
- Becoming a lawyer is a process, not an event [Section 3 of 5]
- Cell Phones Can Cost a Lot, Part I
- The Economy - What HR Professionals Need To Know
- Becoming a lawyer is a process, not an event [Section 2 of 5]
- Three New Challenges For HR Professionals
2010
Jan 03, 2012
Last night, Gail and I attended a very nice party. The food was good, the crowd diverse. The conversation was … well, somewhat distressing. “I am already tired of the elections,” one party-goer said. “I’d like to just sit this one out.” “Whoever runs, our vote in North Dakota won’t make a difference anyway,” another chimed in. Most disturbing was the pride with which a middle-aged man told me that, “I’m not interested in politics. It’s just a nasty game.” These people “might as well say, ‘I’m not interested in my standard of living, my health, my job, my rights, my freedoms, my future, or any future.’”1
Yes, it’s 2012. It’s an election year. The results of the election will affect the workplace – your workplace. Count on it. Human resource professionals cannot afford to sit this one out.
What can HR expect from the 2012 elections?
Already pundits are lining up to predict what will happen if candidate “x or y” is elected or candidate “z” is re-elected. There seems to be some consensus forming that, regardless of who is elected nationally, human resource professionals can expect change in the laws affecting admittance and employment of foreign nationals. The consequences of employing illegal aliens or of violating terms of permitted presence on U.S. soil will also be hot-button legislative and enforcement issues according to some prognosticators. Most suggest that the ballot box will determine whether the already partially effective health care reform law will continue to be implemented or be rolled back in whole or in part.
Bringing an HR focus to the 2012 debate
As important as these issues might be to human resources professionals, and to all Americans, I propose a different discussion. I suggest that all candidates be asked to describe the appropriate balance between regulatory enforcement and agency assistance. Stated in the HR context, the question is: “Do you believe the EEOC should direct the bulk of its resources to investigation, recovery of fines and imposition of penalties or should it emphasize training about the laws it enforces?” To refocus the question, simply substitute the “North Dakota Department of Labor,” the “City Fire Inspector” or any other local, state or federal regulatory agency for the “EEOC.”
I believe that candidates for local, state and federal office owe us their honest opinions. The question does not require a choice between enforcement and education. It does require thoughtful exposition of the relative importance of each.
This discussion makes a difference to the HR Professional
According to a November 15, 2011 press release from the EEOC, the EEOC received a record 99,947 charges of discrimination in fiscal year 2011. This means that approximately 1 out of every 1500 workers in America complained of unequal treatment in the workplace because of their status as women, their religion, their race, or because of membership in some other protected class irrelevant to their job performance. This statistic does not include state-filed claims or other job-related claims not handled by the EEOC.
Should the EEOC view this startling statistic as a call to provide more instruction and help to employers on how to discover risks that could spark a claim and to correct them? Should the numbers argue in favor of more training to managers and co-workers on what constitutes discrimination in the workplace? Or does nearly 100,000 claims, a 46-year record, mean that the EEOC needs more enforcement personnel? Should it file more administrative charges of wrongdoing to deter future misconduct? The extent to which your job in human resources will be changed is the extent that EEOC funding and mindset favors enforcement over guidance and consultation; favors remedying consequences over preventing underlying causes of wrongdoing.
Do not misunderstand. Most lawyers, I think, believe that enforcement is a legitimate administrative activity. Righting wrongs to which an employer turned a blind-eye, prosecuting “pattern or practice cases” and litigating the claims of large numbers of employees whose rights may be found in the spaces occupied by current statute and case law are legitimate enforcement projects for the EEOC to undertake. Most will not object to tough-minded EEOC lawyers rooting these out of the workplace or working to clarify the reach of the law.
On the other hand, we all know that HR files are not perfect. We all know that our best-intentioned employees sometimes make mistakes. We all know that progress to a discrimination-free workplace is incremental. If an agency of government views the mere existence of a charge as a license to project wrongdoing into the fabric of a company, if an agency makes each claim an inquisition, most of HR’s time will be spent fending off the investigatory dogs, not improving the workplace.
It is my opinion that the EEOC’s primary work should be to help employers prevent discrimination from occurring in the first place. It is my opinion that the investigation of a claim should be neutral and transparent, with both the claimant and the employer knowing, in advance, the steps to be taken by the EEOC, their respective rights at each investigatory milepost, and the progress of the investigation along the way. If the investigation discovers an employer misstep, the results of the investigation should include, in addition to relief for the claimant, recommendations to make the workplace compliant.
Perhaps you disagree. Many people do. Let me know if you are among them. At the same time, enter the arena of public discussion as a human resource professional. Try your best to find out where candidates stand. Having principled discussion is a purpose of electoral politics. The vice will be if the discussion is not had at all.
Reprinted with permission from an article submitted for publication in the January, 2012 Southwest Area Human Resource Association newsletter.
1. [Martha Gellhorn, novelist]?
Will the 2012 Elections Make A Difference
By: Paul EbeltoftLast night, Gail and I attended a very nice party. The food was good, the crowd diverse. The conversation was … well, somewhat distressing. “I am already tired of the elections,” one party-goer said. “I’d like to just sit this one out.” “Whoever runs, our vote in North Dakota won’t make a difference anyway,” another chimed in. Most disturbing was the pride with which a middle-aged man told me that, “I’m not interested in politics. It’s just a nasty game.” These people “might as well say, ‘I’m not interested in my standard of living, my health, my job, my rights, my freedoms, my future, or any future.’”1
Yes, it’s 2012. It’s an election year. The results of the election will affect the workplace – your workplace. Count on it. Human resource professionals cannot afford to sit this one out.
What can HR expect from the 2012 elections?
Already pundits are lining up to predict what will happen if candidate “x or y” is elected or candidate “z” is re-elected. There seems to be some consensus forming that, regardless of who is elected nationally, human resource professionals can expect change in the laws affecting admittance and employment of foreign nationals. The consequences of employing illegal aliens or of violating terms of permitted presence on U.S. soil will also be hot-button legislative and enforcement issues according to some prognosticators. Most suggest that the ballot box will determine whether the already partially effective health care reform law will continue to be implemented or be rolled back in whole or in part.
Bringing an HR focus to the 2012 debate
As important as these issues might be to human resources professionals, and to all Americans, I propose a different discussion. I suggest that all candidates be asked to describe the appropriate balance between regulatory enforcement and agency assistance. Stated in the HR context, the question is: “Do you believe the EEOC should direct the bulk of its resources to investigation, recovery of fines and imposition of penalties or should it emphasize training about the laws it enforces?” To refocus the question, simply substitute the “North Dakota Department of Labor,” the “City Fire Inspector” or any other local, state or federal regulatory agency for the “EEOC.”
I believe that candidates for local, state and federal office owe us their honest opinions. The question does not require a choice between enforcement and education. It does require thoughtful exposition of the relative importance of each.
This discussion makes a difference to the HR Professional
According to a November 15, 2011 press release from the EEOC, the EEOC received a record 99,947 charges of discrimination in fiscal year 2011. This means that approximately 1 out of every 1500 workers in America complained of unequal treatment in the workplace because of their status as women, their religion, their race, or because of membership in some other protected class irrelevant to their job performance. This statistic does not include state-filed claims or other job-related claims not handled by the EEOC.
Should the EEOC view this startling statistic as a call to provide more instruction and help to employers on how to discover risks that could spark a claim and to correct them? Should the numbers argue in favor of more training to managers and co-workers on what constitutes discrimination in the workplace? Or does nearly 100,000 claims, a 46-year record, mean that the EEOC needs more enforcement personnel? Should it file more administrative charges of wrongdoing to deter future misconduct? The extent to which your job in human resources will be changed is the extent that EEOC funding and mindset favors enforcement over guidance and consultation; favors remedying consequences over preventing underlying causes of wrongdoing.
Do not misunderstand. Most lawyers, I think, believe that enforcement is a legitimate administrative activity. Righting wrongs to which an employer turned a blind-eye, prosecuting “pattern or practice cases” and litigating the claims of large numbers of employees whose rights may be found in the spaces occupied by current statute and case law are legitimate enforcement projects for the EEOC to undertake. Most will not object to tough-minded EEOC lawyers rooting these out of the workplace or working to clarify the reach of the law.
On the other hand, we all know that HR files are not perfect. We all know that our best-intentioned employees sometimes make mistakes. We all know that progress to a discrimination-free workplace is incremental. If an agency of government views the mere existence of a charge as a license to project wrongdoing into the fabric of a company, if an agency makes each claim an inquisition, most of HR’s time will be spent fending off the investigatory dogs, not improving the workplace.
It is my opinion that the EEOC’s primary work should be to help employers prevent discrimination from occurring in the first place. It is my opinion that the investigation of a claim should be neutral and transparent, with both the claimant and the employer knowing, in advance, the steps to be taken by the EEOC, their respective rights at each investigatory milepost, and the progress of the investigation along the way. If the investigation discovers an employer misstep, the results of the investigation should include, in addition to relief for the claimant, recommendations to make the workplace compliant.
Perhaps you disagree. Many people do. Let me know if you are among them. At the same time, enter the arena of public discussion as a human resource professional. Try your best to find out where candidates stand. Having principled discussion is a purpose of electoral politics. The vice will be if the discussion is not had at all.
Reprinted with permission from an article submitted for publication in the January, 2012 Southwest Area Human Resource Association newsletter.
1. [Martha Gellhorn, novelist]?