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HR News Roundup: HR Urban Legends, Free Speech, NY Family Leave & More

by Julie Ferguson
April 5, 2016 in News & Views

HR Urban Legends
Amy Joseph Pedersen, JDSupra Business Advisor

Walt Disney had himself cryogenically frozen. Alligators are alive and well in the NYC sewer system. You’ll die if you eat a whole bag of Pop Rocks and polish it off with a can of Coke. 2016 was the weirdest primary election season ever . . . oh, wait. That one’s true.
Human resources has its share of myths. Here we try to debunk some of the more common ones.

Free Speech, Politics and the Workplace
Andrew McIlvanine, HRE Daily

Given the tenor of this very unique election season, it’s entirely possible that chats between colleagues that stray into politics could end up causing the water in the office water cooler to hit boiling temperatures. So maybe it’s understandable that HR might want to keep conversations and activities related to political causes as far from the workplace as possible. But in a number of cases workers have complained that they were fired because of their political beliefs, and Justin Danhof wants to do something about it.

What Happens When You Promote and It Doesn’t Work?
John Hollon, TLNT

What do you do when you promote someone in your organization and it just doesn’t work out?
I’m not talking about someone who simply struggles a bit to adjust to a new position, but rather, someone who gets promoted only to then show everyone that they are absolutely not the right person for the job
The New York Times‘ You’re the Boss blog recently tackled this question, and it is a good one because it’s a common situation that lots of managers struggle with.

11 Tips for Talking About Poor Performance
Jonathan Segal, SHRM

Every HR professional and manager has had to have a tough talk with an employee about his or her performance. Sometimes it is in the context of an annual appraisal. Other times, it may be a final warning prior to termination. But regardless of when the discussion happens, careful planning is necessary. Otherwise, the wrong things may be said or done, and difficult conversations can quickly evolve into difficult lawsuits. Here are 11 tips to help take some of the pain—and risk—out of those closed-door meetings.

Paid Family Leave Becomes Law in New York Through an Insurance-Style Scheme. Will Other States Follow?
Jeff Nowak, FMLA Insights

So then, what’s significant about New York’s law? Similar programs in other states have fallen flat because those states have wrestled with how to fund these programs. Take the State of Washington, for instance. In 2007, Washington became the second state to pass a paid family leave law that would provide parents with $250 in weekly benefits for up to five weeks in the event of childbirth or adoption. However, the law has never taken shape because the state legislature has not funded it.
Unlike many of these other laws, New York’s version is funded not by the state or employers but by the employees themselves — through a ~$1 per employee weekly payroll deduction that will help fund a paid family leave program.

North Carolina: Corporations No Longer Sit Idly By on Discrimination
James B. Stewart, New York Times

This week, Bank of America — which is based in Charlotte and is not only the largest corporate employer in the state but also a major donor to state political campaigns — said it was joining with 90 other national companies to seek repeal of the law.
“Such laws are bad for our employees and bad for business,” it said in a statement.
Other major North Carolina employers also denounced the bill, including American Airlines, which has a hub in Charlotte; the home improvement retailer Lowe’s, with headquarters in Mooresville; Red Hat, the software maker, based in Raleigh; Facebook, which has a large data center in Forest City; and PayPal, which just broke ground for a new operations center in Charlotte.

Fighting the Backlash
Lin Grensing-Pophal, HREOnline

Late last year, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued a press release stating that matters involving the discrimination and harassment of Muslim employees will be an enforcement priority for the commission. “America was founded on the principle of religious freedom,” EEOC Chair Jenny R. Yang wrote in the release. “As a nation, we must continue to seek the fair treatment of all, even as we grapple with the concerns raised by the recent terrorist attacks. When people come to work and are unfairly harassed or otherwise targeted based on their religion or national origin, it undermines our shared and longstanding values of tolerance and equality for all.”
In the wake of domestic and international terrorism incidents involving Muslims, anti-Muslim sentiment is on the rise. That negative sentiment has the potential to flare up in the workplace. Experts say that, because the financial and reputational risks are so great, HR leaders need to ensure that they are taking appropriate proactive, and reactive, approaches to protect both employees and the organization.

What can you do with a disloyal employee?
Michael Haberman, Omega HR Solutions

It is a safe bet that most companies have, at some time, had an employee or two that they considered to be disloyal. In most cases the penalty for disloyalty most often applied is termination. Unfortunately today the National Labor Relations Board may disagree with you and that may embolden your employees. This was a lesson a Jimmy John’s franchisee learned the hard way.

7 tips for employers, from your friendly neighborhood plaintiff lawyer
Jon Hyman, Ohio Employer’s Law Blog

I found a blog post in which a plaintiff-side employment lawyer shared the 7 things employers don’t do, that they should be doing. The three that jumped off the page to me …

Quick Takes

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