ABA’s Summary of 2014 FMLA Court Decisions — An Excellent Resource for Employers
Jeff Nowak of FMLA Insights says, “Every February, the American Bar Association’s Federal Labor Standards Legislation Committee publishes a comprehensive report of significant FMLA decisions handed down by the federal courts in the previous year … I highly recommend it as a valuable FMLA reference for HR professionals and employment attorneys.”

Is hiring for “digital natives” age discrimination?
Jon Hyman, Ohio Employer’s Law Blog: “Let’s say you’re looking to fill a position at your company that requires a certain degree of technical proficiency. Or, you just want to make sure that the person you hire is comfortable with a computer, an email account, and an iPhone. Is it legal to advertise that the position requires a “digital native?” According to Fortune.com, some companies have begun using this term as a hiring criteria in job postings. Yet, is “digital native” simply code for “younger?”

Outsmart Your Own Biases
Jack B. Soll, Katherine L. Milkman, John W. Payne – Harvard Business Review: “One solution is to delegate and to fight bias at the organizational level, using choice architecture to modify the environment in which decisions are made. (See “Leaders as Decision Architects,” in this issue.) Much of the time, though, delegation isn’t appropriate, and it’s all on you, the manager, to decide. When that’s the case, you can outsmart your own biases. You start by understanding where they’re coming from: excessive reliance on intuition, defective reasoning, or both. In this article, we describe some of the most stubborn biases out there: tunnel vision about future scenarios, about objectives, and about options. But awareness alone isn’t enough, as Kahneman, reflecting on his own experiences, has pointed out. So we also provide strategies for overcoming biases, gleaned from the latest research on the psychology of judgment and decision making.”

Decoding The Personality Of Workplace Bullies
Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, FAST Company: “One of the reasons for the high preponderance of bullies at work is that they often exhibit positive character qualities, which co-exists with their dark side. For instance, studies have shown that bullies are often outgoing, gregarious and assertive. They are also quite fearless and confident, and those qualities tend to be rewarded in most corporate environments, particularly in the Western world. Furthermore, bullies are often quite high on thrill-seeking, which tends to be linked to higher social status especially among younger employees. In fact, recent evidence suggests that some bullies may have higher emotional intelligence, which may enable them to read and influence colleagues to their own advantage. Thus, the combination of higher social skills and lower moral standards may result in more manipulative and mischievous actions at work, especially if people get a kick out of this.”
Related Results of the 2010 WBI U.S. Workplace Bullying Survey

How Do Fortune 500 Companies Use Twitter for Recruitment? [Study]
Undercover Recruiter: “The value of social media for recruitment has become increasingly clear over the years and although LinkedIn is still the front runner for professional networking, Twitter and Facebook are hot on its heels, proving themselves handy tools for hiring talent.
Twitter in particular has seen an increase in the number of people using the platform for job search and recruiting and as a result, a number of Fortune 500 companies, such as AT&T and Disney have created separate accounts specifically for recruitment purposes.”

Employee Feedback: Why It Matters and How to Use It
Kirill Tšernov, Weekdone : “One of the more overlooked tools at team managers’ disposal is feedback. Quite often, it presents a make-or-break situation. When done right, feedback can greatly improve engagement and productivity and boost team spirit. Do it too sloppily, however, and you will end up doing more harm than good.”

ADA: When do disabilities pose a ‘direct threat’ in the workplace?
Charlie Plumb, HR.BLR : “A “direct threat” involves a “significant risk of substantial harm to the health or safety of the [employee] or others that cannot be eliminated or reduced by reasonable accommodation.” If an employer can prove a disabled person poses a direct threat to himself or others, it isn’t required to hire or continue to employ the individual.
For some time, there has been uncertainty on exactly what an employer must establish to use the “direct threat” defense in ADA discrimination claims. A recent U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals—which covers Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming—decision that applies to Oklahoma employers provides valuable guidance.”

How to Talk to a Reporter
Written for lawyers, but a helpful reference guide should a reporter come calling about any type of situation in your workplace.

Litigation Risk: Liberty! Fraternity! Liability!
Jonathan McGoran, Risk & Insurance
Universities, fraternities and their local chapters, and individuals may face liability for sexual assault, alcohol abuse or other actions.

Brief takes

Workplace Wellness

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