Free Reports

 

Understanding How The ADAAA And The New EEOC Regulations Have Changed The ADA gives you everything you need to know to fully comprehend how the original Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has changed under the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) to protect more individuals with less severe impairments.  Learn what constitutes a major life activity, which impairments will always be considered covered disabilities, why it will be easier for employees to succeed with "regarded as" claims, the danger in considering mitigating measures, and other crucial information.  Plus, learn how the EEOC has proposed to revise its regulations to conform to changes made by the ADAAA.

 

Compliance With The New HIPAA Data Breach Notification Rules provides a detailed analysis of the steps covered entities and business associates must take following a breach of unsecured personal health information, as per interim final regulations issued by the Department of Health and Human Services.  Learn how to determine whether an actionable breach has occurred under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), when notices must be delivered and to whom, what content notices must include, and what administrative actions are required.

 

HR's Pandemic Flu Plan For The 2009-2010 Season gives you step-by-step guidance on how best to prepare the workplace for this year's flu season, based on newly released recommendations from federal agencies.  Also included are practical and legal considerations for employers on such topics as employee leave, disability-related inquiries, and wage and hour issues

 

U.S. Supreme Court's 2008-2009 Employment Law Decisions summarizes each of the Supreme Court's eight employment-related decisions issued during its 2008-2009 term, and what they mean to employers.  The rulings cover everything from reverse discrimination, to age discrimination, to retaliation, to pregnancy discrimination, to benefits, to unions and mandatory arbitration agreements.

 

How To Make Social Networking Websites Work For Your Company explores how employers can use social networking websites to their organization's recruiting, marketing, and retention advantage.  Also, learn how to lessen the likelihood of your company being held liable for employees' questionable activities on personal social networking web pages.

 

Keep Caregiver Bias Out Of Your Workplace contains
advice straight from the EEOC on how to avoid discrimination claims from employees with caregiver responsibilities and how HR and managers can help employees to achieve a successful work/life balance.  Plus, learn how to defuse manager backlash against flexible work arrangements.

 

HIPAA Compliance Complications Multiplied By The Economic Stimulus Law (ARRA) explores timely compliance issues for covered entities and business associates.  Find out how ARRA impacts HIPAA's Security and Privacy Rules, learn more about the new notification and disclosure rules, and discover just how high penalties for violations have jumped.

 

COBRA Compliance Complications Multiplied By The Economic Stimulus Law (ARRA) explores timely compliance issues for employers.  Learn more about which plans, entities, and individuals are covered; special enrollment rights; notification requirements; subsidy periods; and payroll offsets.  Also explore subsidy documentation substantiation requirements and what to watch out for when it comes to determining whether a dismissal qualifies as an involuntary termination.

 

Pay Discrimination Audits: Ensuring Your Organization Is Protected Against Ledbetter Complaints guides you in conducting a voluntary pay audit.  Learn when it's okay to pay different wages to similarly situated employees, and how to adapt OFCCP non-discrimination pay guidelines to the private sector.

 

How To Write Job Descriptions That Are Complete, Accurate, And Legally Sound provides you with nine universal steps every employer can take to write solid job descriptions that keep your organization in step with the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) and the final Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) regulations.

 

Rewarding Employees In Tough Economic Times: Retention Ideas That Won't Bust Your Budget offers lots of innovative ideas for low- or even no-cost perks, services, and practices designed to help keep employees engaged and committed both during and after the current economic crisis.  This report also features guidance for managers on motivating employees through personal recognition efforts, and offers advice on how to determine which low-cost initiatives are best for your own organization.

 

New FMLA Regulations Issued By The DOL:  Key Guidelines To Help You Get In Compliance gives you a detailed breakdown of the new Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) rules finalized by the Department of Labor (DOL), and even points out where these final rules differ from the proposed rules.  Learn about the new procedures used for taking military family leave, the new definitions of "continuing treatment," "periodic treatment," and "qualifying exigency," and much more.

 

Managing During An Economic Downturn addresses the many tough employment issues that pop up when the economy goes down.  Learn best practices for implementing a layoff or reduction-in-force, along with alternatives to downsizing, employee retention ideas, ways to help employees in obvious financial trouble, and more.

 

Training Managers To Conduct Effective Performance Appraisals will help you to help your managers get positive results from their appraisal sessions by providing guidance on setting up appraisal training, conducting and documenting performance appraisals, and dispensing criticism.  Newly added advice explores how to create the right atmosphere in which to conduct a review, 12 common performance evaluation traps that can snare any manager, and the legal danger of having double standards in performance improvement plans.

 

Telecommuting: A 21st Century Reality covers the logistics and legalities of allowing employees to work from home.  Along with guidance on how to implement a fair and legal telecommuting program, get answers to important questions on data security, compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act, and safety issues.  Also included is a sample Telecommuting Application Form.

 

Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) Becomes Law summarizes new legislation that was signed by President Bush on May 21, 2008.  The report contains a synopsis of all three parts of GINA: nondiscrimination provisions related to employers, nondiscrimination provisions related to health plans, and an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act.  Specifically, learn what employment actions employers can and cannot take when it comes to the genetic information of their employees and employees' family members.
 

Going Green In The Workplace provides you with low-cost, easy-to-implement ideas that will make your workplace more environmentally responsible and resource-efficient. Also included is advice for achieving senior management buy-in, a case study and sample policy language, and tips for how best to publicize your efforts to go green.

 

When Romance Rocks The Workplace provides you with practical advice for managing unrequited love, off-hour rendezvous, and superior/subordinate relationships to help ensure that that your organization's heart isn't broken in court, along with its piggybank.

 

Reaping The Rewards Of Employee Mentoring gives you everything you need to know to establish an effective program. Learn the basics of mentoring, what to consider in deciding the program's degree of formality, the characteristics of successful participants, common obstacles and suggestions for overcoming them, how to measure success, and the legal danger in denying employees mentoring opportunities.

 

Turning Negative Employee Attitudes Around provides strategies for encouraging job satisfaction; suggestions for dealing with negative employees; and steps for preventing a negative attitude from becoming a legal issue.

 

Clearing The Air On Workplace Smoking Laws provides an overview of each state's workplace smoking restrictions, policy requirements, and posting rules.

 

Casual Dress Code Policies explores how to implement a casual dress code policy while still maintaining professional dress code standards. Get advice on when the law requires you to make an exception to a dress policy, as well as a sample casual dress code policy itself.

 

HR Guide For Managing Problem Employees Successfully And Legally contains useful advice on how best to solve common employee problems, such as the employee who pockets office supplies, workers who constantly bicker, those who make a habit of not turning in their time sheets — and many more!

 

Common Policy Writing Mistakes identifies four of the most common blunders employers make when drafting company policies and offers advice for avoiding these traps.  Included are actual examples of what not to write — taken straight from actual company handbooks.

 

Top 6 Ways Managers Will Land Your Company In A Lawsuit highlights six of the most common mistakes any manager can make when it comes to terminations, employee problems, policies and procedures, harassment/discrimination, retaliation, and the Family and Medical Leave Act. Each section contains advice you can pass on to managers to keep them from slipping up.

 

Controlling Absenteeism And Attendance Problems arms you with the techniques on how to improve attendance through motivation, strategies for disciplining employees with chronic attendance problems, plus a rundown of how issues surrounding absenteeism are interpreted under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act.

 

Evaluating What Makes A Medical Condition An ADA-Qualifying Disability provides employers with guidance on how to determine whether and when some common medical conditions qualify for ADA protection.

 

State Laws On Final Pay: What And When To Pay Terminating Employees provides you with a revised state-by-state summary of vacation pay upon termination, plus an updated chart summarizing each state's final pay laws.

 

State Personnel File Access Laws provides you with a state-by-state summary of the statutes under which employees are allowed to inspect their personnel files.

 

Conducting Workplace Investigations arms you with the basic information you need to know to conduct prompt, thorough, and legal investigations...from receiving a complaint to interviewing witnesses to taking post-investigation actions.

 

Discipline Done Right offers legal and practical advice for doling out discipline, crafting and polishing a discipline policy, dealing with a problem employee, and adopting progressive discipline techniques.