Hiring & Firing

3 tips to guide a social-media check on your potential new hire

November 29, 2011 | by Eric B. Meyer

According to this recent SHRM survey, only 18% of companies have used social media to screen job candidates. Most cite the legal risks of screening candidates as the reason for not implementing a social-media background check.

While a social-media background check may not be useful in certain instances, I can imagine many situations in which a company would benefit from checking up on candidates online before filling a job opening. Heck, consider that 89% of employers plan to use social media for recruiting this year.

Have I piqued your interest? After the jump, I’ll offer some suggestions about how your company can safely run a social-media background check…

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Top 5 Reasons Employers Give Their Employees the Boot

November 17, 2011 | by Eric B. Meyer

I’m in Las Vegas.

So, for today, Jane Smith has control of the The Employer handbook. Jane is a freelance writer and blogger. She writes about free background checks for Backgroundcheck.org. After the jump, check out her top 5 reasons employers give employees the boot. Questions and comments can be sent to: janesmth161@gmail.com

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POLL: Would you fire this employee for her Facebook comments?

November 16, 2011 | by Eric B. Meyer

I read this on ZDnet yesterday:

Administrative Law Judge Ellen Bass has ruled Jennifer O’Brien, a first-grade teacher at School 21 in Paterson, New Jersey, should lose her tenured job, because of a Facebook comment she made about her students. O’Brien has been on administrative leave since March, which is when she posted her status update saying “I’m not a teacher — I’m a warden for future criminals!” She claimed she wrote it out of exasperation after several students disrupted her lessons, one pupil hit her, and another stole money from her.

Bass said O’Brien “demonstrated a complete lack of sensitivity to the world in which her students live” and called her conduct “inexcusable.”

This employee used a friggin’ marching band to quit his job!!!

October 28, 2011 | by Eric B. Meyer

This has been an intense week here at The Employer Handbook. What, with Monday’s post on taking the “sex” out of sexual harassment, followed up on Tuesday with the 15 craziest excuses employees have for missing work. You guys seemed to like that one a lot. Then there was the post on an old guy claiming that an older judge is too out of it to rule on the old guy’s age discrimination claims. I-ro-ny! And to the three of you who read my post yesterday about the enforceability of arbitration agreements, thank you.

Hard-hitting stuff, no doubt. But, let’s kick it up a notch! *** Writes royalty check to Emerill *** I’m going to save the news on a new 90,000-plaintiff Wal-Mart class-action lawsuit for next week. Instead, for your end-of-the-week viewing pleasure, meet Joey. Who’s Joey? Well, remember the young woman who, last year, in a series of 34 pictures, quit her job? She’s got nothin’ on Joey. In August, Joey quit his job at a hotel using a marching band. A MARCHING BAND!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A4UGtM4hDQ

Remember this? The most unique way to quit your job.

October 14, 2011 | by Eric B. Meyer

I get 15 16 minutes of fame.

Earlier this week, one of my readers forwarded an email to me reminding me about the young woman above who, last year, in a series of 34 pictures, told her employer to take her job and shove it.

Nice! Although I’m not sure that it is better than this absolutely epic letter from the Cleveland Browns to one of their disgruntled fans.

Welcome to the Employment Law Blog Carnival: Jukebox edition!

July 20, 2011 | by Eric B. Meyer

The Employment Law Blog Carnival has finally rolled into town.

What is a blog carnival? It is a collection of links on a particular topic — here, employment law — that bloggers have submitted to me, which I then arrange around a particular theme.

For this edition of the Carnival, it’s DJ-ESkeelz on the one and two, with a music-themed employment-law blog carnival. I’ve got 13 hot joints (read: 13 links to employment-law articles from some of the blogosphere’s best…)

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Pornographers need employment lawyers too, you know.

July 14, 2011 | by Eric B. Meyer

Welcome everyone to the ~~first~~ last edition of T&A Thursday, where I update you on all that’s going on in the world of porn and employment law.

After the jump, it’s all the news that’s barely fit to print. (At least it’s safe for work)…

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Fact or Fiction: WARN applies to parents and affiliates

July 6, 2011 | by Eric B. Meyer

Welcome back to “Fact or Fiction” a/k/a “Quick Answers to Quick Questions” a/k/a QATQQ f/k/a “I don’t feel like writing a long blog post”. Continue reading

Legal? Replacing over 100 workers without any sort of notice

July 5, 2011 | by Eric B. Meyer

In December 2006, 247 union workers went on strike at the Kohler manufacturing plant in Searcy, Arkansas. Three months later, Kohler hired 123 replacement workers.

Kohler and the Union settled their dispute in March 2008. As part of the settlement, Kohler agreed to reinstate the striking strikers. Kohler then fired the replacement workers and returned 103 of the original 247 striking workers to their former positions. 111 of the replacement workers then filed suit under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (“WARN”) alleging that they should have been given at least 60-days notice before being laid off.

Did Kohler violate WARN? Find out after the jump…

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New NJ public employees must move to NJ

May 24, 2011 | by Eric B. Meyer

Last week, Governor Christie signed the “New Jersey First Act,” a bill that will require all NJ public employees hired after September 1, 2011 to live in New Jersey. Current public workers will not be affected. New hires will have up to a year to move.

***I would have reported this last week. But, then there was that masturbating Brazilian accountant thing. C’est la vie.***