Rojgar Job News

Did you ever have an employee post a status update from his termination meeting with HR? I wrote about it a few years ago.  It seemed shocking then, and if anything, we’ve only seemed to be shocked more and more as each new tweet or blog post gets distributed with some outrageous behavior from an employee (or sometimes an employer!). It used to be that companies would have weeks, if not days, to respond to publicity.  Now, it’s hours or even minutes. Companies want to preserve their culture and reputation — and their corresponding products and services — more than ever. One misstep can get the online outrage machine going.  heck, even McDonalds’ got into a online snafu when it released (and then promptly sold out of) a unique retro szechuan sauce. This Thursday, my colleague Jarad Lucan and I will be talking about these issues at our annual Labor & Employment Fall Seminar.  It’s nearly sold out, but you can still see about regi...

Now that Thanksgiving is in the past, it’s time to look forward to the future. Well, not before getting a recap of everything that transpired in employment law in the last year. Or at least everything that we can fit in an hour long seminar. The webinar that broke attendance records last year is back again on December 4, 2018 at noon ET. This year, five employment law bloggers are presenting the “Best-Ever Year-End Employment Law Review that Five Employment Law Bloggers Have Ever Presented” webinar.  Registration is just $25 and it’s eligible for CLE/SHRM/HRCI credit. All that is needed is to sign up here.  The presenters this year are: Robin Shea, Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete Kate Bischoff, tHRive Law & Consulting Jon Hyman, Meyers Roman Eric Meyer, FisherBroyles Jeff Nowak, Franczek Radelet Daniel Schwartz, Shipman & Goodwin Among the topics that you can surely expect to hear about: #MeToo, LGBT discrim...

As I noted last week, I’l be talking at CBIA’s Employment Law Conference on the topic of “Artificial Intelligence & Analytics for HR: Recruiting, Retention & Engagement” next month. Joining me on the panel is Doug Smith, the SVP Client Delivery at Tallan, which has offices in the Greater Hartford area.  I thought it might be enlightening to ask Doug a few questions about AI and Analytics in the Workplace before our talk. He was gracious enough to humor me with answers to my questions. Really looking forward to our discussion in two weeks.  In any event, here’s a return of my ongoing Five, Six Questions Series…. Is there really a place for data analytics in HR? Definitely.  It has the most impact in larger companies, but even the smaller companies can gain insight by tracking and analyzing their data.  It’s amazing what you can find when you start to really look. Fair enough. What are the opportunities? There ar...

On Friday, I presented a program on “Paid FMLA: Does It Leave You Confused?” at my firm’s semi-annual Labor & Employment Law Seminar, along with my Shipman & Goodwin colleague Chris Neary. Suffice to say that while the pun was well received, we had a number of attendees who left the seminar understanding that the breadth and scope of the state’s new Paid FMLA law may be far greater than they previously understood. Even now, the new Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Authority — a new quasi-public state agency — is still getting up and running.  One of my former colleagues, Henry Zaccardi, recently retired from Shipman & Goodwin and will be serving on the board. Of course, there’s still plenty of time to adjust to Paid FMLA. Payroll withholdings won’t start until 2021 and the employer requirements to offer such leave don’t start until 2022. But that still leaves employers with lots of questions to ask. Among...

As the decade comes to a close, a time traveler from 2009 might be surprised to see how rapidly laws on marijuana have changed.  Last night’s Democratic Debate even featured a heated discussion about legalizing marijuana. But let’s imagine that this traveler is from Human Resources. The laws regarding medical marijuana are head-spinning; these laws have resulted in a significant impact in the areas of drug testing, hiring, discipline and ADA accommodations. Now add the fact that a neighboring state – Massachusetts – has legalized pot and, well, no wonder HR professionals are just trying to play catch up. Oh, and will Connecticut join Massachusetts in 2020 and legalize pot? I’ll try to make sense of all of this at an upcoming breakfast sponsored by the Western CT chapter of SHRM. The breakfast is set for December 11, 2019 at 8 a.m. at the Hampton Inn in Danbury.  I’ve even been promised a hot breakfast. In the interim, I recently came ac...