As we move into the 6-month mark recognizing how COVID-19 has changed our lives, the stress is palpable. Many parents and students are struggling with online learning, childcare, and trying to work from home while also supervising virtual education for young children. That challenge intensifies if those parents have returned to a place of work beyond the home. Those who have work are adjusting to the new normal of perpet...

I’m sure you’ve noticed the ubiquitous statements against racial inequality in recent days. Such statements are being issued by public organizations, educational and nonprofit institutions, and for-profit companies. These statements are, sorry to say, generally mealy-mouthed in nature. It is very unusual for any entity to come out publicly to disavow both explicit racism and microaggressions. (Kudos to Ben &...

In a time when “flattening the curve” requires universal participation, when, how, and who to re-open requires tough decisions. Wise business leadership is needed more than ever before. There’s no shortage of talks, posts, or tweets on our need for wise, capable leaders who pursue the common good; who balance big-picture thinking with next-step management. But predicting outcomes becomes much more compl...

1901 Group Kwik Trip AccentCare Lakeland Care District Accessible Space, Inc. Lifecare Home Health Services, Inc. Adobe Inc. Loram Maintenance of Way, Inc. Adventist HealthCare AFR Furniture Rental Lowe's Agropur, Inc. Master Brand Cabinets...

My inbox is flooded with questions about COVID-19, including how employers should be handling the crisis and what employees should expect from their management. This is truly an unprecedented event; although companies want to maintain uninterrupted service for customers and clients, that may not be possible. And that’s okay because the employees that make up any organization should be the company’s priority. Thi...

It never fails in our office. The frantic phone call because a Department of Labor Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) audit letter shows up on a desk, two weeks after sitting on the President's desk, with the yellow sticky note 'please handle.' Before fear and panic set in, here are some pointers for keeping ahead of the scary audit letter. Explore if your organization IS covered by the Affirmat...

I have been asked a lot of questions about what employers can and can’t disclose about a former employee’s performance and reasons for leaving the company. So, I decided to find out what the law says, as well as what in-house counsel would generally advise an HR department, about disclosures. I consulted with Carole Jurkash, a fellow University of Chicago graduate who went on to get her law degree from Yale Law...

It is common knowledge that EEO compliance has developed into an extremely complex and sometimes controversial process. In just the last 14 years alone we have witnessed an endless stream of changes to the expectations of contractors including: Changing from eight (8) to two (2) availability factors The brief, rocky visit of the EO Survey The as yet, unrealized threat of multiple regression as a tool to find comp...

Do evergreen job requisitions need to be handled differently than other requisitions? The quick answer is No with the caveat of having a compliant recruiting, applicant tracking and selection process. First, it would be useful to determine if evergreen jobs are really that different from other open positions. To ensure that we are on the same page with the terms, here is how I define the two types of positions for purp...

Whether or not the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) plan to revise EEO-1 reports to also require reporting of wages and hours worked ever comes to fruition, filing accurate EEO-1 reports is important—especially for federal contractors and subcontractors. Why is Accuracy Important? Employers are required to certify the accuracy of their EEO-1 reports and that they have been prepared in...