You have a key sales job open.  One of the applicants you interview says, “I need to be in a white territory.  The territory I have right now with my current employer has too many black people in it.  I’m someone who appeals to whites.  If you give me a white territory, I’ll make you a lot of money.”

Given our country’s quickly changing demographics and the intensely competitive sales environment that pervades every business, smart employers have no room for a sales employee who can only sell to one race–one ethnic group.  Plus, from an employment law standpoint, it’s legally dangerous to have a person who thinks this way in your workforce.  He/she is a discrimination complaint in the making.  What does this have to do with Hillary? [Read more →]

Stop thief!  A cry on the subway?  A call for help on a crowded sidewalk?  A homeowner’s shout to neighbors?  Or a frustrating demand from human resources?

Employee theft is nothing new.  It’s just bigger than ever.  I’ve seen estimates that employers in the U.S. lose anywhere from $4 billion to $40 billion per year to employee theft.  Unless your pockets are terribly deep, either number is staggering.

What’s even more interesting–unbelievable to some–is that management is an unintentional co-conspirator when it comes to employee theft. [Read more →]

Beginning this week, there will be a week’s worth of Corporate BS posted every Saturday.  For those of you interested in this kind of bs, the first weekly post will be on May 17.  To make this works out right, I need to give you this past Saturday’s Corporate BS definition, so here it is:

May 10–off the record:  Spoken in confidence or unofficially, as in “I’m not supposed to tell you this, and if you ever say I said it, I will categorically deny it; the fact that I am saying this is off the record absolves me of all responsibility for sharing this privileged information with you”; also, code for “Here comes some really good gossip about who is sleeping with whom,” etc.

Managing Leadership mentions the post I did on “Executive Leadership:  What is it good for?”  Managing Leadership also comments on my post on The Reinforced Glass Ceiling.  Managing Leadership has a make-you-think-post on the true meaning of something we’ve heard much about lately:  change–and another one on the unfortunate failure of senior execs to bring along their juniors.

Corporate Vigilance mentions my post on “Guide to Hiring Women.”  Also, check out Corporate Vigilance for posts on communication, delegation, an interesting company called CoinStar, SOX matters, and the financial services industry post-subprime mortgage fiasco. [Read more →]

In honor of Mother’s Day, EJ Graff has posted a thought-provoking piece about working mothers in Slate Magazine.  It’s not your typical Mother’s Day greeting, but it’s worth the read. 

Speaking of WARN, there’s a good refresher in the May issue of the New York Employment Law Letter.  It’s well worth the read.

The Worker Adjustment Retraining and Notification Act has been around for a while, but you don’t hear much about it.  That could change in the wake of our present economy.  It seems that, almost daily, there are announcements of business closures, downsizings, reorganizations and layoffs.  When these things happen, are employers remembering WARN?

When Skybus recently quit flying, it was sued by employees claiming that the company hadn’t given the required notice to employees as required by WARN, thus entitling discharged employees to back pay and other damages.  Ditto for ATA Airlines.  Both lawsuits are filed as class actions.

If you don’t remember WARN or it’s kind of fuzzy, check out this fact sheet.  If you’re covered by the law, you’re supposed to give employees 60 days notice before you go out of business or engage in a “mass layoff,” unless you fall within certain exceptions.  When you’re thinking about closing your doors or laying off a bunch of employees, you need legal advice about a lot of stuff.  Don’t forget WARN.

Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett sing about taking a break in the middle of the day, because they’re “gettin’ paid by the hour and older by the minute,” and because “It’s five o’clock somewhere.”

Alan Jackson;Jimmy Buffett - It’s Five O‘ Clock Somewhere

May 9–NSFW:  abbr.  Not Safe For Work; describes blog or other Internet content that for a variety of reasons (the most common is that it is slightly pornographic in nature) is the type of material that if you’re caught looking at might get you fired.