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Subscribe by EmailHR/Employment Blogosphere update for August 8, 2005
Contents of this week’s collection:
Employment Law (ADA case on employee with attitude; employer’s police-assisted search of former employee’s residence; risks of retaliation claims; risks of contingent labor and independent contractor use; and bad harassment facts not bad enough for 7th Cir.)
Unions and Labor Law (AFL-CIO split; more on pot smokers and hidden cameras; good labor websites; labor’s hit list)
Workplace Trends (preparing kids for the future)
HR, Recruiting, and Hiring (great posts on talent)
The Employment Law Bulletin reports a case it finds quite outrageous: “Tenth Circuit Appears to endorse Police-Assisted Private Searches of Employee Residences by Employers”
Extreme conduct by the former employer, in the course of searching for the former employee’s computer? Perhaps. But our knowledge economy, combined with the ease of data storage and transmission, means prompt access to a departed employee’s computer may be essential to protection of legitimate interests of the former employer.
Steve’s Employment Law Notes reminds us of the perils of retaliation claims, discussing a 6th Circuit case: “Employers Beware!”
Taleo Blog (”Talent Management Solutions Blog”) posts: “Who Owns Contingent Labor Risk?”
Important points. Nice pie chart. Contracting out recruiting and hiring, using a temp agency, and other “contingent” and “outsourcing” options do not eliminate potential employment law liabilities. So who worries about this? Who should?
Workers Comp Insider admits being intrigued, if not obsessed, with independent contractor issues, and tells a cautionary tale about an entrepreneur forced out of business because the state didn’t buy his business model, built entirely on use of “independent contractors”: “Independent Contractors: The Solution is a Problem.”
If I had a dollar for every business in America playing with fire like this on the IC classification, I might not be rich, but I could buy a pretty nice house.
Jottings by an Employer’s Lawyer reports some music to employers’ ears from the Seventh Circuit: “Not All Bad (Even Real Bad) That Happens at Work Is Discrimination.” Is this sexual harassment? (Read the facts yourself at Jottings; I don’t even want to repeat them, they’re so nasty.) Not harassment under the law, says 7th Cir (though there may be a state law tort claim).
A strong signal of judicial fatigue over harassment cases?
The big topic continues to be the AFL-CIO breakup. Some links:
Laboring Away at the Institute: “Breaking Up Isn’t That Hard To Do”
TPM Cafe: “What makes Change To Win more ‘progressive?’” by Bill Fletcher, and “What Will Progressives Who Aren’t Trade Unionists Do to Rebuild Labor?” by Jo-Ann Mort.
Unions-Firms-Markets also collects some links on the breakup: “Labor Movement Debate Round-Up” ; AFL-CIO Split Roundup” ; “Nation Magazine on AFL-CIO split”
Unite To Win has shut down its blog, with a couple of final shots: “Making ‘Change To Win’ Real” and “UniteToWin.org is moving on.”
Although not calling itself a blog, it looks like a new site for the seceding unions, www.changetowin.org, is a blog in format. Unfortunately, bloglines detects no feed, so is it really a blog?
On other labor law issues, Labor Law Blog weighs in on the Anheuser-Busch case on hidden cameras and pot-smoking workers: “Hidden Cameras, Pot-Smoking Employees, and Fruit of the Poisonous Unfair Labor Practice: D.C. Circuit Partially Enforces NLRB Decision”
I posted on this case last month; of special interest in this new post is the excerpt from a discussion about this case on Tucker Carlson’s MSNBC show.
Labor Prof Blog says: “By far, one of the best Federal agency websites has to be the website of the National Labor Relations Board” “A Quick Look at the NLRB Website.”
It is a useful site. But other agencies, such as Dept. of Labor, EEOC, and OSHA, all have fine information-packed sites as well.
Labor Prof Blog also has this:“Labor’s Hit List,” linking to an article identifying major corporate targets for organized labor.
Who else besides Wal-Mart? Go look.
Cousin Michael, a/k/a/ Canadian Headhunter, at Recruiting.com, pokes fun at the notion that youth are sooo technologically superior to oldsters like me.
Love it. I can run tech circles around my kids. I mean, yeah, they can do IM and ipod and email, but how hard is that? See “Next Gen, Net Gen: A Great Big Snore” And, yeah Michael, when I hit the wireless at the coffee shop, there are always a bunch of others, a few of whom have at least hit age 40 already.
You gotta read his poke at B-school-speak: “garbage-mouth,” he calls it. No matter what the critics say, this Headhunter dude is a straight shooter.
Speaking of the kids, The Future of Work Weblog, in another perceptive and iconoclastic post, writes: “Preparing Your Kids for the Future.”
Tidbit: “we need workers who are creative, out of the box thinkers, not rote drones. . . [So] maybe we just need to let kids figure out what to do for themselves - especially during these “lazy hazy days of summer.”
Well not entirely. It does sound like a prescription for a good old liberal arts education, though.
The answer isn’t no structure at all: it’s creativity within a flexible structure. One of the best disciplines for this: JAZZ (I say this a week after attending a very impressive concert put on by jr-high kids after one week of jazz camp in which they worked on jazz improv., which is creativity within a defined rythmic and chordal structure.)
The Referral Recruiting Blog: “Hitting the high notes — Why one rock star employee beats five average employees. Everytime.”
Linking to a long and very interesting post about talent, including some fascinating data about talent and productivity from student performance on programming assignments: “Hitting the High Notes” by Joel Spolsky, on his blog Joel on Software.
Sample: “The real trouble with using a lot of mediocre programmers instead of a couple of good ones is that no matter how long they work, they never produce something as good as what the great programmers can produce.”
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I believe in your stand that kids are really our future. Kids nowadays are very up to date to all the latest technology. Although we say that we can catch with these kids when it comes to technology and stuff, but we must admit that kids now are a lot smarter and more advance compared to before. That’s why we must protect them, their rights and make sure that their welfare always comes first.
Best Regards,
John