Connecticut Employment Law Blog Insight on Labor & Employment Developments for Connecticut Businesses

Tag Archives: policies

A Day of Social Media: Internal Social Networks & Monitoring Employees

By Daniel Schwartz on Posted in Social Media

I had the opportunity to speak today at Wesfacca’s Day of Social Media program.  If you’re looking for great information as an in house counsel, I would strongly recommend ordering the CLE materials. There were a number of issues brought up that were discussed but there were two that I haven’t seen addressed much elsewhere…. Continue Reading

The Fallout from the Latest NLRB Salvo on Social Media

By Daniel Schwartz on Posted in Highlight, Labor Law & NRLB, Social Media

Last year, I mentioned that I was growing a bit tired about writing about social media in the workplace. It’s not that the topic isn’t interesting; it’s just that there isn’t that much new to discuss.  For those of us who have been writing about it for years, we’ve seen much of this for a… Continue Reading

The Seven Updates To Consider to Your Employee Handbook

By Daniel Schwartz on Posted in Featured, Highlight, Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Legislative Developments, Manager & HR Pro’s Resource Center

With all the legislative developments in Connecticut over the last year or so, it’s tough to keep track of all of the changes that your company needs to consider to update your employee handbook and employment policies. Here’s a (non-exhaustive) list of some of the changes to consider with a link to more information on… Continue Reading

Personnel Policies Up to Date? NLRB May Take Issue; CBA Seminar Recap Part II

By Daniel Schwartz on Posted in Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Labor Law & NRLB

Yesterday, I started my recap of the Connecticut Bar Association seminar on social media & employment law that I had the opportunity to speak at.  In today’s post, I’m going to focus on another portion of what NLRB Regional Director Jonathan Kreisberg said at the seminar — something that may impact employers that have unions… Continue Reading

Employers Checking Employee E-mail: The Split Continues

By Daniel Schwartz on Posted in Human Resources (HR) Compliance

Last year, employers were taken aback when a New Jersey court ruled that an employee did have some expectation of privacy of e-mails she sent to her attorney using work computers.  The case, Stengart v. Loving Care Agency became one of the most talked about cases of the year.  Last week, a California court came… Continue Reading

Superintendent, School Board Agree to Settlement After Alleged Facebook Posts

By Daniel Schwartz on Posted in Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Social Media

In a followup to a post of earlier this week, Windsor Locks and its Superintendent of Schools reached an agreement late yesterday in which the Superintendent agreed to resign in exchange for a six month severance payment (to be shorted if he finds work before the expiration of that severance period.) The agreement comes after… Continue Reading

School Board Considers Social Media Usage Policy for Teachers, Other Employees

By Daniel Schwartz on Posted in Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Social Media

For a few years now, I’ve been describing how social media policies are moving into the mainstream.  No longer can employers simply cover their eyes and ears to what is going on with Facebook and Twitter. Example No. 592: West Hartford, Connecticut is considering a policy that would place certain restrictions on what school employees say,… Continue Reading

Social Media Guidelines and Policies: Do Your Employees Know the Ground Rules Too?

By Daniel Schwartz on Posted in Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Social Media

Early on when writing the blog, I came across an issue that was so exciting to write about that I spent an evening crafting it up.  It had links, pictures, and was well-sourced. But then I discovered that the issue involved a client of the law firm.  Uh-oh. It was then that I decided it… Continue Reading

(It’s) Snow Joke: Weather Plays Games with Employers — A Recap

By Daniel Schwartz on Posted in Human Resources (HR) Compliance

While the DC and Baltimore areas continue to struggle with snow, hardy New Englanders are supposed to be battle-tested for snow storms.  And, for the most part we are. Roads are quickly cleared overall and we realize the importance of parking bans to get streets in passable condition. Except today, the meteorologists won.  Many employers… Continue Reading

Social Networking and Social Media Guidelines – Is It Time Your Company Developed Some?

By Daniel Schwartz on Posted in Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Social Media

Let’s face it: There are still way too many people who think social media and social networking sites are a fad and time-waster. I mean, how else do we explain the thousands of companies that have strict firewalls at their companies to prevent employees from using these sites. (And if you think that because you… Continue Reading

Are Clients Missing the Wave Because Their Attorneys Don’t Surf?

By Daniel Schwartz on Posted in Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Social Media

A pair of stories in the last week got me thinking about how amazing technology has gotten and how I wonder if lawyers have truly grasped the pace at which technology is permeating the workplace. First, the amazing stuff: Google Wave is getting officially launched today to over 100,000 people. Haven’t heard of it?  You… Continue Reading

For Employers, the Rare Case Of Political Corruption Presents Opportunities: Consider a Code of Ethics

By Daniel Schwartz on Posted in Human Resources (HR) Compliance

Count me in the group that is both astonished and stunned by the corruption allegations made earlier today by the federal government against Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.  The blatant nature of the "pay to play" allegations is something rarely seen in politics. (Connecticut has obviously has its share of corruption cases.)  While the allegations involving… Continue Reading

Offer Letters and Employment Policies – It’s All in the Details

By Daniel Schwartz on Posted in Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Laws and Regulations, Wage & Hour

You know it’s summer when the most exciting headline in employment law over the last day seems to be the markup of an arbitration fairness bill by a House Judiciary Subcommittee.  Not terribly exciting.  If you’d like more details on that bill, Workplace Horizons has a nice little summary and does it’s typical terrific job on keeping up to… Continue Reading

Workplace Violence: Remembering the Lottery Headquarters Shooting 10 Years Later

By Daniel Schwartz on Posted in Human Resources (HR) Compliance

UPDATE 8/3/10: In light of today’s workplace shootings in Manchester, I’ve provided some additional thoughts on workplace violence with reference back to the lottery headquarters shootings. In small states like Connecticut, at times it feels like everyone is separated by something less than Six Degrees.  Ten years ago today, a troubled worker walked into the… Continue Reading