Personnel Policies

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Protect Your Business From Embezzlement

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

There was an insignificant story in the Amarillo newspaper last week about a former credit union employee who was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for stealing $221,000 from her employer over a seven-year period. At least it seemed insignificant, based on the placement in the paper. But to her employer, I know it [...]

DOT Bans Truck Driver Texting While Driving

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

As a follow up to yesterday’s post on employer liability for employees who cause an automobile accident while using a cell phone, it is worth noting that the federal Department of Transportation just announced a prohibition of texting while driving for all interstate truck drivers, commercial bus drivers and van drivers who carry more than [...]

Employee on Cell Phone in Car can be Costly for Employer

Monday, February 1st, 2010

Debra Ford was driving on Interstate 16 in Georgia when her car was hit by a sedan driven by Vanessa McGrogan, an International Paper Company employee who was driving a company-owned car with the cruise control set at 77 mph in a 70 mph zone and according to a witness, talking on her company-issued cell [...]

Smoking Policy Suggestions

Monday, May 4th, 2009

Since 1966, we have been warned of the dangers of smoking. Here is a brief history of the Surgeon General’s warnings on cigarette packages:

Caution: Cigarette Smoking May be Hazardous to Your Health (1966-1970)
Warning: The Surgeon General Has Determined that Cigarette Smoking is Dangerous to Your Health (1970-1985)
SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Smoking Causes Lung Cancer, Heart Disease, [...]

Preparing for Possible Changes in Employment Laws

Monday, December 1st, 2008

The elections are over and it is clear that with the Democrats in charge of the White House and Congress, things are going to change. Whether you celebrate or mourn that fact, if you are a business owner or manager, you need to prepare your business for some of those changes.

There are a [...]

Policy Manual Blunders

Monday, November 17th, 2008

Like all good employment lawyers, I encourage my clients to have an employee policy manual that outlines, among other things, the company’s expectations regarding employee performance, explaining the available benefits, setting guidelines for using the company technology and prohibiting harassment, violence and drug abuse.
I regularly draft new policy manuals for my clients or review and [...]

Test Your Employment Law Knowledge

Thursday, October 2nd, 2008

Just for fun today (if you are like me and have no life!), test your knowledge of federal and Texas employment law. If you manage people in the workplace in Texas, this is the kind of information you should know off the top of your head. Give yourself about 10 minutes to answer these questions, then [...]

Employees Required to Prevent ID Theft

Friday, August 29th, 2008

A CVS pharmacy employee threw prescription forms in the dumpster behind the store in Houston. A Radio Shack worker in Corpus Christi dumped customer credit applications. EZPAWNS employees throughout Texas threw away customers’ bank statements. And the Levelland police found more than 4000 customer records in the garbage containers behind Select Physical Therapy. These were [...]

Employee Acknowledgment Form

Friday, August 22nd, 2008

If you haven’t discovered the Texas Workforce Commission’s book Especially for Texas Employers, you are missing out on an invaluable and free resource to help you avoid costly legal mistakes in managing your employees. You can get a hard copy of the book at Panhandle Workforce Solutions at 1206 W. 7th Street in Amarillo. There [...]

E-mail Dangers

Tuesday, August 19th, 2008

Just because e-mail is the most common method of communicating in the business world these days does not mean that it is a benign form of communication. E-mail is frequently used by employees to harass, slander, stalk, insult, and discriminate against coworkers. If you tolerate the use of your company e-mail systems to send pornographic, [...]

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