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Archive for 2009
« Previous Entries Next Entries »When employees complain, don’t retaliate!
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009The Wall Street Journal reported recently that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is filing an increasing number of lawsuits against employers for retaliating against employees who filed discrimination claims against them. Interestingly, in many of those cases the EEOC did not find that the employer had actually discriminated against the complaining employee. In [...]
Exploring the ethics of swine flu
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009Remember the old disaster movies? Whenever ships sank, natural disasters loomed or ravaging hordes were assaulting the city gate, some hero would shout “women and children first!” as a small mob of extras stampeded toward the nearest exit. No one ever stopped to explain the underlying premise, namely, that the people who were [...]
Employee evaluations shouldn’t come as a surprise
Friday, November 6th, 2009Continuing my Friday series on ways to keep your business out of court, let’s continue with last week’s discussion about employee evaluations. It’s such an important topic, and one that creates so much legal risk, that it’s worth a second post.
Last week, I talked about the reasons why managers tend to softpedal criticisms in [...]
And that goes for your employees, too!
Wednesday, November 4th, 2009On Monday, I wrote about the importance of having a personal life to making good ethical choices at work. This topic is important enough to make a corollary point. You need to have a life to keep a reasoned perspective on your work … and so do your employees.
In all too many industries, [...]
Want great business ethics? Get a life!
Monday, November 2nd, 2009Clients are frequently surprised when I tell them that one of the best ways to insure that they’ll make good ethical decisions in business is to have a life outside of work. After all, they’re professionals, right? Isn’t their job to continually do more with less, spend longer and longer hours on the [...]
When it comes to employee evaluations, honesty is the best policy
Friday, October 30th, 2009Continuing my Friday series on keeping your business out of court, let’s talk about a topic that many managers dread. It’s nearing the end of the year, which means that companies are starting to work on annual employee evaluations. It’s an important process, and one that’s riddled with legal pitfalls.
For most of us, [...]
Was Ryan Howard’s 200th career run baseball really worth a lawsuit?
Wednesday, October 28th, 2009A few months ago, the Philadelphia Phillies’ Ryan Howard hit his 200th career home run. It was not only a tremendous accomplishment for Howard, but an important moment in baseball history because Howard managed to reach that milestone in fewer games than any previous major league player. !2-year-old Phillies fan Jennifer Valvida retrieved [...]
Is your company’s advertising overstated?
Monday, October 26th, 2009We’ve all seen and heard it before: “New!!” “Improved!!!” “BIGGER!!!!” “BETTER THAN EVER!!!!!” But can consumers really trust those claims? How much better does a product have to be to be legitimately called “new” or “improved”? And who decides?
The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus reviews product advertising [...]
Keep an eye on your contractors
Friday, October 23rd, 2009Continuing my Friday series on keeping your business out of court, let’s reach beyond your employees. In the wake of the recession, many businesses are trying to cut costs by making greater use of independent contractors. That can save on employee benefit costs, for sure, but independent contractors come fully equipped with their [...]
Your code of ethics should be more than just window-dressing
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009Seems like every company has a code of ethics these days, especially since the federal government made having one a prerequisite for getting government contracts. Some of them are the size of a small phone book, others of a more practical length. Companies work hard to develop them, proudly roll them out, train [...]
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