HR Stories Podcast - A Lesson in Every Story!

By John Thalheimer, MS Org Leadership and Chuck Simikian, SPHR, SHRM-SCP

Listen to a podcast, please open Podcast Republic app. Available on Google Play Store and Apple App Store.


Category: Management

Open in Apple Podcasts


Open RSS feed


Open Website


Rate for this podcast

Subscribers: 3
Reviews: 0
Episodes: 175

Description

Welcome to the HR Stories Podcast - where there is a lesson in every story. Our Storytellers - John Thalheimer and Chuck Simikian, the Team behind HR Stories, share real-life tales about where a business made a preventable mistake. At The HR Stories Podcast, the STORIES are the teaching tool! LISTEN to the stories of those who did not heed the warning signs. LEARN from their mistakes. ACT on best practices shared by our hosts and guests. Each year, our hosts, Chuck Simikian and John Thalheimer, deliver thousands of live seminars around the country to business owners, executives, and HR professionals discussing the fundamentals of Human Resources, Leadership best practices, and legal risk reduction activities for organizations. 

Each HR Story episode shares a story of where a company missed the mark, what went wrong, and how you can avoid their fate. As the Team at HR Stories, John and Chuck continue to develop and provide resources to help HR leaders, business owners, and organizations with the confidence they need to successfully handle employee issues and build strong employee practices to comply with employment laws. Both successful entrepreneurs help businesses through HR consulting, training, and coaching leaders. They have coached and trained thousands of HR Professionals, Business Owners, and Leaders to prepare them for the future.

John is the Founding Director of True Star Leadership™, which focuses on helping managers and leaders learn performance management principles. Chuck is the Founding Partner of Alliance HR Partners, which provides HR consulting and training to businesses nationwide. Together, they have over 40 years of experience navigating the challenges of HR and recently published their book, The Ultimate Guide to HR: Checklist Edition. Go to https://ultimateguidetohr.com/ for more information, download a free sample, and watch their webinar on the Secret Power Behind Successful Businesses.


Episode Date
Ep156: Discrimination By Customer Request
Mar 31, 2026
Ep155: Let Your Employees Gossip (Kind Of)
Mar 24, 2026
Ep154: The End of Women's Retreats? Not Exactly.
Mar 17, 2026
Ep153: Can you do everything right and still get sued?
Mar 11, 2026
Ep152: AI in HR - While the Courts Decide, What You Need to Think About
Feb 24, 2026
Ep150: HR in the News - Shifts in the job market and what it really means
Feb 03, 2026
Ep149: Q&A - Managing Emotional Responses
Jan 27, 2026
Ep148: Planning for Employment Law Changes in 2026 - Pt 2
Jan 20, 2026
Ep147: Planning for Employment Law Changes in 2026 - Pt 1
Jan 13, 2026
Ep146: The Best of 2025
Dec 16, 2025
Ep145: Hot Topics - Rolling Layoffs and reduced trust. Are you ready for 2026?
Dec 09, 2025
Ep144: Moldy Misery - The Importance of Tracking Your Efforts
Dec 02, 2025
Ep143: Q&A - Do I have to let ICE in?
Dec 01, 2025
Ep142: A Six Million Dollar Mistake
Nov 18, 2025
Ep141: Q&A - Tattoos and the Risks of Case-by-Case Policies
Nov 04, 2025
Ep140: Work 32 hours a week whenever works best for you!
Oct 29, 2025
Ep139: Sunday Off - The Cost of Revoking a Religious Accommodation
Oct 21, 2025
Ep138: Hot Topics - Workday is all in AI and Starbucks tells corporate to take their coffee to-go
Oct 14, 2025
Ep137: Q&A - I need OUT of HR!
Oct 07, 2025
Ep136: Listener Q&A - Should We Pay Them? Is Hiring On Vibes Okay?
Sep 30, 2025
Ep135: You'll never be a manager if you keep taking medical leave.
Sep 23, 2025
Ep134: Hot Topics - Perks, Racial Discrimination, & Job Hugging
Sep 16, 2025
Ep133: Listener Q&A - Changes to HR and State Laws
Sep 09, 2025
Ep132: Off The Clock Behavior & What You Can Do About It
Sep 02, 2025
Summer School: Are you wearing shorter skirts yet?
Aug 26, 2025
Summer School: I want to go to bed with you - Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson
Aug 19, 2025
Ep131: Chuck Goes to SHRM!
Aug 12, 2025
Summer School: The PUMP Act
Jul 29, 2025
Summer School: Pregnancy in the Workplace Makes its Mark on the Supreme Court
Jul 22, 2025
Summer School: The Supreme Court Case That Defined Sexual Harassment – Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson
Jul 15, 2025
Summer School: Revisiting Supreme Court Cases That Changed HR - Griggs v Duke Power
Jul 08, 2025
Ep130: Listener Q&A - Bad Attitudes, Walking Off The Job, & Quid Pro Quo
Jul 01, 2025
Ep129: Listener Q&A - What's the law anymore?
Jun 17, 2025
Ep128: Recent and Upcoming Policy Changes You Need to Know
Jun 10, 2025
Ep127: QA - Military Leave, Annoying Managers, and Skipped Lunches
Jun 03, 2025
Ep126: Part 2 What Keeps You Up At Night in HR
May 27, 2025
Ep125: Part 1 What Keeps You Up At Night - Tackling the HR Issues of Today
May 20, 2025
From the Vault - Preventable Death in the Workplace
May 13, 2025
Ep124: Heels, Health, and HR Headaches - The Dress Code Lawsuit Every Employer Should Know
May 06, 2025
Ep123: Q&A - Smelly Lunch and Consistent Callouts
Apr 29, 2025
Ep122: Burnout, Stress & Leadership – What HR Needs to Hear Right Now
Apr 22, 2025
Ep121: Q&A - Retaliation against HR, demotion compensation, and mixed employment
Apr 15, 2025
Ep120: Updates from the EEOC - Lawful DEI in the Trump Era
Apr 08, 2025
Ep119: Q&A - The Nitty Gritty of Overtime
Apr 01, 2025
Ep118: Pay Discrimination & Retaliation - How to Avoid Costly Mistakes
Mar 25, 2025
Ep117: Q&A - Medical Disclosures & Unauthorized Charges
Mar 18, 2025
Ep116: HR on Trial - The Importance of Good Record Keeping
Mar 11, 2025
Ep115: Listener Q&A - We Answer Your Questions: When HR gets messy and complicated
Mar 04, 2025
Ep114: Beating the Challenges of Being a CHRO
Feb 25, 2025
Ep113: Listener Q&A - We Answer Your Questions: Life & Death - Acknowledging Key Life Moments
Feb 18, 2025
Ep112: Perceived Bias and Promotion Troubles - Keeping Hiring Legal & Clear
Feb 11, 2025
EP111: Listener Q&A - We Answer Your Questions: Working without paperwork, Layoff Difficulty, and Passive Aggression
Feb 04, 2025
Ep110: Remote Work Legal Complexity - State Laws vs Company Location
Jan 28, 2025
Ep109: Listener Q&A - We Answer Your Questions: Employee Statuses and Preparing for the Next Role
Jan 21, 2025
Ep108: Trump's HR Impacts - What to Expect From the Next Administration
Jan 14, 2025
Ep107: The LIVE Edition! How These Checklists Can Improve Your 2025 & Beyond
Jan 08, 2025
Ep106: When Audits Come Knocking - Start 2025 On The Right Foot
Dec 31, 2024
Ep105: 2024 Top 10 Q&A!
Dec 24, 2024
Ep104: From the Holiday Vault - Revisiting the Poor Working Conditions of the North Pole
Dec 17, 2024
Ep103: Grandma Got Fired, Not Retired - How Trader Joe's learned that Niceness can Backfire
Dec 10, 2024
Ep102: Listener Q&A - We Answer Your Questions: After Hours Tasks and Getting Fired on Leave
Dec 03, 2024
Ep101: Questions and Lessons from the News - Topics You'll Give a Hoot About
Nov 26, 2024
Ep100: The Big 100 - HR Stories Podcast Celebrates 100 Episodes
Nov 19, 2024
Ep99: Q&A - The Employee Edition: The questions your employees may be afraid to ask
Nov 05, 2024
Ep98: Listener Q&A - We Answer Your Questions: Would you like cheese with that?
Oct 29, 2024
Ep97: The Future Of Work: What Are We Missing?
Oct 22, 2024
Ep96: Listener Q&A - We Answer Your Questions: Avoiding a bad hire and restriction avoidant workers
Oct 15, 2024
Ep95: He Was In Hot Water... Literally - Workmans' Comp Need To Know
Oct 08, 2024
Ep94: Listener Q&A - We Answer Your Questions: Getting Directors to Take a Step Back and Operations to Align
Oct 01, 2024
Ep93: Make HR Easy - The Ultimate Guide to HR
Sep 24, 2024
Ep92: A Smile or a Consequence - Trader Joe's Problematic Stance on Positivity
Sep 17, 2024
Ep91: Listener Q&A - We Answer Your Questions: When you want to fire a customer
Sep 10, 2024
Ep90: From the Vault - "I’m Going to Run You Over with this Forklift" - An Intense Tale of Sexual Harassment
Sep 03, 2024
Ep89: Nose Pickers and Scab Pickers - It Gets Weird In HR
Aug 27, 2024
Ep88: Listener Q&A - We Answer Your Questions: Working for Competitors and Social Media Problems
Aug 20, 2024
Ep87: Interviews - Getting Them Right
Aug 13, 2024
Ep86: Listener Q&A - We Answer Your Questions: FMLA, Merger Timelines, and Layoff Worries
Aug 06, 2024
Ep85: You Can't Make Me Take This Training!
Jul 30, 2024
Ep84: Listener Q&A - We Answer Your Questions: Will all this be declassified? Or is this confidential?
Jul 23, 2024
Ep83: Celebrating the Civil Rights Act - There are Still Lessons to Learn
Jul 16, 2024
Ep82: Listener Q&A - We Answer Your Questions: Out-of-work behavior, Termination Blues, and PTO Swaps
Jul 09, 2024
Ep81: Gender Discrimination - How to Ensure an Inclusive Workspace and Avoid a Lawsuit
Jul 02, 2024
Ep80: Listener Q&A - We Answer Your Questions: Job Descriptions, Balancing Accommodation with Production, and Celebrations
Jun 25, 2024
Ep79: Preventable Death in the Workplace
Jun 18, 2024
Ep78: Listener Q&A - We Answer Your Questions: The Dos and Don'ts of Exempt vs Non-exempt
Jun 11, 2024
Ep77: The Hidden Dangers of Social Media Retaliation - What Employers Need to Know
Jun 04, 2024
Ep76: From the Vault - Breaking Legal Barriers: The Part-Time Secretary Who Rewrote Harassment Laws
May 28, 2024
Ep75: It Spreads Faster Than Covid! - Watch out for this contagion in your office.
May 21, 2024
Ep74: Listener Q&A - We Answer Your Questions: They're threatening to sue for wrongful termination
May 14, 2024
Ep73: The Headline Stories - You've Read About It. Let's Talk About it.
May 07, 2024
Ep72: Listener Q&A - We Answer Your Questions: The Trolly Car Predicament for Saving Jobs
Apr 30, 2024
Ep71: Testing the limits: when Honest Belief meets Workplace Reality.
Apr 23, 2024
Ep70: Listener Q&A - We Answer Your Questions: Got a policy for your policies?
Apr 16, 2024
Ep69: A Pig’s Head - I am going to make him an offer he can’t refuse
Apr 09, 2024
Ep68: Listener Q&A - We Answer Your Questions: Vulgar Vehicles, Restricted Workloads, PTO Negotiations, and Poor Performers
Apr 02, 2024
Ep67: What You Missed - Policy and Law Updates You Can't Afford to Miss
Mar 27, 2024
Ep66: Exposed and Ignored: The Battle for Mother’s Rights Under the Golden Arches
Mar 12, 2024
Ep65: Listener Q&A - We Answer Your Questions! A Verbal Assault and a Disability Defense
Mar 05, 2024
Ep64: We Don't Know What We Don't Know
Feb 27, 2024
Ep63: Listener Q&A - We Answer Your Questions: I'm tired of firing people. Help!
Feb 20, 2024
Ep62: Remote Work: The Failure to Return
Feb 13, 2024
Ep61: Boundaries Beyond Borders: Navigating PTO, Relocations, and Rumors in Solo Departments
Feb 06, 2024
Ep60: Breaking Legal Barriers: The Part-Time Secretary Who Rewrote Harassment Laws
Jan 30, 2024
Ep59: Listener Q&A - We Answer Your Questions! My Ex-Wife Is Claiming I Forced Her Out of the Company
Jan 23, 2024
Ep58: Failure to Follow Direction Leads to an Employee Death
Jan 16, 2024
Ep57: Listener Q&A - We Answer Your Questions! How to Make Them Swipe Right on Your Job Posting
Jan 09, 2024
Ep57: 2023's Top 10 Listener Questions
Dec 29, 2023
Ep56: Rudolph and Kringle Inc.- Unwrapping HR Lessons at the North Pole
Dec 19, 2023
Ep55: Listener Q&A - We Answer Your Questions! She Was Recording Her Coworkers!
Dec 12, 2023
Ep54: No Age Limitations: Old Workers Rebel against Employer Bias
Dec 05, 2023
Ep53: Listener Q&A - We Answer Your Questions! Mergers, Holidays, and Status Changes
Nov 28, 2023
Something Illegal Brewing at Starbucks
Nov 21, 2023
Listener Q&A - We Answer Your Questions! Prioritize, Performance Evaluations, and PTO
Nov 14, 2023
What Employees Want
Nov 07, 2023
From the Vault: Accommodation Fails - All he wanted was to be treated equally
Oct 31, 2023
Age and Generation Discrimination
Oct 24, 2023
HR Q&A - We Answer Listener Questions! Requests, Referrals, and I-9 Forms
Oct 17, 2023
It Ain't Funny Creating a Hostile Work Environment
Oct 10, 2023
HR Q&A - We Answer Listener Questions! Grumbling employees, PIPs, and Heavy Burdens
Oct 03, 2023
"You don't get to tell me how to do my F_ _ _ ING job!" said the boss. An NLRA Section 7 and 8 Story.
Sep 26, 2023
HR Q&A - We Answer Listener Questions! Personal, Documentation, and Policy Hygiene
Sep 19, 2023
We are all Employees (Part 2) - Stories about Employee Rights that Managers and HR Pros Need to Remember
Sep 12, 2023
Listener Q&A - We Answer Your Questions! Establishing Policies
Sep 05, 2023
We are all Employees (Part 1) - Stories about Employee Rights that Managers and HR Pros Need to Remember
Aug 29, 2023
Listener Q&A - We Answer Your Questions! How far do we investigate?
Aug 22, 2023
Unveiling Shadows: A Tale of Third-Party Sexual Harassment
Aug 15, 2023
Listener Q&A - We Answer Your Questions! FMLA Notes and Accommodations, Potential Age Discrimination, Leave of Absence Procedures
Aug 08, 2023
From the Vault: The Story of the Lost Employee - Onboarding and Orientation
Aug 01, 2023
Listener Q&A - We Answer Your Questions! Paid Undue Money, Exit and Stay Interviews, and Fire Drills
Jul 25, 2023
The Story of the Night Workers: Paying all Employees Right
Jul 18, 2023
Listener Q&A - We Answer Your Questions! Refusing to Work with opposite sex, Bringing someone out of their shell, Switching an employee to non-exempt
Jul 11, 2023
"I’m Going to Run You Over with this Forklift" - An Intense Tale of Sexual Harassment
Jul 05, 2023
Listener Q&A...We Answer Your Questions! - Remote Workers, FMLA, and Age Discrimination, Oh My!
Jun 29, 2023
Spreading Sickness: The New Work Pandemic
Jun 20, 2023
The HR Stories Podcast Trailer
Jun 20, 2023
Pregnancy Discrimination Supreme Court Ruling - Geduldig vs Aiello - the ORIGINAL Pregnancy Supreme Court Case That Changed HR
Jun 05, 2023
Did you get that signature? The High cost of NOT getting your I-9s right.
May 22, 2023
The AI in HR
May 14, 2023
Overcoming the HR Time Suck
May 07, 2023
Constructive Discharge: Constructing a Potential Lawsuit for your Company
May 01, 2023
Serving up Discipline and Potential Discrimination at Whole Foods
Apr 24, 2023
Payroll Pitfalls: The 5 Sneaky Traps You Need to Watch Out For
Apr 17, 2023
Violence in the Night: How to Protect Your Employees
Apr 09, 2023
When Joking Around at Work is No Laughing Matter
Apr 03, 2023
Why did they leave you? The Story of Employee Turnover
Mar 27, 2023
Supreme Court weighs-in on FLSA Overtime for HCE's
Mar 19, 2023
Pregnancy and New Laws Coming to the Workplace
Mar 14, 2023
Griggs vs Duke Power Supreme Court Ruling - Employment Testing and Discrimination
Mar 06, 2023
HR Stories Vault Episode - Sexual Harassment and Beth the Lifeguard - Faragher vs The City of Boca Raton
Mar 02, 2023
The Employee Edition...being Aware and Noticing Discrimination
Feb 21, 2023
Workplace Romances. Is Love in the Air at your Workplace?
Feb 14, 2023
A Hairy Situation | The CROWN Act
Feb 06, 2023
The ADA - Don't Assume Because It Can Make an Ass Out of U and Me
Jan 30, 2023
Major Mess Ups With Minors Working
Jan 23, 2023
The Word on Word-of-Mouth Recruiting
Jan 17, 2023
Workplace Violence...."There's nothing we can do"
Jan 10, 2023
The Checklists Edition - Getting HR Right and Avoiding Costly Mistakes
Jan 02, 2023
Price Check at Kroger on New Uniforms Logo and Religious Accommodations
Dec 28, 2022
Harassment: A Dish Best Never Served
Dec 18, 2022
Nurses - employees or not? A story about Classifications.
Dec 11, 2022
Sleeping on the Job...not a bedtime story.
Dec 07, 2022
One Phone call cost the company 7.2 Million Dollars
Nov 12, 2022
But Boss...I Need to go to the Bathroom - A Reasonable Accommodation Story
Nov 11, 2022
Child Labor Law HR stories and Mistakes Companies Make
Aug 08, 2022
"I want to go to bed with you", said her boss. - Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson...the original Sexual Harassment Supreme Court case
May 28, 2021
"Are you wearing shorter skirts yet”? - Ellerth vs Burlington Industries
May 05, 2021
Sexual Harassment and Beth the Lifeguard - Faragher vs The City of Boca Raton
Apr 16, 2021
Temper Tantrum Tom Cruise - Profanity and yelling at your employees in the workplace
Feb 14, 2021
Baby Bump and Dump: Pregnancy Discrimination.
Dec 03, 2020
Dirty Words Matter: Profanity and Hostile Work Environment
Dec 03, 2020
Accommodation Tales - All He Wanted Was to be Treated Equally
Oct 15, 2020
The Tale of the Beard and the Applicant - EEOC Religious Accommodation
Oct 01, 2020
The Story of the Lost Employee - Onboarding and Orientation
Sep 12, 2020
The Case of the Accidental Wage Theft - Wage and Hour Law
Sep 03, 2020
The Story of the Gridlock Buster - Job Postings and the EEOC
Aug 25, 2020