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