Handcuff Headlines

Voter registration, much like the Electoral College, doesn’t seem to matter until it intersects with our lives. Then, it really matters. This weekend, we wrap up the final race in the mid-term elections, the race for a Louisiana Senate seat between Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) and Rep. Bill Cassidy (R).

As the year draws to a close, it is the perfect time to consider those things that we think of as sacrosanct. Have you read through your employee handbook lately, considered your hiring process, or re-evaluated your daily activities?

November 22—Nov. 23, 2014 … As America looks forward to turkey and cranberry sauce, B2C small businesses and entrepreneurs are looking forward to one of the most profitable times of the year.

November 15—November 16, 2014 … As the holidays approach, discussions about stress in the workplace continue. However, we’re starting to look forward to 2015 and reconsidering hiring and productivity, especially with the economic pressures of a falling unemployment rate.

November 8—Nov. 10, 2014 … HR Executive: Stress Matters … ADP and Towers Perrin both released reports on workplace stress recently, and everyone is talking about it.

Have you seen the Miss Airport 2013 calendar? Apparently, security screening has become such a pervasive part of our culture that even a calendar has been published with provocative x-ray images. Now, employees are invoking the FLSA to reimburse the time spent in scanners.

November 1–November 2, 2014 … TLNT: “Employee Fired After Making Threats of Violence on Facebook” … A parole officer in Ohio was fired after making threats on facebook.

A Texas nurse recently won a lawsuit for $30,000 because the hiring company was unwilling to provide reasonable accommodations in a drug screen (following their corporate drug test policy). Due to a past surgery, the nurse was unable to submit a urine sample.

Do you know who is using drugs? Are you sure? In the recent white paper, “Everything You Never Wanted to Know About Drug Testing”, we document that nearly 42,000 Americans come to work each day under the influence of something.

October 25—October 26, 2014 … TLNT: “Letting Sick Employees Come to Work” … For the past few weeks, Ebola has been leading news across the country making employee wellness top of mind for many HR managers and employers.

For the first time in ten years, “the percentage of positive drug tests among American workers has increased…, fueled by a rise in marijuana and amphetamines,” according to a recent release by Quest Diagnostics.