The number of companies maintaining a corporate presence on social media rose from 34% in 2008 to 77% in 2013 according to SHRM Survey Findings: Social Networking Website and Recruiting/Selection. According to the survey, social media is primarily used to attract passive job candidates, but, according to Brian R. partner with the law firm of Faegre Baker Daniels LLP., Garrison advises that the guidelines or policies should not just be stuck in the employee handbook. MORE

Today, let’s talk about the employee who claimed sexual harassment because her male co-worker constantly stared at her with an erection — which she subsequently photographed and showed to other co-workers, and all of that morphed into a retaliation claim. Ok, let’s talk about the facts in Furcron v. The plaintiff began working for the defendant back in 2008. Still, the plaintiff initially tried to make nice with the male co-worker. MORE

From gossip to claiming turf, retaliation, culture interventions, and recruiting, there is a lot of company time devoted to processing conflict in the workplace. From time spent away from the work to customer headaches and the dollars lost in between, it’s important for managers and business owners to understand the true cost of conflict in the workplace. The Cost of Conflict in the Workplace. The Actual Cost. Harassment. MORE

Every now and again it’s worth pulling a post out of the archives for a rerun. Today, I look all the way back to April 15, 2008, for one of these reruns, to answer the question—. In a perfect world, discrimination, retaliation, and harassment wouldn’t exist. But they do, and companies, even those with the best of intentions, run afoul of the complexities of our myriad employment laws. MORE

The U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals (which covers Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota) recently affirmed a district court’s ruling that an employee failed to establish a case of disability discrimination and retaliation. The cancer has been in remission since 1999. In 2005, she took the position of senior patient services specialist and again communicated her disability to her hiring supervisor. By Steve Jones. MORE

Don’t be the HR cat! I have run across the term “cat’s paw” several times in the past, including just recently. It comes supposedly from an old Aesop’s fable that was adapted by Frenchman Jean de La Fontaine under the title Le Singe et le Chat that appeared in the second collection of his Fables in 1679. It tells the story of a cat that was convinced to pull chestnuts out of a fire by a monkey supposedly to share, however the cat never got its share. MORE

Many leaders are thinking broadly about how to meet the return-to-work challenge. Unlike other crises, such as 9/11 or the Great Recession in 2008, COVID’s crucible is the fight against an invisible and insidious enemy, a pathogen that promises to wax and wane for an indeterminate time. Furthermore, its unsettlingly long incubation period may render even the most rigorous workplace prevention efforts ineffective. The financial software company BlackLine Inc., MORE