A friend asked me the other day, “How is it that Hooters can discriminate based on looks?” This question started an entire conversation about businesses, such as bikini barista stands, and professions, such as NFL cheerleaders, that obviously discriminate based on looks, and why and when that is permitted under the law. Do good-looking people have an advantage in the job market? Do they ever have a disadvantage? Does it violate Title VII protections to discriminate against someone based on their looks? read more »

Have you ever had a job for which you just couldn’t find the right person? Have you watched a supervisor struggle for months to fill a position, despite the fact that unemployment has been astoundingly high? Have you seen the same job get advertised over and over again, month after month, and asked yourself, “What is wrong in that company?” Why are some positions so hard to fill?

I posed this question to a group of highly experienced recruiters, and they readily provided me with answers.

We want one just like the last one: It’s not uncommon for a job to evolve over time around a current employee’s skill set. A bookkeeper with a creative side might end up being the person who creates marketing flyers and brochures for your business. But these two skills sets are not generally found together, and requiring that in the next bookkeeper you hire can make that job a lot harder to fill. read more »

By the time this article is printed, we will probably know whether Boeing and the Society for Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) have been able to come to an agreement about their contract. Right now, the news is full of discussion about the appropriateness of President Obama’s recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board, allegations that the NLRB is overstepping its authority by extending its reach to nonunion shops, and concerns that unions are losing membership and clout. Whether you’re management, a union member, or none of the above, unions and labor relations affect our lives and the local economy, creating news and making us take notice.

First of all, I have a disclaimer to make. I am not an authority on unions or labor relations. I’ve never been in management in a union environment, and in fact, it’s been about 30 years since I’ve worked in a unionized company. read more »

Yahoo’s hiring of CEO Marissa Mayer created a lot of buzz in the business community. It wasn’t just due to the fact that a woman was hired to run one of the largest and best known tech companies in the world, though that in and of itself was a rarity. Even more incredible than that fact was the fact that Marissa Mayer is pregnant, and Yahoo knew that when they hired her. Evolved thinking? A sign of better times for women in the workplace? One might think so. But if that’s the case, why has the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) put an increased emphasis on the enforcement of pregnancy anti-discrimination laws?

There have been some flagrant and even outrageous cases recently involving pregnant women and employment. Here are just a couple illustrative examples:

Sandbar Mexican Grill in Arizona had a policy that prevented pregnant servers from working on Sundays. read more »

The election is now over and history has been made by Washington and Colorado, the first states to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. Although our state, along with 16 others and the District of Columbia, had already approved the legalization of medical marijuana, this new law is unprecedented in its scope. It appears to have employees and employers scratching their heads and asking, “What next?” as state and federal laws collide.

Let me state up front: I am not a lawyer, and this is untested legal ground. But before you throw up your hands in frustration or confusion, we can look at laws and legal precedents to provide us with some guidance.

Many businesses already conduct pre-employment drug testing, as well as random and/or post-accident testing. read more »

Do you remember the Peter Principle? According to Wikipedia, it’s the theory that “in a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence” — meaning that employees tend to be promoted until they reach a position at which they cannot work competently. The idea is that eventually everyone reaches the job at which they’re incompetent, and there they remain. The only work that actually gets done is performed by the employees still climbing the ladder of success.

So what do we do if we want our incompetent employees to be productive? Really only two choices come to mind. We can terminate them and hire someone productive, or we can demote the employee back to the position where they were competent. read more »

“I can terminate anyone at any time for any reason. This is an at-will state.” Ever hear those words from an employer? Ever think those words yourself? Ever wonder if the law is on your side? As is often the case with employment law, the answer is … maybe and maybe not.

Washington is an “at-will” state. But that doesn’t preclude the notion of “wrongful discharge.” As employers, it’s important we understand both of these terms in order to stay out of legal trouble.

A quick internet search for wrongful discharge suits turned up these recently filed lawsuits. Tiffani Webb, a well regarded high school guidance counselor in New York, was terminated after modeling pictures of her in lingerie taken 17 years prior turned up on the internet. read more »

In Cedar Falls, Iowa, the heartland of America, the CEO of a successful brokerage firm, Peregrine Financial Group, has been charged with 31 counts of fraud. Russell Wasendorf Sr. allegedly stole over $200 million from his customers over a 20-year period.

In the hallowed halls of Penn State University, football coach Gerry Sandusky abused young men over the course of many years. His conviction on 45 counts has forever impacted his employer’s reputation and their bottom line.

What could these two cases, so different on the surface, have in common? In both cases, employees and managers failed to speak up and human resource professionals were unaware or marginalized, crippling their ability to protect their employers. What lessons can we learn for our own businesses? read more »

The statistics are out, and they’re not surprising: Americans are getting fatter. In fact, the number of obese adults in the U.S. more than doubled between 1980 and 2008. The Centers for Disease Control says that today over one-third (35.7 percent) of Americans are obese. In Washington state we’re a bit better than average, with obesity at 26.5 percent. With obesity expanding, it’s an issue that has an impact on the workplace. In the words of Gov. Chris Christie, “Man up and say I’m fat!”

Many studies have been done on the impacts of obesity on health. The CDC and the National Institute of Health (NIH) relate obesity to heart disease, stroke, diabetes and some types of cancer, all of which are leading causes of preventable death. In 2008, the medical costs associated with obesity were about $147 billion. In a time when businesses are fighting rapidly rising health care costs and operating with fewer employees, it’s understandable that obesity would be of concern to employers. read more »