February 26, 2016 Author:  Bobbi K. Dominick Over the past few years, Idaho media has focused heavily on the “Add the Words” campaign, which advocates changing the Idaho Human Rights Act to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the provisions prohibiting employment and public accommodations discrimination.  With the legislature’s actions in refusing to “Add... View Post

February 23, 2016 As many employers already know, one of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) declared national priorities and strategies is to use litigation to prevent workplace harassment.  A recent EEOC lawsuit highlights this strategy and points out that the EEOC’s litigation focus remains a matter of serious concern for Idaho employers, particularly in... View Post

February 22, 2016 Author:  Bobbi K. Dominick Let’s say you are a manager in a large company.  An employee comes to you and asks for a parking space close to the building because her disability makes it difficult for her to walk all the way from the bus station.  What do you do?  You pass... View Post

February 19, 2016 Author:  Taylor H. Fouser REVERSE DISCRIMINATION On February 1, 2016, a former Yahoo employee sued the company in US district court for actual and intentional gender based discrimination (Gregory Anderson v. Yahoo!, Inc.).  The plaintiff, Gregory Anderson, worked as an editorial director for the company for four years, until his firing in... View Post

February 9, 2016 Author:  Bobbi K. Dominick An illustrative investigation recently hit the news.  The January 2016 Washington Post headline reads:  “Female Park Service employees say they were harassed on Grand Canyon trips.”  The article details an extensive investigation undertaken about operations at National Parks along the Grand Canyon.  Many details were included in the... View Post

Employers have many reasons to make a New Year’s resolution to review and update their internal employee policies.  The trend in federal regulatory agencies towards stricter review of internal employment policies is one that should give employers pause.  Most prominent among the agencies taking a strong stance on employee handbook language is the National Labor... View Post

January 26, 2016 Author:  Bobbi K. Dominick What do all of these things have in common?  Fear is sweeping through some parts of the country, and that fear is breaking out into the public forum in the form of an intense focus on terrorist incidents at home and abroad.  Employees are subjected to highly publicized... View Post

December 18, 2015 Employers frequently require references from job candidates, and most jobseekers agree that the best references are those from prior employers.  Consequently, candidates often include their old bosses as references even after departing their jobs on negative terms.  Unfortunately, being named as a reference in such situations can put employers in a difficult... View Post

December 7, 2015 Holiday parties are a popular way for businesses and their employees to recognize and reward each other, observe company traditions, and share their holiday cheer.  A survey by The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) in 2015 found that almost two-thirds of organizations planned an end-of-year or holiday party open to all... View Post

November 20, 2015 As the holidays approach, it is especially important to pay extra attention to human resource issues. VACATION/PTO REQUESTS As you are all probably aware of, most employees make vacation/paid time off (PTO) requests this time of year.  It is recommended to have a “standardized” system to approach vacation and PTO, especially during... View Post

November 3, 2015 The 2016 presidential election is over a year away, but the very diverse field of candidates has already created quite a stir with their controversial and hotly-contested rhetoric.  Undoubtedly, those individuals vying to become our 45th president will continue to give us plenty to discuss and debate throughout the year to come. ... View Post

October 20, 2015 Almost one in three adults in the United States has a criminal record that will show up on a routine criminal background check.  Many believe this creates a serious barrier to employment for millions of workers. Nationwide, states and cities have been implementing “ban the box” policies to help people with records... View Post