As  Orlando, Florida, Human Resources consultants and business advisors we like to keep our clients and the interested public ahead of the curve on employment issues.

Having updated job descriptions is a good place to start.

Rick

1.  Marymount Manhatten College interviews candidates for a coreography position to teach dance.

2.  A qualified 64 year-old applies along with two other qualified applicants.

3.  After determining that the 64 year-old was the leading candidate, the college decided to expand its search and hired a less qualified 37-year 0ld declaring her to be ” at the right moment of her life for a committment to a fulltime position.”

4.  The EEOC didn’t buy it, and it has now sued the college on the grounds that it violated Title    VII of  the Civil Rights Act of 1964 due to  age, ignoring the more qualified older applicant in favor of the less qualified younger applicant.  

Anyone feel like waltzing to this tune?

As strategic Orlando, Florida, Human Resources consultants and business advisors, we  do our best to flag these issues for our clients and the business community here in Central Florida.  

Please don’t play it again, Sam.

Rick

That’s why we conduct an HR Audit to look under the “hood” of a company to see what’s working and what’s out of sync.  As with a good auto mechanic, it takes a trained HR specialist to quickly diagnose problematic workplace issues and to recommend efficient solutions before going  much further.

One of the issues we often see is a lack of management awareness of some of the basic “rules of the road” such as how to legally hire new employees and to manage employee performance without engaging in discriminatory practices. 

As strategic Orlando, Florida, Human Resources consultants and business advisors we highly recommend a regular HR Audit in order to arrive on time and avoid costly breakdowns.

Christina

Just wrapped up teaching this semester’s HR classes offered through the University of Central Florida (UCF) Office of Continuing Education for rising Central Florida HR professionals sitting for the Professional Human Resources and the Senior Human Resources Professional certification exams under the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) professional development program….Tomorrow, head out to Strayer University to discuss current HR issues with graduate students enrolled in the Masters in Human Resources  program. 

As strategic Orlando, Florida,  Human Resources consultants and business advisors we know the value of continuous learning, both for our clients and area HR professionals. It’s a competitive world, and every bit of knowledge helps to create a winning advantage.

Rick

We’ve been seeing more workplace retaliation issues surface recently. Maybe it’s the warmer than usual weather, maybe we’re headed to a full moon….Maybe employers are taking their eye off the ball.  Just remember, workplace retaliation was the leading EEOC charge in 2011. 

As strategic Orlando, Florida, Human Resources consultants and business advisors, we highly recommend dusting off the training manual to review the basics on how to prevent this issue from visiting your workplace. The risks of not doing so are simply too great.

Rick

Sounds pretty basic, and dull….

But don’t under estimate the power of well-drafted job descriptions to manage your business and to ward off a heap of trouble—Worker’s Compensation issues, EEOC claims, compensation issues, etc.

As strategic Orlando, Florida, Human Resources consultants and business advisors, we cannot overstate the critical importance of current, ADA-compliant, job descriptions for every position within your organization….We’ve seen what can happen to companies that don’t take this stuff seriously.

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” 

I wish I’d said that.

Christina

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) has filed suit against a Sarasota, Florida, OfficeMax alleging discriminatory employment practices.  The government lawsuit alleges that a Hispanic sales associate was fired in 2009 after complaining of  racial discrimination. According to the lawsuit, the employee was later rehired but then the manager retaliated against the employee  by engaging in a practice of unwarranted disciplinary actions and other activities causing the employee to quit.

Regardless of the merits of the case, this will take up a considerable amount of time, energy and expense to defend.

As strategic Orlando, Florida, Human Resources consultants and business advisors we take the tack that an ounce of management training is worth a pound of management cure.

Sarasota is close to Central Florida. Think about it.

Rick

As strategic Orlando, Florida, Human Resources consultants and business advisors we find our presentations before such engaged groups to be an invaluable means for everyone to learn and benchmark best practices with other organizations.

Thank you, Florida  POMAA!

Rick

Our presentation topic is: “Building a Strategic Human Resources Foundation: 10 Key Steps to Winning Hearts, Minds and Profits.”

As strategic Orlando, Florida, Human Resources consultants and business advisors we enjoy assisting others to get to the winners’ circle.

We speak this Thursday afternoon on Disney property.  In the event you would like details, please send me a note on the web site “contact us” page and I’ll fill you in. 

Rick

The owner/operator of a Hurricane Grill and Wings restaurant in Royal Palm Beach, FL, just agreed to stroke a check for $200,000 to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit that had been filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Commission (“EEOC”) alleging the restaurant had allowed female servers to be grabbbed and sexually harassed by a male customer.  Further, the EEOC alleged the restaurant had fired one of the servers after management learned she had hired a private attorney to assist her in filing an EEOC charge.

Sexual harassment and retaliation for complaining about it violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

As strategic Orlando, Florida, Human Resources consultants and business advisors, we highly recommend training to keep the management team up to speed on these workplace issues. $200,000 is how many wings?

Rick