Search / 10 posts tagged Off-duty Conduct

A reader has "an HRish question": A friend is a part-time hospice nurse, non-exempt. (All the other nurses are full-time and exempt, but I don’t think we want to get into that here.) She has been putting in more than her usual schedule lately, and asked for last Friday or Thursday off, and was granted

[Special article written by Louis P. DiLorenzo, Esq.] Before you can answer this question, a number of factors need to be considered. The single most important consideration should be whether the conduct impacts or could impact the employer's interests.

Risk-Avoidance provisions in employee contracts are more common than you might think. Think of it as insurance on an investment. Employers pay huge sums to retain these “ultimate performers.” The employment contract is one way to try to ensure that your precious and irreplaceable commodity (i.e., the all-star employee), doesn’t voluntarily put your investment in harm’s way.

Off-duty conduct, especially smoking and tobacco use, are often regulated by employers who complain of increasing health-care costs. But not every employer believes that workplace regulations on employee’s off-duty conduct is an appropriate solution. The Tribune Company, which owns the Chicago Tribune, came under new ownership in December.

Delaware businesses, if you worry about obesity and its effects on your workforce, you are not alone. Across the country, there has been a sharp turn in focus by major businesses and commercial organizations. The focus shift has been towards obesity as a costly characteristic of our modern workforce.

Employers face another obesity obstacle. As everyone knows, Americans have been gaining more and more weight over the past forty years or so, as confirmed by the National Institute of Health’s website. Reading the recent post in this blog about obesity policies made me wonder whether the Americans with Disabilities Act is the only law that such a policy might conflict with.

[Not] Hiring & Firing Smokers Of the four posts in this series on Smokers & the Workplace, the common action we have seen Delaware employers take is simply not hiring applicants who smoke. Many who implement this type of policy permit current employees to be grandfathered into the new program and do not require them to quit smoking as a condition of continued employment.

Employee productivity, recruitment, and retention are issues that concern every employer. Recently, employers have begun implementing new and different forms of fringe benefits as motivational tools. One such benefit is the employer-based health clinic, as discussed at The Blog that Ate Manhattan.

Every once and a while you’ll hear in the news of someone who is fired or disciplined for conduct performed outside of work. HR Wench recently wrote a blog about a President who was fired for appearing on a television show and how his activity outside of the workplace should not matter.

Mark Toth at Manpower Employment Blawg wrote about a recent case out of NYC regarding off duty conduct. Basically, some dude who was President (but not the highest ranking employee) of a company called "Patriarch Partners, LLP" (What. A. Name.) was fired for appearing on "Real Housewives of New York City".