Another Day in the HR Field

Recently, a client asked me if they needed to adjust their drug testing policy so a transgender employee could choose the gender of the person observing them urinate for a test. Obviously, the person wanted the employee to feel comfortable with who was in the room with them. First of all, having another employee watch you urinate can be uncomfortable for anyone, for any reason, but it is a requirement for some drug tests in order to ensure that the testee doesn’t bring in a bag of someone else’s urine to exchange as their own. If the reason is not obvious, it is so they do not test positive when they know they have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol. So, I did some research and thought it would be good to share this information for other employers, managers, small business owners and HR managers who may have similar questions. What are the requirements to be an observer for a direct observed collection? According to the Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing ...

Earlier tonight I was reminded of an incident that occurred just yesterday on my own front porch. This flashback came as a reflection-having just finished listening to author, Howard Ross (@HowardJRoss) and SHRMs VP of D&I (Diversity & Inclusion), Shirley Davis (@SDavisSHRM) have a conversation primarily surrounding his new book. The book is titled ReInventing Diversity: Transforming Organizational Community to Strengthen People, Purpose, and Performance. The focus of his talk is based on the idea that we as a community of Diversity minded individuals have pushed the envelope over and over again to encourage people, business, authorities, etc. not to do or say things that is inappropriate, against the law (now that there are laws), and other related "dont's". He provides lists of statistics and metrics in the books to continue to foster diversity and inclusion in his book but the bottom line is we need to look at ourselves. We need to look in the mirror. We need...