Another Day in the HR Field

I just completed a training program today for county officials that applies to all business owners, managers, and HR in the state here in Springfield today (on February 26, 2020) covering the Workplace Transparency Act and Sexual Harassment Prevention Training, I'd like to summarize some of the main points.  As the program description described, the Illinois Workplace Transparency Act imposes a variety of restrictions and requirements on employers relating to workplace discrimination and harassment including annual sexual harassment prevention training for all employees (in all employers of all sizes throughout the state).  The training covered the standards to get into and stay in compliance. The most recent 2/5/20 Public Service Announcement by the Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR) was introduced covering the need to provide training to all employees no later than 12/31/20 and annually thereafter with all new employees being trained within 90 days of that firs...

The morning after a day in Jamaica starts off with a bang in Julie Pugh's session covering Harassment in the Headlines most recently refenced by hashtags #MeToo and #TimesUp.  Her session was titled Have Your Life Jacket Handy: The HR Professional's Role in Addressing Pre-Lawsuit Procedures. Whew! That's a mouthful! However, being prepared is a big deal and deserves our attention, understanding, and consideration to avoid a mouthful of curse words (quietly of course) when you get handed your first EEOC complaint or lawsuit.  Believe me, they are not fun to deal with! I have personally had my share of harassment (especially sexual) complaints during my tenure in HR.  So far this year, I have delivered a couple of programs as well as conducted a couple of investigation and it's only February! The stories I could tell would make you wonder what type of work is actually being done in the workplace.  Matter of fact, I shared one of them in the session that helped Jul...

The following was originally written in 2011 and posted on the Women of HR site here:  http://womenofhr.com/bride-to-be-discouraged-employee/ As I prepare for a program on harassment and discrimination to be delivered at the Danville Community College later this month, I was reminded of this post and thought I would share again here.  From the archives (although updated slightly with number of years married, etc. By Donna Rogers, SPHR, SHRM-SCP Last week (in 2011), I was teaching a two-day Certified Public Manager session for a group of association members.  The session was called Human Resources: Productivity and Quality.  During one of our discussions regarding compliance related issues we covered the process of an HR Audit which included as one of many tasks, a review of posters that need to be posted at work sites.  One participant mentioned a poster that drew quite a stir when it first came out, which I personally was not aware of, pictured t...