The former waitress, Jessica Webber, claims that the Wards “created a hostile workplace” in which she “was solicited for sex advice, was asked to rub lotion on the husband’s penis, guess the man’s “measurements,” and participate in a “ring toss game on his penis.””

According to an October 11^th story from The Smoking Gun, the waitress’ complaints came after a staff party.  Basically, “when partygoers arrived, Ward Frederick, 46, “stripped down to thong underwear” and began giving lap dances to employees and guests, Webber claimed.  “A few minutes later, Mr. Frederick removed his thong, and became completely nude.”  At that point, Julie Frederick “began asking the guests and employees to guess the measurements of Mr. Frederick’s penis and asked employees to rub lotion on Mr. Frederick.”  Ward Frederick then allegedly “began masturbating in front of the guests and employees so the measurements of his erect penis could be taken, and so others could play a ring toss game on his penis.””

Even as a seasoned HR Professional, it amazes me to hear or read about stories like this.  Quoting Bill Murray from the movie “Wild Things” a few years back…“They’ll settle.  They will.  Trust me; they’ll be begging to settle.”  He’s right.  And the Fredericks should probably start looking for a new liability insurance company…

Here’s a recent example that I encountered.  An HR friend was interviewing for a job and called to ask my opinion about it.  As she reviewed the responsibilities, I thought the job sounded OK, except for the part where they told her that she wasn’t going to be handling employee relations.  Keep in mind that she was interviewing for the company’s sole HR job.  She was smart enough to ask who handled employee complaints.  Their response – the CEO or the Controller.  My advice – run like the wind!  And interestingly, the EEOC agrees with me.

HR Morning featured the recent EEOC v. V&J Foods, Inc. case.  You can read more about the case here.  Basically, the judge in the case said that “the company was at fault for not making it clear that the first option for a victim should be to contact the company’s human resources department with the complaint, and that the company should have had such a process in place, including contact info for HR.”

With no disrespect to the CEO’s of the world, there are too many people out there who think they can “also do HR.”  And too many things get brushed under the rug and/or covered-up when HR is not involved.  Lawsuits, like the one mentioned above, will continue to be the result.  So if you’re the company’s sole HR person and they tell you that you’re only going to recruit and handle the benefits – it might be time to start asking some questions…

But the “sue first, ask questions later” situation is exactly what a District Judge is accusing attorneys from the EEOC of doing.  You can read the entire story here, as reported by HR Morning.

The end result – get this – the company will receive $4.5M from the EEOC.  Do you know what is pretty interesting?  As HR Professionals, we always preach the importance of doing thorough investigations.  But it sounds like that is what the EEOC is accused of not doing.  It should be interesting to see how this plays out in court, as I’m sure the EEOC will appeal…

Him: “That’s fine; I’ll just sit at home and earn unemployment.”

Me: “You can always apply for unemployment.  But you will not win considering these circumstances.”

Him: According to the Office of Unemployment Compensation, blah, blah, blah…

Yes, this guy actually called me with a State unemployment manual in front of him and started quoting from it.  Want to know what happened?

First level determination – we won.

Second level determination – we won.

Hearing level – we won.

Now who’s laughing, bud?  If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it one thousand times – if you know what you’re doing, you will NEVER lose an unemployment claim – no matter what it is filed for.

Oh, by the way, to the attorney who sent me a solicitation letter saying she’d represent my company for $800 per unemployment claim – think again – I don’t need your help.  If you know what you’re doing, it’s a piece of cake.

You’ve never seen so many neck braces, wheelchairs and crutches in your life…  But the sad thing is that if the work-related injury was truly legitimate, it should never even end up at a hearing, in my opinion.

Over the years, the employees I’ve dealt with who were truly hurt on the job were my top priority.  We took care of them and got them back to work.  Unfortunately, it’s the fraudulent claims and/or the companies that fight every single claim to the death that are ruining the system.

And let’s not forget the strange formula system by which premiums are calculated.  Many HR Professionals that I know believe that it’s possible for a small business to go bankrupt due to their BWC premiums.

But do you want to know my favorite part of attending a hearing?  Watching a defense attorney stand up and call out, “John Doe?  John Doe?”  Then a claimant comes forward, and the attorney says, “Hi.  I’m your attorney.”  That’s right; they’ve never even met.

Investigate claims.  Use a TPA.  Use an MCO.  Talk to the BWC.  Talk to your injured worker and get them back to work.  With the latter being the key.  You can always fight a claim if you need to, but if you’re doing everything else right, those will be far and few.

GINA is the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008.  The law went into effect on November 21, 2009.

Progressive Business Compliance posted this update today:

“On May 21, 2008, Former President George W. Bush signed the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) of 2008 into law.  GINA includes two distinct titles.  Title I addresses the use of genetic information in health insurance.  Title II of GINA prohibits employers from collecting genetic information from employees, and using this information to make decisions regarding employment.”

As a result of this law, make sure your company is compliant – your Federal EEOC poster must be updated immediately.  As a perk for our readers, you can print the poster update for free here.  Keep in mind that you almost never need to buy a poster, because they’re usually available online…

I think the answers to all three are yes, although in my mind, the latter can be very dangerous.

Check out this blog post that Porter Wright published through their Employer Law Report.  They discuss a situation where a company terminated a woman’s long-term disability benefits due to some pictures they observed on her Facebook page.

This is a very interesting debate.  You’ll have to decide if Facebook should have come into play or not.  Personally, I have always preached – if you don’t want someone to see it, never put it online!

Kate Lorenz, CareerBuilder.com Editor, was the author.  You can view her blog here.

And you can view the list of 10 things here.  To be honest, I think I’ve fired somebody at least once for every single item on Kate’s list.  That’s not good.

There is a purpose for receiving unemployment.  But what I’m finding these days is that some employees simply see it as a way out.  They say, “I’ll just sit home and collect unemployment.”

But do you want to know something?  I’ve never lost an unemployment claim or a hearing.  That’s right; in more than 12 years working in HR, I have always won.  Why – I’ve taken the time to understand how the system works and how to protect my company.  I even wrote a plan that once saved a company $200,000 in charges against their unemployment experience.  I was the hero.  Seriously – I still have the plaque they gave me proudly displayed on my desk.

Let me say it bluntly.  If you’re losing claims, you’re not doing what you should be doing.  The only unemployment claim you should ever lose is the one you want to (i.e. you write a severance agreement and agree not to contest it).  Otherwise, you can and should be winning.  Quits, terminations, bizarre circumstances – it doesn’t matter!

We’ll review my easy unemployment checklist next time.  Basically, I’ll tell you what the state and job/family service offices don’t want you to know.

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