The following is a checklist of common policies appearing in employee handbooks. Please note that the checklist is overly inclusive and that not every policy listed within should necessarily be contained in a particular employee handbook. (That being said, the checklist also does not include every possible policy that could potentially be included in an employee handbook.) Policies included in an employee handbook vary by the employer’s preferences, size, workforce, states (and municipalities) of employment, and type of industry or business.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Investigation Checklist
Many eagerly await the day when genuinely advanced artificial intelligence (AI) becomes a reality, and we're seeing more and more discussion of AI and another related technology, Bots. Understanding key distinctions between the two can help legal professionals make the best use of each. Both are important and useful in different ways, and this article is an introduction to their capabilities and applications.
The U.S. Department of Labor has blogged about the safety of workers during the busy holiday season, indicating an area of potential enforcement for OSHA in the coming weeks. As this is the season for office holiday parties, check out this article from Seyfarth Shaw detailing tips to minimize your organization’s exposure to legal liability and, more importantly, prevent an undesirable incident from occurring at your office holiday party.
It can be costly to hold on to information that is obsolete, expired, either legal, regulatory, and not needed for or business reasons. An organization must determine what needs to be saved (meaning, it can identify what can be disposed). Policies can be developed that include both the business justification and process for deleting electronic documents, and establish consistent, repeatable, defensible processes that allow for the routine deletion of data not under a legal hold.
In this article we take on some common myths with Julie Johnson, Senior Manager of Legal Operations at Align Technology. Julie and her team were faced with an incomplete repository and tools that were not designed with legal in mind, which caused a lot of frustration for Legal and their stakeholders. With Julie’s leadership and the guidance of consulting firm UpLevel Ops, the Legal Ops team selected and implemented Checkbox, a workflow automation tool, to tackle the problem of the incomplete repository and lack of search functionality Julie provides insights on how her teams have achieved success by utilizing and customizing tech solutions at Align.
Jeff Isaacs has given much thought to the evolution of legal services over his 30-plus year career in the industry, both in legal operations and as an attorney acting as both outside and in-house counsel. I recently had the opportunity to catch up with him on his career and his decision to join KPMG LLP as Director, Global Legal Managed Services. Click here to read more.
On June 23, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States issued its decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which significantly expanded Americans’ right to bear arms as guaranteed by the Second Amendment. More accurately, the Court significantly curtailed a state’s ability to restrict Americans’ right to publicly carry arms for self-defense. The Bruen decision does not mention the workplace. Nor does the ruling apply directly to the rights of private employers or prevent businesses from enforcing their own restrictions on possession and carry of firearms at their facilities (which the Court indirectly endorsed). The opinion will, however, undoubtedly impact businesses and employers now and in the future. Indeed, in addition to serving as the impetus for a likely increase in guns carried in public generally, the decision will also provide the foundation for subsequent challenges of private restrictions, including workplace bans on guns. Whether those challenges will bear any fruit remains to be seen. What is clear is that Bruen brought gun laws back to the forefront of the national consciousness, and with it a reminder for employers to revisit their workplace restrictions, as well as the law of the state(s) in which they operate.
Data risk was once thought of as a technical challenge. However, the onslaught of data breach and data privacy legislation, and subsequent litigation have changed this outlook. There is one activity that everyone is aware of which, if well-executed, can lower technical, legal, and privacy risks and increase compliance: a data retention/deletion program. Check out this whitepaper from Exterro to learn more about data retention programs.
Read this article from Exterro to verify that your breach response solution can help you automatically respond to incidents by using the checklists included.