-
Common myths about employee handbooks
Catherine Iste Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementEmployers are not required to have a handbook. That is true. State and federal regulations do, however, require employers to provide a variety of information to their employees. The easiest way to do this is often via some sort of handbook. Yet, for those organizations without a handbook, it can be easy to find excuses not to create one. Here are a few myths about handbooks and the corresponding reasons why it is a good idea for every employer to have one.
-
TPWD’s drawn hunts offer a variety of opportunities for sportsmen
John McAdams Recreation & LeisureThe Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) recently began accepting applications through its Public Hunt drawing system for the 2019-20 season. Completely separate from the Big Time Texas Hunts that hunters may also apply for, the hunts offered through the Texas Public Hunt System are great opportunities for sportsmen and women to hunt big game, small game, waterfowl, and upland bird species at over 70 different hunt areas in Texas. Just like the types of game offered on these hunts, the locations the drawn hunts take place at are extremely varied.
-
America’s 10 deadliest national parks
Dave G. Houser Recreation & LeisureLast September, Tomer Frankfurter, an 18-year-old student from Israel, was hiking in Yosemite National Park when he decided to go for a "selfie" standing atop a cliff next to 594-foot Nevada Fall. Sadly, the teen lost his balance and plunged hundreds of feet to his death on the rocks below. Scarcely a month later, a California couple suffered the same fate — falling 800 feet from a ledge at Yosemite’s Taft Point. These widely publicized deaths remind us that while the nation’s superb park system is meant to offer healthy, outdoorsy adventures, there's a darker side to what can happen at these parks that often goes unnoticed.
-
Financial transparency becomes an obstacle for private prison reform
Michelle R. Matisons Law Enforcement, Defense & SecurityThe private prison industry is motivated by supposed relative efficiency largely due to facilities operating without as much public oversight as their government-owned counterparts. When the prison population swelled to over 2 million under drug prohibition policies that persist today, overcrowded facilities received negative press for violating international human rights standards. A new report from The Center for Popular Democracy (CPD) verifies that while private prison facilities contain a range of violations, these institutions are significantly hindered by recent banking divestments to the tune of almost $1.93 billion.
-
5 tips to improve past performance ratings
Lisa Pafe Civil & GovernmentContractors often struggle to define a discriminating value proposition. While a value proposition is certainly comprised of your service or product solution, it also incorporates your past performance. A proposal demonstrates to the government a company’s prospective ability to perform the work. How does the government gain confidence in your prospective ability to deliver your solution at high quality and low risk? By examining your past performance both on relevant contracts as well as trends across time.
-
House passes $15 minimum wage bill, but its prospects are dim in Senate
Seth Sandronsky Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementOn July 18, the majority-Democratic House of Representatives passed the Raise the Wage Act to gradually increase the federal minimum wage, now at $7.25 and unchanged since 2009, to $15 in 2025. Some Republican House members did cross party lines to vote to increase the federal minimum wage. "This critical policy would lift wages for more than 33 million workers, 90% of them age 20 or older and 58% of them women," according to Heidi Shierholz, a senior economist and the director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute.
-
3 things that make it hard to fire someone in any industry
Catherine Iste Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementTerminations are stressful for everyone. While there are challenges unique to firing specialists in any industry, there are a few things that make it hard to fire someone regardless of industry. Here are some common challenges around terminations and strategies for addressing them. For example, documentation is one of the most common issues with terminations. In some cases, we do not have enough documentation.
-
EPA approves bee-killing pesticide use as populations of the insect crater
Scott E. Rupp Food & BeverageThe Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in June approved the use of a bee-killing pesticide and, more recently, the White House said it would stop collecting data on declining honey bee populations. Those who follow such developments say this move could make tracking the effects of the chemicals on bees impossible. The Department of Agriculture's Honey Bee Colonies report, compiled annually since 2015, had been designed to help scientists and farmers assess the decline of honey bees, which are responsible for pollinating one in every three bites of food taken by humans.
-
Aging: What you don’t know can hurt you
Patrick Gleeson Civil & GovernmentI don't recall legislation outlawing the discussion of aging, do you? Yet, it’s a topic often avoided in the public sphere, almost as if talking about it were illegal. Yet, despite the uniform silence on the subject in the current presidential campaigns, there's little doubt that there are so many urgent issues related to aging as to constitute a national crisis. How so? First consider this: by 2020, more than 20% of the population in every industrialized society will be over 65 and in each following year the percentage will rise. In contrast, the percentage of persons under 20 remains nearly flat and will remain so for years to come. There are many implications related to these two statistics, none of them good.
-
Workers put spotlight on Amazon’s less-than-‘Prime’ labor…
Michelle R. Matisons Distribution & WarehousingAmidst the hustle and bustle of Amazon Prime Day, which began July 15 and ran through the following day, laborers' voices are also being heard. This is because the world's largest and wealthiest online retailer continues to report massive earnings that do not trickle down to all workers. That has led many to organize at Amazon Fulfillment Centers globally. While Amazon's full-time wage increases place it on par with other, more solid $15 per hour wage positions, employees are reeling from what’s called the "rate." This is the expected working pace of a job, and Amazon offers a uniquely high-tech way to tell workers they are falling behind: a machine that surveils and warns them.
All Civil & Government Articles