To Our Clients and Employees

The entire management staff of Vinson Guard Service, Incorporated would like to take this opportunity to wish our clients and employees impacted by the devastation from Hurricanes Gustav and Ike our heartfelt sympathies. In the aftermath we find that many of our employees are scattered to either shelters, with family, friends or hotels in other cities or states. The welfare and safety of our employees as well as the facilities of our clients are of foremost priority. It is with this that we want to thank our clients for their patience and loyalty not only as they begin putting their businesses back in order, but as our employees begin to return home to either clean up and/or rebuild their lives and as our own offices in several affected cities regain power and slowly proceed back with normal day to day operations. Our thoughts and prayers are with you all during your recovery efforts.

Employee Handbooks – Protecting A Valuable Company Asset

Article Written by: Christina Kotowski (San Francisco)
Fisher & Phillips, LLP Attorneys at Law, Labor Letter, March 2007
Permission granted for use in Vinson Security Briefs

Part 1 of 2

Employee handbooks can be great tools for employers, but like mutual funds and automobiles, they need periodic check-ups and maintenance. A well-written and up-to-date employee handbook can be a litigation lifesaver, but an out-of-date handbook can be your worst nightmare. Recognizing and treating employee handbooks as important HR assets will pay off in the long run by providing consistency and guidance in day-to-day operations, and legal protection in the event of a lawsuit.

Unfortunately, many employers don’t give their employee handbooks the attention they deserve. Some employers cobble together a collection of unrelated policies borrowed from the Internet or other sources and fail to adapt the borrowed policies to reflect their own practices. Other employers delegate the task of creating an employee handbook to someone with little or no experience in human resources, and the handbook turns into a glorified “how-to” manual for submitting expense reports and time sheets, with a few personnel policies thrown in.

What Should An Employee Handbook Do?

The overarching goal of an employee handbook should be to set forth your company’s policies and expectations clearly and unambiguously, while preserving the flexibility you need to make decisions. It is also important to avoid making unintentional promises or guarantees that could form the basis of a breach of contract claim down the road.

Think of the employee handbook as a “best practices” guide that sets forth your key policies, as well as any notices or policies that are required by law. The handbook should set forth the personnel practices about which there is to be no confusion, so they can be applied consistently and fairly.

Examples of such key policies include: equal employment opportunity/ nondiscrimination; policy against harassment; at-will employment; leaves of absence; reasonable accommodation of disabilities; drugs in the workplace/drug testing; an overview of company benefits (vacation, sick leave, holidays, health insurance, 401(k) plans, etc.); absenteeism and tardiness; safety rules; policies governing the use of company e-mail, voicemail, telephones and computers; an explanation of complaint-handling procedures; and an acknowledgment of receipt of the handbook to be signed by the employee and retained in the personnel file.

Other policies may also be appropriate, depending on the nature of your business.

Part two of this article will appear in our next issue, November 2008.

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Employee has no privacy on company computers, US court rules

Employees do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy for material stored on computers owned by their employers, a US court has ruled. The New Jersey court said that files on a work-owned computer could be accessed and searched if the company gives permission, even if the user does not. The ruling came in the case of a man convicted of stealing $650,000 from his employer while acting as the company’s bookkeeper. The actions came to light through warrantless searching of his laptop and desktop computers at work. The man was convicted over the thefts but argued that his conviction was unsound because of the way the evidence was gathered. He said he had a reasonable expectation of privacy in relation to material on the computers at work which was password protected. The Superior Court of New Jersey found otherwise.

Source: The Register

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FACT:  
Half of all identity thieves are either relatives, friends, or neighbors of their victims.

Unlicensed Alarm Sales Spread Across Texas

The state of Texas is finding an increasing amount of unregistered alarm salespeople going door to door. In June, the Texas Burglar and Fire Alarm Association warned Texans to use caution after San Antonio and Houston residents complained about unlicensed salespeople and their aggressive sales tactics. The state of Texas requires all burglar alarm salespeople and installers to be registered with the state. The registration helps protect homeowners from becoming easy targets for thieves to use the cover as a salesperson to check out a home. To become licensed, salespeople must work for a DPS-licensed alarm company. They must also be at least 18, not have been convicted of two or more felonies in the past 20 years and not be required to register as a sex offender in any state. Consumers approached by a door-to-door salesperson should ask for their "pocket card," a photo ID card issued by the Private Securities Bureau that salespeople are required to carry. Soliciting alarm systems without a license has criminal penalties of up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine.

Source: Dallas Morning News

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QUOTE: "Success depends on your backbone, not your wishbone" - unknown