Greetings GMA SHRM Members –

The fall is a busy time of year for SHRM with the State Conference coming up and additional GMA SHRM programming. Please join us for networking and interactive fun on Thursday, November 7^th at the Coliseum Bar! We also have our very popular Legal update, including a session on active shooter training, on November 12^th. Details and registration for all of our events can be found on our events page. 
 
Our compensation survey is now available for purchase. We have 55 organizations and 218 jobs included. This is a great way to obtain data on positions within the greater Madison area! The prices are $300 if your organization participated in the survey or $600 as a non-participant. There are additional details here: http://www.gmashrm.org/GMASHRM_Surveys.
 
Visit GMA SHRM at the State Conference. We will have a booth on Wednesday, October 16^th from 2:30p.m.-4:30p.m. in the Africa Suite. Please stop by and tell your colleagues this is a great way to learn more about the benefits we offer.
 
Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns.


Take Care,

Tammy Wacek, SHRM-CP, PHR
President
GMA SHRM


 

Supervisors’ Comments About Terminating “Old” Employees Mean Jury Trial for an Employer

Submitted by Brian Goodman at Boardman & Clark LLP and GMA SHRM VP of Programming

A federal district court in California recently concluded that a jury would have to decide whether Home Depot fired a 47-year-old assistant store manager (“ASM”) because of his age. The ASM presented evidence suggesting that his supervisors singled him out because of his age, repeatedly made comments about terminating “old” employees, and stated that they could replace the ASM with a younger person who made less money. They also asked the ASM three or four  times if he was thinking about retirement. Other employees also testified that the supervisors directed them to “performance out” the ASM and convince other older employees to retire or quit.

In the last year of his employment, the ASM received a “wave” of disciplinary notices and notes in his personnel file, and Home Depot claimed that this demonstrated that the ASM’s performance was the true reason for his termination.
 
However, the ASM produced evidence suggesting that the supervisors did not enforce Home Depot’s performance standards uniformly against employees of all ages and that some of the disciplinary notices and notes were not accurate. Additionally, the court rejected Home Depot’s argument that the supervisors’ comments about age were merely “stray remarks” because the comments were directly related to the ASM’s eventual termination. Finally, considering that the ASM was previously disciplined only once in his 20-plus years with Home Depot, the court ruled that the supervisors’ recent disciplinary notices and notes, in combination with the supervisors’ age comments, could lead a reasonable jury to conclude that age discrimination was the true reason for the ASM’s termination. Kull v. Home Depot U.S.A., Inc., No. 18cv933 (S.D. Cal. July 10, 2019).
 
This decision emphasizes the importance of exercising caution before taking any adverse employment action against employees. Suddenly increasing the amount of documentation in an employee’s file can work against an employer if that documentation isn’t accurate or doesn’t reflect a company-wide change in policy. “Building a case” against an employee can backfire when employers take it too far. Additionally, while succession planning is important for any business, employers should beware of using the word “retirement,” particularly in reference to hoping an employee will retire soon. Finally, employers must always be careful to enforce policies consistently to avoid accusations of discrimination.

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Professional Development

College Relations

GMA SHRM Student Night Out November 13, 2019 

Submitted by Tyler Wood, Talent Acquisition & Recruitment Manager at UW Credit Union and GMA SHRM Director of College Relations

Join us for GMA SHRM’s Annual Student Night Out – a premier event for students that are pursuing a career in Human Resources! Here, students will learn from the best in the human resources profession. A live panel of HR leaders, a keynote speaker, networking, scholarship and mentorship information, and more will give a perspective that students will not get anywhere else!
 
Past student attendees came from UW-Madison, Madison College, UW-Whitewater, Edgewood, and more. We encourage all students and teachers interested in this event to attend! You don’t want to miss this.
 
GMA SHRM Members: Interested in volunteering at this event or serving as a mentor? Contact us to learn how! 
 
Details and registration may be found here.
 

Last year’s Student Night Out at Dream Bank (2018):

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GMA SHRM welcomes the following members who joined our chapter in August 2019!
 

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Movin' Up

Have you started with a new company? Has your organization recently promoted you to a new position? Or do you want to recognize a new person or promotion within your department? If so, we want to hear about it. Send us an e-mail, and we’ll publish your good news in the next HR InTouch!  
 

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In Transition

If you are a member who is in between jobs, or who is currently employed but seeking new positions or career paths, write us a brief description of your skill set, areas of expertise, what you’re looking for, etc. Send us an e-mail. We’ll publish your information in the next HR InTouch.

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HR InTouch Guidelines

Article Writing:

Do you have an interest in writing for the HR InTouch? We have an interest in learning more about your area of expertise!

Why should you volunteer? Top three reasons: 1) to share your knowledge and experiences to educate others; 2) to become more connected in the HR and Dane County communities; and 3) to contribute towards the advancement of GMA SHRM and the HR profession.

The first step is for you to choose a submission option: you can pre-submit an article to GMA SHRM at any time for us to use in any of the upcoming newsletters, you can sign up to write for a particular month, or we can put you on a list of people to contact in future months whenever we need articles.

Article length:

Because the HR InTouch is now in an online format, the size is flexible. The article should be engaging and hold readers’ attention. Include the core information in your article, and we will advise if it is too lengthy.

Solicitation:

GMA SHRM is conscious not to allow solicitation through the articles, in an effort to protect the interests of our partners and members. The nature of the article should be educational (i.e., what are the business advantages of having a product like yours) or informational. Otherwise, if you truly are interested in advertising through the HR InTouch, you can work with our Marketing Committee. As a rule of thumb for article writing, if the submission relates to a for-profit event, or specifically markets your company (vs. your industry), it is an advertisement, and should be purchased. If it is a not-for-profit event that your company is hosting, or an announcement (i.e., a SHRM member recently joined your company), it is an acceptable addition to the HR InTouch content. If you have any questions related to the appropriateness of your submission, please contact us.

If you have questions, or to submit an article, contact GMA SHRM at chapteradmin@gmashrm.org .