HR Stories Podcast - A Lesson in Every Story!
Welcome to the HR Stories Podcast - where there is a lesson in every story. Our Storytellers - John Thalheimer and Chuck Simikian, the Team behind HR Stories, share real-life tales about where a business made a preventable mistake. At The HR Stories Podcast, the STORIES are the teaching tool! LISTEN to the stories of those who did not heed the warning signs. LEARN from their mistakes. ACT on best practices shared by our hosts and guests. Each year, our hosts, Chuck Simikian and John Thalheimer, deliver thousands of live seminars around the country to business owners, executives, and HR professionals discussing the fundamentals of Human Resources, Leadership best practices, and legal risk reduction activities for organizations.
Each HR Story episode shares a story of where a company missed the mark, what went wrong, and how you can avoid their fate. As the Team at HR Stories, John and Chuck continue to develop and provide resources to help HR leaders, business owners, and organizations with the confidence they need to successfully handle employee issues and build strong employee practices to comply with employment laws. Both successful entrepreneurs help businesses through HR consulting, training, and coaching leaders. They have coached and trained thousands of HR Professionals, Business Owners, and Leaders to prepare them for the future.
John is the Founding Director of True Star Leadership™, which focuses on helping managers and leaders learn performance management principles. Chuck is the Founding Partner of Alliance HR Partners, which provides HR consulting and training to businesses nationwide. Together, they have over 40 years of experience navigating the challenges of HR and recently published their book, The Ultimate Guide to HR: Checklist Edition. Go to https://ultimateguidetohr.com/ for more information, download a free sample, and watch their webinar on the Secret Power Behind Successful Businesses.
Episodes
179 episodes
Ep160: You Can Pump... If We're Staffed
When a medical facility told a new mother that she could take a couple of minutes to pump ONLY if they were well-staffed, it wasn't a benefit they were withholding. They took away her rights. While it's easy for managers to feel that following ...
Ep159: Friction-Causing Jolts Making Your Employees Quit
When your employees experience moments of friction that make them question their relationship with their job or the company they work for, you want to make sure there's enough "love in the tank" to sustain their relationship with the job. How d...
Ep158: Succession - It doesn't need to be TV-worthy drama
Having a solid succession plan at your company can not only help you have the right people to fill a role and provide clarity for your employees, but it could also save you from a lawsuit. In today's story, you'll see that even the EEOC couldn'...
Ep157: The Changing Landscape of Internships
Internships have long been seen as stepping stones in careers, but recent developments have raised serious questions about their structure and compensation. As corporate America grapples with evolving norms, young professionals must navigate th...
Ep156: Discrimination By Customer Request
When a patient requests that they re-assign a home-health nurse because they didn't want them to be black, the company made a dangerous and costly agreement to try and make the customer happy. Can customers make requests based on discriminatory...
Ep155: Let Your Employees Gossip (Kind Of)
Office gossip is an unavoidable fixture of the work environment and can even have benefits to the relationships your teams build. But when does it cross the line? When is concern around gossip just a manager's ego talking? And what does gossip ...
Ep154: The End of Women's Retreats? Not Exactly.
When Coca Cola hosted a company-sponsored networking event for female employees, the flag was raised to the EEOC for discrimination. So does this mean that women's retreats and networking groups have seen their final days? Not exactly. How you ...
Ep153: Can you do everything right and still get sued?
When you have a legitimate reason to terminate an employee, can they still sue you? The answer may make you feel uneasy. While you can't stop a lawsuit from coming your direction, you can be prepared with a solid defense if you have the right d...
Ep152: AI in HR - While the Courts Decide, What You Need to Think About
AI is here and there are ongoing court cases to determine the legality of using it for screening candidates. While the courts work to determine their position, there are steps and ways of thinking that HR professionals need to keep in mind. Don...
Ep150: HR in the News - Shifts in the job market and what it really means
Chuck and John discuss the latest news in the HR world, including impacts of the weather, a recent EEOC decision, a shift to return to office response, and a changing job market. Could 2026 be the year of the great turnover? Find out what it co...
Ep149: Q&A - Managing Emotional Responses
Welcome to another Listener Q&A with The Team at HR Stories! Today's episode goes into these questions:Can an employee be disciplined for misuse of intermittent FMLA?Can you change someone’s ADA accommodations?...
Ep148: Planning for Employment Law Changes in 2026 - Pt 2
Welcome back to part two of the Employment Law series, where the team looks at changes coming to the laws *you need to know about* in 2026. In this episode, follow along as the team provides some guidance on the following issues: -...
Ep147: Planning for Employment Law Changes in 2026 - Pt 1
Part 1 - The start of the year is bringing a lot of uncertainty for those in HR. We are expecting a lot of change from a federal level and are waiting to see what the impact will be. Listen to what Chuck and John suggest you keep an eye out for...
Ep146: The Best of 2025
As we all prepare to wrap up our 2025 and head into 2026, we take a moment to reflect on some of the most important issues that have faced Human Resources professionals this year. It has been quite the year for everyone as we adjust to a new ad...
Ep145: Hot Topics - Rolling Layoffs and reduced trust. Are you ready for 2026?
This week on Hot Topics, the team touches on the following topics and more:Rolling layoffs are becoming more of a trend. Reducing the workforce 50 or fewer employees at a time could be a way for companies to save face and avoid repo...
Ep144: Moldy Misery - The Importance of Tracking Your Efforts
After an employee asks for an accommodation of working from home due to mold concerns, things get complicated. But in this instance, you'll see how important it was that the employer recorded all of their efforts taken along the way when they s...
Ep143: Q&A - Do I have to let ICE in?
Welcome to another Listener Q&A with The Team at HR Stories! Today's episode goes into these questions:1. We’ve had a couple of sexual harassment complaints that don’t seem serious. Do we HAVE to investigate all of them?2. A mal...
Ep142: A Six Million Dollar Mistake
When two sisters who own a Dairy Queen are on the receiving end of a pay violation lawsuit, they are stunned. They’ve worked hard to create a “second chances” work environment and always paid their employees on time - even giving employees adva...
Ep141: Q&A - Tattoos and the Risks of Case-by-Case Policies
Welcome to another Listener Q&A with The Team at HR Stories! Today's episode goes into these questions:Can you create a policy about tattoos and piercings?Can we leave details out of the handbook that we want to handle ...
Ep140: Work 32 hours a week whenever works best for you!
In this week’s Hot Topics, Chuck and John talk about the following topics and more:- Companies implementing AI training across their teams- Planned salary increases for 2026 are holding steady to this year. How do we provide value f...
Ep139: Sunday Off - The Cost of Revoking a Religious Accommodation
When an employee’s request for Sundays off was approved — then revoked — it led to an EEOC case and a costly lesson in religious accommodation law. Chuck and John unpack how one scheduling change turned into a Title VII violation, what the Grof...
Ep138: Hot Topics - Workday is all in AI and Starbucks tells corporate to take their coffee to-go
Workday going all in on AI, spending astronomical amounts of money investing in AI softwares and agents. With AI not going anywhere, what risks and litigation do we open ourselves to when AI starts making business decisions.Starbucks is ...
Ep137: Q&A - I need OUT of HR!
Welcome to another Listener Q&A with The Team at HR Stories! Today's episode goes into these questions:What should you think about when creating a lactation space?How do you handle an employee talking poorly about anoth...
Ep136: Listener Q&A - Should We Pay Them? Is Hiring On Vibes Okay?
Welcome to another Listener Q&A with The Team at HR Stories! Today's episode goes into these questions:Do you have to follow the laws of where the employee is or where the company is?Is it discrimination to not invite a...
Ep135: You'll never be a manager if you keep taking medical leave.
When someone goes from star employee to being told that he will never be a manager because they used their FMLA, a legally protected leave, there’s more to the story that what the management hopes to hear. FMLA is not a employment benefit. It’s...