Since autism affects individuals in a wide variety of ways, it's important for employers to respond with individualized approaches, when necessary. It's also important, experts say, to focus on the quality of work by the employee instead of his or her social skills.

Some organizations are talking about awarding badges to demonstrate skills, but the practice is still in its infancy. Nevertheless, HR leaders should make sure hiring managers are aware of this potential new trend. CHROs may also want to consider using badges in their employee-development activities.

Six months after the Supreme Court's decision denying certification in the largest class-action ever brought, the impact continues to ripple throughout the state and federal court systems. Defendants must now be able to show much more individual proof of bias than before -- and belonging to a single gender or race is insufficient to link together claims into class-action litigation.

Brazil is on track for yet another year of above-average GDP performance. This boom, however, poses challenges for the country. Chief among them is a shortage of qualified labor.

The need for more job creation, increased training and education, and concern over rising income inequality dominated the discussions at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting. And people from the emerging economies -- especially China, India, Brazil and the smaller countries of Southeast Asia -- were doing much of the lecturing.

Organizations are shifting money and commitment back to their learning and development plans -- as ways to build skills and retain talent. The format of such training continues to evolve, and employees are increasingly taking ownership of the process.

The healthcare-reform law requires a greater collaboration between HR and finance executives, as budget-setting and coverage options take on even more importance as companies begin planning for 2014, when healthcare exchanges become available.

As the election season heats up, a recent appeals-court decision serves as a reminder that in some workplaces and jurisdictions, political affiliation is a protected right. When deviating from normal hiring or promotion decisions, it's important to have documented reasons for doing so, experts say.

This article accompanies Work and Politics .

President Obama's address focused on jobs training and revitalizing the economy, but employer groups were not won over, especially considering the increasing number of federal regulations that have affected businesses during his administration. Plus, they said, many of the initiatives were ones they heard before.

New research underscores the importance of employee orientation to an organization's bottom line. Too often, the bulk of a new employee's onboarding and orientation processes are left to hiring managers. HR leaders need to expand their training of managers so they are better able to engage new employees for the long-term.

This note is in response to How "Undiscussables" Can Undermine an Organization.

The dismal worldwide economy is affecting compensation decisions, although there are some "hot spots," such as Brazil, Singapore, China and South Africa. Employers continue to focus on pay-for-performance and workforce segmentation in their rewards strategies.

The Legal Clinic offers some best practices for preparing for -- and conducting -- performance evaluations. Effective evaluations often result in improved employee performance, but, if not, the accompanying documentation will be useful should termination be necessary.

All HR executives should be concerned about recent developments at the National Labor Relations Board. Where once you may have just skimmed the news about the agency, you may now want to pay closer attention.

Chronic pain harms employee productivity and may cause a variety of other physical and emotional problems. HR leaders can help by increasing education and training managers to be more aware of symptoms.

Recent high-profile scandals at Penn State, MF Global Holdings, Olympus and elsewhere raise questions about why organizations often fail to address significant internal problems that, at best, impede performance and, at worst, could have devastating effects. In hindsight, it is clear what should have been done, but for employees, exposing such problems is sometimes more complicated than telling right from wrong.

No blockbuster cases have been accepted by the Supreme Court for this year -- except for deciding the fate of the healthcare-reform law. There are some relatively narrow employment-law cases that may have an impact, and the justices may still opt to take on some cases involving the National Labor Relations Board.

The National Labor Relations Board puts employers in limbo after an arbitration ruling. While not rejecting arbitration agreements in total, the Board rejected the ability of employers to limit class-action lawsuits by their workers. Experts say HR leaders should review all policies and arbitration language to make sure their organizations are in compliance with the law.

A new law that requires foreign banks to report information on their U.S. account holders may create some difficulties for expat employees. Smaller banks not wishing to accept the administrative burden may refuse to allow Americans to have bank accounts. It may also impact company payroll processes.