Last name on a name tag???

[chazbots84]

What is the name of your state? California

I am the Customer Service Manager at a non-profit center in California. I would like for my front end employees to wear name tags, but have been informed by one of them that I am infringing upon her rights by asking her to wear a name badge that displays her last name. I always thought it brought a level of professionalism and ownership of the position to include the last name.

Can I require that the employee have her full name on the tag? Is that a bad idea?? Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance,

Angie

[janimal]

Hopefully someone will give you a douns answer based on the law.

Depending on what kind of non-profit, an employee might have a reasonable reason for not wanting to disclose their full name to the customers they serve. So if they don't want their last name disclosed, why make a big deal out of it.

My management style is to say "yes" to employee requests as much as possible. That's yes to time-off or scheduling requests, any reasonable request. I am very accomodating and have found it build loyalty and when I say NO they understand.

[ecmst12]

I don't think there's a legal issue with it, and I do understand your logic, HOWEVER I also understand your employee's concern, especially since she deals with customers face to face. If someone has your first and last name, they can find out a lot about you - your phone number and where you live, for one thing. And if she's dealing with potentially irate customers, that's a valid issue, I think. Maybe the last initial only would be a good compromise?

[BelizeBreeze]

Originally Posted by chazbots84

What is the name of your state? California

I am the Customer Service Manager at a non-profit center in California. I would like for my front end employees to wear name tags, but have been informed by one of them that I am infringing upon her rights by asking her to wear a name badge that displays her last name. I always thought it brought a level of professionalism and ownership of the position to include the last name.

Can I require that the employee have her full name on the tag? Is that a bad idea?? Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance,

Angie

You can require the name tag, however, REQUIRING a last name can open you to possible liability should the employee fall victim to identify theft or other harassment due to the exposure of their name to the public.

settle for first name and let it go.

[xylene]

I always managed to have the 'name' part of the tag fall off...

I think this is very stupid and puting last names on name tags is setting employees up for trouble, trouble that could bite you too.

[chazbots84]

Thanks so much for all of the advice. I think I'll stick with the first name. I'd hate to find out after a bad encounter that one's personal information was obtained via the name tag (not to mention potential legal ramifications).

Thanks again.

Angie

[Beth3]

I would like for my front end employees to wear name tags, but have been informed by one of them that I am infringing upon her rights by asking her to wear a name badge that displays her last name. That's one of the more ridiculous things I've heard lately.

"Jane Smith" is indeed more professional than just "Jane." While I don't disagree with Belize very often, in this instance I do. Identity theft occuring simply because a customer knows the employee's last name, much less the employer being liable if that should occur, is going waaaaaaaaaay out on a limb. I work for a law firm and the first and last names of all our attorneys and senior managers is available on our website 24/7. If that resulted in any "identity theft" liability for the Firm, the attorneys would be all over that.

[You Are Guilty]

I concur as to the legality of requiring it. A number of employers not only put first & last names, but also the city/country of origin! (Disney World, every hotel on the Strip in Vegas, even Federal Parks employees sometimes - Grand Canyon comes to mind).

As far as whether to force an unwilling employee to do it, that's up to you

[fairisfair]

Originally Posted by Beth3

I would like for my front end employees to wear name tags, but have been informed by one of them that I am infringing upon her rights by asking her to wear a name badge that displays her last name. That's one of the more ridiculous things I've heard lately.

"Jane Smith" is indeed more professional than just "Jane." While I don't disagree with Belize very often, in this instance I do. Identity theft occuring simply because a customer knows the employee's last name, much less the employer being liable if that should occur, is going waaaaaaaaaay out on a limb. I work for a law firm and the first and last names of all our attorneys and senior managers is available on our website 24/7. If that resulted in any "identity theft" liability for the Firm, the attorneys would be all over that.

you have a distinct advantage in having legal assistance at your fingertips, and I am quite sure that we are speaking of an entirely different client base here as well. These are customer service front end persons (cashiers) at a non profit organization (thrift store?) hardly the same thing. And I really fail to see the advantage of knowing the cashier's last name.

I hardly ever disagree with YOU, but in this case I do.

[ajkroy]

Um...who says it has to be the employee's ACTUAL last name? My name would sound just as professional as Alice Jones as Alice Harrison. Just a thought.

[cbg]

Of no value to the thread but the last post reminded me of a day when I stopped to get coffee on my way to work and saw four people behind the counter: Sam, Rachel, Nick, and I Forgot My Name Tag.

True story.

Sorry for the distraction, you may now return to your regularly scheduled insanity.

[ecmst12]

That is just awesome

[eerelations]

Several decades ago, when I worked for our local workers' compensation board, we were required to provide our full names to everyone we dealt with, including injured workers.

I received many harassing and threatening phone calls, at home and at all hours of the day and night, from disgruntled injured workers and their relatives/cohorts, and this is one of the reasons I left the board (and a very lucrative and interesting job) to pursue other career choices.

In addition, while I worked there, my coworker made a decision on an injured worker's claim that the injured worker didn't like (it was a good, legal and justifiable decision, however, it was a denial of some benefits and the injured worker took issue with that) and so he (the injured worker) managed to find out my coworker's home address via knowing his full name. He (the injured worker) waited outside my coworker's home one weekday morning with a baseball bat in hand, and when my coworker emerged on his way to work, the injured worker beat the living tar out of him.

My coworker was hospitalized for almost two weeks, and was off work for eight weeks. While he did receive some satisfaction when the injured worker was caught, charged, found gulty, and jailed for a lengthy period of time, that didn't erase the severe pain and fear that he (my coworker) suffered during and after the beating. In addition, he did not recover completely from the beating - while he is able to work and do most things, he is permanently deaf in one ear and suffers painful arthritis in several joints as a direct result of the beating.

While it is perfectly legal in most of Canada to force employees to provide their full names to the general public, as a result of this incident, and other similar incidents, many provinces are enacting legislation to allow employees the option of providing only first names.