
Dilemma of the Month: Terminated for Breaking Company Policy
I was recently let go from a job due to accessing information on our system that I had been taught was allowed. HIPAA guidelines show no issue with getting this information because it was requested. I did break a policy (that I was unaware of), and the company did not wish to discuss the matter further.

The Ball is in His Court
Sacramento State’s athletic director on the trials and tribulations of his sports program
These days, college athletics is as much about big business as competition on the field. We recently sat down with Sacramento State Athletic Director Bill Macriss to talk about the challenges small programs face as they try to compete with the behemoths of big-time college sports.

Meet Some of Sacramento’s Food Policy Champs
These women are changing state and local rules for the better
Sacramento is full of people growing, preparing and eating food, but what about the people trying to change the rules — at the local and state level — to make those steps along the food chain better, fairer and greener?

Youth Sports Should be a Kid’s Game
It has often been said that there is no better place to teach character than on the playing field, where sports can instill the life lessons that prepare young people for success. The most common lessons in sports concern resilience, teamwork, competitiveness, discipline, leadership and how to overcome fear and other adversity.

Dilemma of the Month: Unrealistic Performance Goals
Is perfection really all that unreasonable of a request?
I was fired for not meeting 100 percent or higher of my performance goals. I feel these goals are unattainable. People are fired if they are at 99 percent. Is an employer allowed to set those types of goals?

Healthy Competition Builds A Gold-Medal Team
We talk a lot about teamwork. Collaboration is the newit-kid in the business world. But a degree of healthy competition within a team is a good thing. The key is to balance competition with collaboration. Here are some things to keep in mind when adding a little friendly competition to your office:

Don’t Count Stockton Out
Now is the time to stop by
While bankruptcy was a rough patch for Stockton, it is important to recognize what opportunities can grow from a city that has seen more than its fair share of challenges.

Meet California’s New ‘Pot Czar’
We talk to the chief of the Bureau of Medical Cannabis Regulation
Two decades after California voters approved medical marijuana use, state lawmakers finally endorsed the idea of creating a statewide framework regulating the product last year.

Effective Philanthropy Means Getting Ahead of the Crowd
Across the country, generous donors contribute about $335 billion a year to support more than 1.5 million nonprofit organizations, both large and small, according to recent surveys from Giving USA and the National Center for Charitable Statistics.

Dilemma of the Month: New Overtime Laws
I’m a business owner in California and I’m worried about the impact of the new overtime wage rules in the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. How can I best prepare my business for the changes caused by the regulations?