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Employment Law

Can employee on FMLA leave collect unemployment?

12/15/2009

Q. We have an employee out on unpaid FMLA leave. She said she wants to collect unemployment compensation. Is she eligible?

Step up to a new high-stakes HR role: Stamping out conspiracies to discriminate

12/15/2009

Here’s another legal danger for HR to watch out for: The charge that a supervisor conspired to terminate employees belonging to a protected class. Employees who can show that a supervisor and someone else involved in a termination decision conspired to terminate employees of a particular race, sex or other protected classification have a separate claim beyond the traditional employment law remedies.

Be ready to come down hard on managers and supervisors who use ethnic slurs

12/15/2009

Employers that let bosses get away with ethnic slurs risk having an unsympathetic jury decide whether and how severely to punish them. If you don’t send a strong message to those who use slurs that such behavior is unacceptable, you risk creating a corporate culture that encourages more of the same—and you may also empower supervisors to retaliate against the targeted employee.

Check your records! Some old pay-bias cases get new life under Ledbetter law

12/15/2009

When President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act nearly a year ago, some employees got an additional chance to press their pay discrimination claims. That’s because the new law covers Equal Pay Act claims pending at the EEOC or in federal court as of May 28, 2007. Tip: If you haven’t already done so, now’s the time to review your compensation program to check for hidden sex bias.

Same title doesn’t make employees equally qualified

12/15/2009

Some employees believe they should be considered for a promotion just because they have the same job title as another employee being considered. But that’s not the case if the employees have different experience levels. For example, recent retirees may take entry-level jobs for which they are “overqualified.” When a promotion opportunity opens, their employer may be eager to use their talents more fully.

Design restrictive agreements that protect you—and stick in court

12/15/2009

Do you rely on restrictive agreements (also known as noncompete agreements) to prevent employees from working for the competition and stealing your customers? If so, now is a good time to make sure those agreements will stand up in court.
A recent 11th Circuit Court of Appeals case, Proudfoot Consulting Co. v. Gordon, illustrates the obstacles and complexity that can trip up employers that take former employees to court.

Supreme Court to decide: Are employees’ personal text messages private?

12/15/2009

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear a case that could settle the contentious issue of whether employers have a right to read personal text messages employees send using employer-provided equipment and bandwidth. It’s yet another bump in the evolving landscape of employee use of technology at work (the topic, by the way, of this week’s HR Specialist webinar, "Employees Online: Social Media at Work").

$118 million doesn’t begin to cover Broadcom scheme costs

12/15/2009

If you’ve ever been involved in litigation, you know that lawsuits can be complicated and costly affairs. Your case undoubtedly pales in comparison to one about to be resolved in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. About the best that can be said for the case, involving an alleged stock-options backdating scheme at semiconductor maker Broadcom Corp., is that the lawyers will be well paid.

How to ensure settlements are the last word: Ask lawyer to draft all agreements

12/15/2009

The last thing you want after settling a discrimination or harassment complaint is for the case to rear its ugly head again. That’s why settlement agreements should include clear language releasing you—the employer—from any further liability. Your best bet: Have your attorney prepare all your settlement agreements to make sure they meet state and federal laws.

Check your pay rates! Obvious male/female disparity is probably ‘willful’ discrimination

12/14/2009

The Equal Pay Act makes it illegal to base unequal pay on gender. If an employee can show that a violation was “willful,” she has up to three years to sue after the last allegedly discriminatory paycheck; only two years if it’s not willful. Heads up: Courts will probably call any obvious wage disparity a “willful” violation.