• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Employment Law

What should we do once an employee exhausts FMLA leave?

11/06/2008

Q. We are a large company and are dealing with a situation with a sick store manager. He has used up all his FMLA leave and is still not able to return to work. Can we safely terminate his employment now?

Is paying a daily wage risky?

11/06/2008

Q. In our industry, there is a historical practice to pay field workers a daily wage, which compensates them for all hours worked. Now we understand that class actions are being used in the wage-and-hour area to fight such practices. Is this practice a good idea in light of class-action suits?

Feel free to alter jobs to suit business needs

11/05/2008

Employers have the right to meet business needs by changing the jobs their employees do, and they can set the minimum qualifications for any new positions they create. It’s the company’s prerogative to then decide whether to replace existing employees with others who meet the requirements.

Can you legally search a worker’s locked desk?

11/04/2008

Employees may think of “their” desks as their own private domains—safe places to keep their own things literally under lock and key. However, employers do have the right to open that locked drawer. When the desk is in an open area shared with other employees, the employee with the key doesn’t have a reasonable expectation of privacy.

As economic route turns rough, beware these 4 RIF potholes

11/04/2008

Layoffs are in the news. With a recession looming, this necessary evil is on agendas throughout corporate America. A layoff—or RIF—is a tricky, painful process for management, those who lose their jobs and even employees who remain afterward. Here are four critical and often overlooked RIF potholes that can make the route more treacherous than it needs to be …

Demand fitness exam when performance slips

11/04/2008

You don’t have to ignore a sudden and shocking deterioration in an employee’s performance and behavior. You can and should ask for a fitness-for-duty exam. Just be prepared to discuss possible accommodations if it turns out the employee is disabled.

Thorough and confidential investigation is best HR response when harassment strikes

11/04/2008

It’s bound to happen. An employee will complain about supposed sexual harassment and you will have to investigate. How you handle that investigation could make the difference between winning a retaliation lawsuit and losing it—big time. Here’s the best approach:

Warning: Even legit firing can lead to lawsuit

11/04/2008

You’d think terminating someone for obviously gross misconduct and behavior that was simply unacceptable would be a slam-dunk. No chance such an employee could bring a lawsuit, right? Wrong. There’s always the potential for a discrimination suit …

Minor schedule change isn’t an adverse employment action

11/04/2008

Judges sometimes use common sense. Take, for example, a recent case involving a woman who sued after her employer changed her days off so that she had to work six days straight.

Employee or independent contractor? It matters for FLSA

11/04/2008

True independent contractors aren’t covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Employees are. But sometimes it’s hard to tell who is a true independent contractor and who isn’t.