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Employment Law

You don’t have to pay all managers equally unless jobs are substantially similar

08/08/2008
Competing demands for talent mean some professional positions warrant higher paychecks than others. As the following case shows, the Equal Pay Act (EPA) doesn’t require all positions on the same line of the organizational chart to be paid the same …

Don’t forget attorneys’ fees when calculating potential cost of pay disputes

08/08/2008
When it comes to calculating the exact cost of failing to pay employees correctly, many employers forget to add in the winning employee’s attorneys’ fees. In many cases, it pays to settle such cases early on because the tab for the other side’s attorney can quickly grow very large …

Tab tops $60,000 in firing of pregnant bartender

08/08/2008
In November 2004, members of the board of Maracci Temple 13 in Detroit called Eronda Garner into a meeting. Garner, a part-time bartender for the Grenadier Lounge, which the temple runs, was pregnant. The board told her she was being let go because it feared tending bar was unsafe for a pregnant woman …

Déjà Vu owners should have seen dancers’ FLSA claim coming

08/08/2008
A group of exotic dancers who worked at nine Déjà Vu nightclubs over the past three years are suing Lansing-based Déjà Vu Consulting and Durand-based Cin-Lan Inc. for back wages. The lawsuit claims Déjà Vu misclassifies its dancers as independent contractors, resulting in wages below the minimum wage …

Suit claims Muslim employees were told to hold the hijab

08/08/2008
Two Muslim women are suing McDonald’s restaurants, claiming they were denied jobs at a restaurant in Dearborn because they wore Islamic head scarves, or hijabs …

Employee ‘Family & friends’ can now bring EEOC retaliation claims

08/08/2008
Earlier this year, the U. S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, whose decisions apply to Michigan employers, expanded the coverage of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964’s anti-retaliation provision when it held that the fiancé of an employee who made a complaint to the EEOC could bring a retaliation action when he was discharged by the employer …

May we terminate a disabled employee who can’t perform an essential function?

08/08/2008
Q. One of our employees was hired to a position that requires her to drive to customers’ offices. When we hired her, she reviewed and signed a job description that included a statement “that transportation was an essential function of her job.” Public transportation is not a realistic option. She recently received test results suggesting she might be suffering from multiple sclerosis. She provided a return-to-work slip indicating she would be able to return to work on a part-time basis but would not be able to drive or do heavy lifting. We told her we cannot accommodate her restrictions, but we provided a four-month leave of absence. Assuming she will not be able to drive when she returns, are we within our rights to discharge her? Are we going to violate her rights under the ADA or Michigan disability laws? …

How can our process elicit more specifics when the union files grievances?

08/08/2008
Q. We have a lot of trouble with our employees’ union in terms of processing grievances. The form the union uses does not provide enough information for my HR office to determine if the grievance has merit or not. We would like the union to identify the contract provision that it believes has been violated, along with sufficient facts to understand the issue. Any thoughts? …

‘You Won’t Work Sundays?!’ EEOC Offers Guidance on Religious Accommodations

08/06/2008
The EEOC recently released guidance to help employers avoid religious discrimination charges. Distilled from the law, regulations and court decisions, the guidance offers both a list of frequently asked questions about religious discrimination and accommodation and a list of best practices. You can download free copies of each here.

‘Forgot’ to pay overtime? Ignorance of the law is no excuse

08/06/2008
Want to end up paying double or more the overtime you owe? Then ignore the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and New York labor laws. If you don’t pay what you owe in overtime—on time and accurately—you may end up paying double under the FLSA, going back three years; and 25% more than you owe, going back six years …