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Employment Law

Union-Free and eager to stay that way

07/07/2008
Q. Our company has operated union-free for many years. How can we best protect ourselves against future union-organizing activities? …

Balance FMLA and ADA rights to avoid potential trouble

07/07/2008
What happens if an employee who qualifies for FMLA leave also has a qualified disability under the ADA, a disability that could be accommodated with additional time off or a job modification? Before you discharge someone unable to return to her old job after 12 weeks of FMLA leave, consider whether she is disabled and can be accommodated—if she asks …

Make sure employees understand your FMLA calendar

07/07/2008
FMLA regulations provide employers with four options for calculating how much leave employees are entitled to at any given time. But if you don’t select a method and let employees know, the DOL says you must use the one most beneficial to the employee. That may mean doing four calculations every time an employee wants FMLA leave …

Quick discrimination check: Tally pay by protected status

07/07/2008
If you do a quick assessment of whether your organization may be inadvertently discriminating in pay and there seem to be big differences between the groups, it’s probably time to seriously consider doing a full analysis of your pay structure …
 

Worried about leave abuse? You can require regular call-Off

07/07/2008
Employees who have chronic medical conditions that require intermittent FMLA leave sometimes take advantage of alleged flare-ups to go on vacation or otherwise miss work for personal reasons. Discourage that kind of abuse by requiring them to call in daily. If the employee ignores the requirement, you can terminate her for failing to follow company policy …

Warn supervisors: Over-the-Top, irrational behavior may mean personal liability

07/07/2008
Do you have a problem supervisor or manager who acts like a Marine Corps drill sergeant? While it may not be technically illegal to berate and yell at subordinates, abusive bosses sometimes cross a dangerous legal line—the one that marks the boundary of behavior that constitutes intentional infliction of emotional distress …

Relying on law enforcement exemption? Be prepared to show volunteers meet the test

07/07/2008
Government agencies that employ fewer than five people in fire protection or law enforcement aren’t required to pay those employees overtime. A common problem is that many small public agencies rely on volunteers to perform firefighting and law enforcement duties. If that’s true at your agency, make absolutely sure those “volunteers” meet the volunteer test …

Kroger will pay $16 million in discrimination suit settlement

07/07/2008
he Kroger Company will pay $16 million to settle a race discrimination lawsuit by 12 current and former employees. The lawsuit accused the Cincinnati-based grocery chain of blocking the promotions of black employees and paying them less than whites …

Returning worker, FMLA leave and consecutive employment

07/07/2008
We have an employee who has worked for us for more than 12 months, but not 12 consecutive months (he left, and then we rehired him). Now this employee is requesting FMLA leave. Must the months of employment required to be eligible for FMLA leave be consecutive? …

Audit demographics to spot problems before anyone sues

07/02/2008
Sometimes it’s hard to spot employment discrimination problems even when they’re right under your nose. Consider, for example, age discrimination. Audit your hiring and firing records for the past few years. If the people your organization has let go are older on average than those you have hired or retained, chances are there is an age discrimination claim lurking in your HR records …