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Employment Law

Harassing Our Vets at Work: Unpatriotic for Sure, But Is It Illegal?

06/03/2008
A federal court has ruled that employees who believe their employers harass them because of their military status may file complaints under USERRA. The harassment angle breaks new legal ground. As more veterans return home from active duty, will it open the litigation floodgates?

Be sure to coordinate with FMLA administrator before firing

05/30/2008
If you outsource to another company to administer your FMLA process, work closely with it to ensure you aren’t firing an employee who has been approved for FMLA leave. Instead, make it standard practice to double-check FMLA status before taking any employment action …

Training tests may provide important screening opportunities

05/30/2008
Do your new hires have to complete a comprehensive training and testing program before they’re allowed to start work? If you can show your tests are valid and necessary (and they don’t disproportionately screen out any particular protected class), chances are a new employee who alleges discrimination because you didn’t keep him won’t get far with a lawsuit …

Any deviation from company rules may arouse suspicion

05/30/2008
When it comes to discrimination lawsuits, the earlier they are dismissed, the better. That’s one reason you don’t want to give a judge any incentive to send a case to a jury. Of course, deviating from your own company rules is one of those things that often leads judges to order a jury trial …

Instruct supervisors to prohibit working off the clock

05/30/2008
A Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime claim is one of the most dangerous lawsuits employers can face. If one or two employees claim they worked off the clock before or after punching the time clock, their attorneys may try to represent every employee companywide who did the same thing …

Public employers, take note: Some employee speech may be protected

05/30/2008
Public employees have some rights that other employees may not. One of those is the right to speak out on matters of public importance without being punished. But that right isn’t available to employees performing their official duties …

Don’t think federal laws always trump state claims

05/30/2008
A recent 5th Circuit Court of Appeals decision makes one thing clear: Employees and their lawyers are always looking for novel ways to sue employers—and sometimes state law gives them additional ways to do just that …

Razzoo’s money-Making plan runs into a $1 million snag

05/30/2008
Managers of the Razzoo’s Cajun Café chain of 11 restaurants in Texas and North Carolina thought they had hit on a surefire way to build bar business: Make sure 80% of their bartenders were women. One factor they failed to consider: The EEOC takes a dim view of such hiring quotas …

Hiring bias costs Dallas defense contractor $1.5 million

05/30/2008
Defense contractor Vought Aircraft recently agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle a discrimination lawsuit brought by more than 1,000 job applicants. The settlement comes as a result of charges brought by the DOL that the aircraft parts manufacturer discriminated against minorities and women in hiring …

Arlington hotel settles pregnancy discrimination suit

05/30/2008
Arlington Host Corp., which formerly owned and operated the BallPark Inn in Arlington, settled a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit for $20,000 brought by the EEOC on behalf of a front-desk clerk who was pregnant when she lost her job …