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Employment Law

Complaining about harassment of non-Employee isn’t protected activity

05/01/2008
Ordinarily, employers can’t punish employees who stand up for co-workers who are being discriminated against. But what if the employee speaks out against the employer’s treatment of someone who is not an employee? As the following case shows, punishing the employee probably doesn’t violate Title VII …

Anti-Nepotism trumps familial status discrimination

05/01/2008
Good news for employers with strong anti-nepotism policies: The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected a claim based on alleged familial status discrimination. The court ruled that Title VII does not protect family members from an employer’s decision not to hire a relative when company rules bar nepotism …

Amendment would ban policies both biased and preferential

05/01/2008
A petition supporting a state constitutional ban on preferential policies garnered more than 120,000 signatures before being passed on to the Colorado secretary of state in March … 

Carrots and sticks: 5 ways HIPAA limits wellness programs

05/01/2008
Since it is clear that better health translates into lower health care costs, employers increasingly embrace the concept of financial incentives to persuade employees to make healthier lifestyle choices. Thus the rise of wellness programs—a great idea, but one that can run afoul of the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) …

When you’ve been accused: Handling an EEOC charge

05/01/2008
The events that lead to an EEOC charge are sometimes beyond a company’s control. Whatever your role in the events leading up to the complaint, how your company fares depends largely on how you respond. Don’t blow it—mistakes can be costly. Here are the steps you should follow if and when you receive an EEOC charge …

Training classes and travel time

05/01/2008
Q. Are employers required to pay employees their hourly wages when they are assigned to attend training classes? Our employees travel from Colorado Springs to Denver and are not paid or reimbursed for their travel time. They also are not paid during the two- or three-day training course. Employees travel to and from the training daily. If the employee does not stay with the company for one year and one day after completion of the training, the employee is required to reimburse the employer for the school. Are these practices legal? …

HR protected—But only if it actually helped file bias claims

05/01/2008
What happens if management wants to fire or otherwise punish an employee for discriminatory reasons, and HR objects? Can an HR professional who is then fired for refusing to play ball proceed to file her own EEOC retaliation or protected-activity claim? …

Many serious conditions don’t amount to disabilities

05/01/2008
The ADA protects only truly disabled employees from discrimination. It isn’t enough that someone has been diagnosed with a medical condition—even a serious-sounding one like diabetes or a hepatitis infection. Each ADA case is judged on how the illness affects the individual …

Equal Pay Act claims may hit employers by surprise

05/01/2008
Employers may think last year’s U.S. Supreme Court Ledbetter decision means employees can’t wait years before complaining about sex discrimination if the issue is pay. Surprise! It’s not always true …

You sometimes can boost benefits during union election

05/01/2008
As a general rule, once a union organizing drive is under way at a nonunion workplace, management can’t make any changes to the terms and conditions of employment. But what if the changes management wants to make are ones that the company has routinely made around that same time of year? …