Sometimes you have to sweeten the pay pot to attract highly qualified employees. But before you pay wildly dissimilar salaries to people in the same or similar positions, make sure you justify the differences. There are two ways to do that …
Your organization’s employee handbook exists for a reason. It serves as a simple and effective way to let employees know what the rules are and what you expect in the way of behavior. If you can show that employees received copies of the handbook and were expected to be familiar with its contents, you have a good shot at defeating any discriminatory discharge claims if you disciplined according to the rules set out in the handbook …
If you don’t track hours worked (for example, if you have exempt employees who come and go as they please), you may find yourself in hot water if you claim an employee hasn’t worked enough hours to be eligible for FMLA leave. The FMLA regulations make it clear that if “an employer does not maintain accurate records of hours worked by an employee … the employer has the burden of showing that the employee has not worked the requisite hours” …
Three former employees of St. Petersburg-based Raymond James Financial are suing the company, claiming they were paid less, passed over for promotions and denied training and perks because they are women. The lawsuit, which follows an EEOC complaint, also includes claims of sexual harassment and race and age discrimination …
A noose on a table doesn’t mean the same thing to an all-white jury as it does to a 64-year-old black man, says retired city of Cocoa worker James Daniels. A six-member jury dismissed Daniels’ race discrimination lawsuit against the city, which centered on an incident involving a noose left on a break room table. “Most white folks don’t know what blacks go through,” Daniels said …
United HealthCare of Florida has settled for $1.8 million in a same-sex harassment and retaliation lawsuit involving a former regional vice president. A male senior account executive in the company’s Sunrise office claimed he was subjected to verbal sexual harassment by a male vice president …
Gloria Pimental, a worker at Nordstrom stores in Wellington and Palm Beach Gardens, has filed an EEOC lawsuit alleging a manager harassed her and other Hispanic and black employees. Pimental claims she was fired when she complained …
The EEOC has slapped The Geo Group, a Boca Raton-based prison management company, with a religious discrimination lawsuit over the company’s 2005 ban on Muslim head scarves …
Florida’s minimum wage rises to $6.79 per hour on Jan. 1, 2008. Florida law requires the Agency for Workforce Innovation to adjust the minimum wage annually to reflect changes in the U.S. Consumer Price Index for urban wage earners and clerical workers in the South. The index rose 1.85% in the year ending Sept. 1, 2007 …
Employees who can’t tell their employers they have serious health conditions may still put their employers on notice—and trigger their FMLA rights. “Unusual” behavior alone can be enough to notify a reasonable employer that an employee may have a serious health condition. That unusual behavior can include shouting at a supervisor, a panic reaction or other sudden emotional outbursts …