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Employment Law

No need for extra severance when laying off litigious staff

05/01/2007

Employers that want to trim their work force often sweeten the exit with severance payments. In exchange, employees sign away rights to lawsuits they may otherwise have contemplated. But what about employees who already have pending employment discrimination lawsuits or EEOC or state agency complaints? …

Use job-Related standards to kill discrimination suspicion

05/01/2007

Do you have clear and objective criteria for internal promotions? Prepared to justify those criteria as business-related? If so, you have little to fear from employees who were passed over for a promotion even if that means your management isn’t a perfect reflection of the racial makeup of the local work force …

Get Well-Versed in Overtime or Face Bad-Faith Damages

05/01/2007

Ignorance of the law is no excuse when it comes to deciding who’s exempt from overtime and who gets paid hourly …

Strong harassment policy plus training essential

05/01/2007

It’s been a few years since the U.S. Supreme Court laid down the law on sexual harassment…. Time breeds complacency, and too many organizations have let down their guard. The world’s best policy won’t do you any good collecting dust on a shelf …

How not to handle a whistle-blower’s complaint: Threaten to kill employees who report you

05/01/2007

The Florida’s Private-Sector Whistleblower Act protects employees who report alleged wrongdoing to their employers. Ignoring the complaint—or worse, threatening discipline, job loss or anything else that could be viewed as retaliation—will land you in court in no time flat …

Whistle-Blower Act doesn’t apply to religious employment

05/01/2007

Employees who work for religious organizations, such as church schools, can’t sue for retaliation under Florida’s Private-Sector Whistleblower Act, even if the conduct they report is clearly illegal …

Whistle-blower complaint muddies Environmental Protection waters

05/01/2007

A senior chemist with nearly 20 years of experience in the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has filed a whistle-blower complaint …

Walgreens employees file race discrimination lawsuit

05/01/2007

More than 20 current and former employees from Florida and Missouri have filed an EEOC race discrimination suit against Illinois-based Walgreens. They claim the company makes store assignments based on race …

While he’s done a great job as city manager, she’s got to go

05/01/2007

Largo is struggling to live up to its “City of Progress” moniker after the city commission voted in February to fire City Manager Steve Stanton for planning a sex-change operation …

After years of harassment, prison nurses get almost $1 million

05/01/2007

Twelve nurses working in the Washington Correctional Institute sued the Florida Department of Corrections for allowing male prisoners to harass them despite years of complaints to superiors …