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Employment Law

Good sense or meddling? Scotts’ no-Smoking policy tested in court

05/01/2007

Marysville-based Scotts Miracle-Gro faces a discrimination suit from a lawn care technician fired last fall after testing positive for nicotine in violation of the company’s tobacco-free workplace policy …

Boot rest: $5. Disability lawsuit: $272,500.

05/01/2007

Chester Hoist, headquartered in Lisbon, will pay $272,000 for discriminating against an inspector who was disabled on the job. …

Workers’ Comp: Ohio’s Top Court Says ‘Tough Luck’ to Safety Slackers

05/01/2007

The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that employees who fail to follow safety instructions abandon their jobs in doing so and are not covered by workers’ compensation. While this may save employers some workers’ comp dollars in the short-term, it complicates the future of workers’ comp as the exclusive remedy for injured workers

Worker doesn’t have to say ‘Harassment’ to make claim

05/01/2007

Don’t wait for employees to use the magic words—“sexual harassment”—to begin investigating a complaint. It’s up to you and your management team to decipher an employee’s protests to determine if they could fall into that legally dangerous harassment-complaint zone …

Loose-Lips Alert: Train managers and supervisors that press comments carry weight

05/01/2007

If you don’t have a public relations department to handle press inquiries, make sure you train managers and supervisors on how not to talk to the press …

New worry: Maintain security or face lawsuits from injured rescuers, too

05/01/2007

As if you didn’t have enough to worry about in this day and age of workplace violence, now the New Jersey Supreme Court has added another problem: You must make sure you take reasonable measures to provide a safe workplace, or police and firefighters responding to an emergency can sue your company for damages

Lawsuit burns Teaneck Fire Department … yet again

05/01/2007

Teaneck Township will pay $750,000 to a firefighter to settle a race discrimination and retaliation lawsuit, its second large settlement in a year …

Casino workers organize, joining United Auto Workers

05/01/2007

Dealers at Caesars Atlantic City voted to join the United Auto Workers (UAW) Union on March 19, followed closely by Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino dealers on April 1 …

Amputee fought discrimination, wins chance to fight fires

05/01/2007

The New Jersey Merit System Board has ruled that an amputee who wears a prosthetic leg must be reinstated to the hiring list of the Paterson Fire Department Academy, overturning the city’s attempts to bar him from entry …

Hell hath no fury … but $9 million should help

05/01/2007

A female executive told a jury she hit the glass ceiling after her boss created a new position above her and filled it with a male. She filed suit against her employer, an aircraft manufacturer, and was fired shortly afterward