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Employment Law

Carefully calculate and communicate how much FMLA leave employee has available

06/17/2016
Make sure HR staff know how to calculate FMLA leave and keep careful tabs on how that leave is used. That way, you minimize chances that an employee will receive erroneous information that could lead to a lawsuit alleging that you interfered with someone’s FMLA rights.

Lift roadblocks to harassment reporting or prepare for a retaliation lawsuit, too

06/17/2016
If you place obstacles in the way of reporting potential sexual harassment, expect trouble. Employees who have to jump through hoops to get their concerns addressed may sue.

Take care when calculating overtime & FMLA

06/17/2016
Do you offer voluntary overtime to employees, but make attendance mandatory if employees sign up? If so, watch how you calculate FMLA leave. You have to include the overtime in the calculation of available FMLA hours, or you can’t subtract FMLA hours for an absence.

Commerce Department report tries to define ‘sharing economy’

06/15/2016
For several years, we have somewhat vaguely referred to the “sharing economy” when discussing such enterprises as the Uber and Lyft ride-hailing services, online errand-running brokerage TaskRabbit and ad hoc hospitality matchmaker Airbnb.

Snapshot: Who is responsible for recruiting?

06/14/2016

Who handles the recruiting in your company?

Lowe’s settles disability bias claim with EEOC for $8.6M

06/09/2016
National home-improvement chain Lowe’s has settled charges it violated the ADA when it terminated employees after they exhausted the amount of leave the company permitted.

Target warehouse workers allege overtime law violations

06/09/2016
Retail giant Target could face a class-action lawsuit in federal court in New York.

Petty slights aren’t grounds for a lawsuit

06/09/2016
Some workers are thin-skinned and seem to think that little annoyances can add up to a discrimination or retaliation lawsuit. Fortunately, that’s not true.

Transfer won’t be considered adverse if duties don’t substantially change

06/09/2016
Want to transfer an employee to give her a fresh start after settling an informal complaint? As long as her job remains essentially the same and the position isn’t radically different, such a move probably won’t be viewed as retaliation or another instance of discrimination.

Discipline with care after FMLA leave: Build solid, performance-based case

06/09/2016
Employees can’t be held responsible for work not performed while they are out on FMLA medical leave. But that doesn’t mean employers are powerless to discipline an employee for poor performance that’s not related to the medical leave.