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Employment Law

Is body odor a real disability?

07/07/2013
Q. Several employees have requested that we talk to another employee who, frankly, smells bad. I know she has medical problems. Can we ask her to do something about the odor or would that be discrimination based on disability?

FMLA: How can we be sure employee must care for her grandchild?

07/05/2013
Q. One of our employees just took emergency custody of her grandchild after her son and daughter-in-law were arrested for child abuse. She now wants to take FMLA leave to get the child settled in and have family counseling. What kind of proof must we accept that she really has legal custody?

Is it legally risky to use facial recognition software?

07/05/2013
Q. Management wants to install “facial recognition” software that clocks in employees by electronically matching the employee’s face to a database. Leaving aside the Big Brother creepiness, are there any legal land mines we should consider before installing this type of technology?

What should we do? Our summer intern is suddenly demanding back pay?

07/05/2013
Q. We hired an intern for the summer. She was eager to work for free to add it to her résumé … We told her that after this week we won’t need her. That’s when she said we owe her minimum wage or she’ll complain to the Department of Labor. Do we really have to pay her?

How to reduce wage-and-hour lawsuit risks (and defend yourself if sued)

07/05/2013
During a recent 12-month period, more than 7,750 wage-and-hour lawsuits were filed in federal courts, an increase of almost 10% over the preceding 12 months. Pennsylvania once again ranked among the top 10 states for such new lawsuits. The good news: There are ways for employers to reduce the risk of wage-and-hour suits, and strengthen their defenses if one is filed.

Anti-gay bias ban gains support in General Assembly

07/05/2013
A bill to provide protections to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual em­­ployees has picked up some surprising support in the General Assembly. The bill, which was introduced with 102 co-sponsors, would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression in employment, housing, credit and public accommodations.

Retailer Wet Seal settles race bias suit for $7.5 million

07/05/2013
Women’s clothing retailer Wet Seal has agreed to settle a class-action race discrimination suit for $7.5 million. Out of those funds, $5.58 million will go to compensate 1,600 current and former black managers for lost pay and promotions, termination and emotional distress.

Directory assistance giant settles wage suit for $1.3M

07/05/2013
Kgb USA will pay $1.3 million to 14,568 workers across the country it misclassified as independent contractors. The company paid the ­workers piece rate for each text message they responded to, regardless of how many hours they worked.

Warn bosses: Don’t criticize Martin Luther King Day

07/05/2013
Here’s a reminder to make sure supervisors stay clear of language or commentary that could be viewed as racist.

Part-time workers have same rights as others

07/05/2013
Some managers mistakenly believe there’s no danger in firing a new part-time employee. That’s just not true. Remind them to always run discipline by HR before taking action.