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Employment Law

Insubordinate employee? Track each incident

02/01/2013

Sometimes, it’s clear that un­­less an employee shapes up, she’ll have to be fired. Argu­­men­­ta­­tive, insubordinate employees who balk at even minor requests fall into that category. Carefully document in­­fractions so when termination time comes, you have specific examples.

In Austin, half-baked pay scheme costs dough

02/01/2013
Chuy’s Panaderia Bakery, which oper­­ates two locations in Austin, has agreed to settle charges of failing to pay the federal minimum wage to 101 employees.

DHL will deliver $200K for national-origin discrimination

02/01/2013
Dallas-based DHL Global Forwarding has agreed to pay $201,000 to settle charges that it failed to stop super­visors from harassing Hispanic em­­ployees.

Court: You can demand employee honesty!

02/01/2013
A federal trial court has reaffirmed that employers have the right to expect employees to be truthful. It said it’s fine to punish an employee who was reasonably suspected of dishonesty—even if it turns out the employer was wrong.

Charlotte nursing home settles disability suit

02/01/2013
The company that operates a nursing home in Charlotte will pay a former employee $50,000 to settle charges it failed to reasonably accommodate her depression.

Isolated slur doesn’t justify harassment lawsuit

02/01/2013
Good news for employers worried that a single inflammatory utterance could land them in big legal trouble: Courts generally won’t hold an employer responsible.

When you need to trim workforce, focus RIF criteria on measurable factors

02/01/2013
The key to a successful, challenge-proof reduction in force is using objective, measurable factors to determine who stays and who goes. That greatly reduces the likelihood that a former employee who loses his job to a RIF will win a discrimination case.

Considering after-the-fact paper trail to justify firing?

02/01/2013

Move cautiously when dealing with an employee who complains about harassment and discrimination—especially if the complaint involves a supervisor who now wants to terminate him. Unless you have a pre-existing paper trail showing poor performance before the complaint, going back to create one is dangerous.

Steakhouse staff worked to the bone for lean pay

02/01/2013
Raleigh’s Brasa Brazilian Steak-house will pay $68,482 to 18 workers after the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division found the steakhouse failed to pay workers overtime when they worked more than 40 hours in a week.

When religious accommodation costs too much

02/01/2013

Employees who must miss work because of religious restrictions are entitled to reasonable accommodations. While employers must look for sensible solutions, that doesn’t mean they have to redesign their workforce, buy additional equipment or otherwise change the way they do business if it would be too expensive or cumbersome.