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Employment Law

Harassment: Here’s why you want to make reporting it easy

12/20/2022
It is vital to encourage employees to report anything they think could be classified as sexual, racial or other harassment. Make reporting easy, offering multiple complaint avenues. Instruct supervisors and managers to say something if they see something.

Show us the money and pass the complaint form

12/20/2022
Pay transparency laws are spreading—brace yourself for unintended consequences.

ACLU wants the FTC to monitor algorithms

12/20/2022
Algorithms, or automated systems, already assist in hiring, weighing creditworthiness, screening tenants and determining whether someone is eligible for a mortgage. And the automated calculations are almost as biased and error-prone as humans, according to organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union.

NLRB expands remedies for unfair labor violations

12/20/2022
The National Labor Relations Board, which administers the National Labor Relations Act, has become bolder in devising new penalties for employers it finds guilty of committing unfair labor practices.

Speak Out Act means changes for NDAs

12/20/2022
Many employers require new employees to sign NDAs on the day they are hired. The agreements prevent employees from speaking out about a variety of workplace disputes. The Speak Out Act makes such NDAs unenforceable.

Don’t use citizenship as a hiring factor

12/20/2022
Most employers know they can’t take protected characteristics like age or disability into consideration. But some hiring managers may think it’s fine to bypass an applicant with a precarious legal immigration status in favor of a U.S. citizen based on the belief that citizens won’t lose the legal right to work. They are wrong.

Pre-employment pregnancy test? Don’t think about it

12/15/2022
If it looks illegal and smells illegal, then it’s illegal.

Title VII violated when Ford refused to hire pregnant woman who passed physical exam

12/15/2022
The Ford Motor Company must pay $115,000 to settle a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit.

What is a reasonable accommodation in hiring? A new guide explains

12/15/2022
Requests for accommodations under the ADA can be daunting. A new paper, entitled “Employers’ Practical Guide: Reasonable Accommodation During the Hiring Process,” discusses the most frequent situations employers face when handling accommodation requests from applicants with disabilities.

New York state will bar retaliation against workers who take legally protected time off

12/15/2022
The law appears to focus on “points-based” attendance, in which employers impose points, or demerits, on employees for absences, often without regard for the reason for the absence—including medical reasons, which can be protected under the FMLA and other laws.