Q. Our policy says that if employees are out due to illness or hospitalization for three days or more, they must provide a doctor’s note that includes a diagnosis. Someone said we can’t demand the diagnosis. Is this true?
You may be tempting fate—and an FLSA class-action lawsuit—if your managers are demanding so much productivity from employees that they can’t reasonably get everything done in the time you allow. The problem: Nonexempt employees may feel compelled to work off-the-clock.
The NLRB has continued its assault on garden-variety employment policies, issuing three decisions in recent weeks, each of which concluded that facially neutral employment policies violated employees’ rights to engage in protected concerted activity.
Meyer Tool has agreed to pay $325,000 to settle race discrimination charges leveled by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. The OFCCP claims the company systematically discriminated against black applicants.
The way an individual speaks can convey more than the actual words he or she uses. Body language, tone of voice and other mannerisms (such as rolled eyes) are also powerful communication. But that doesn’t mean that an otherwise neutral statement delivered with what an employee thinks is a demeaning tone can be the sole basis for a lawsuit.
Your sexual harassment policy may not be worth the paper it’s printed on if doesn’t spell out an alternative reporting option for employees who allege they were harassed by their supervisors. You must allow employees to bypass their bosses.
If you need to conduct a reduction in force because of slow business, it’s perfectly legal to move employees around to better meet your new needs even as you lay off others. Few judges will second-guess those moves, even if the main impact is on one employee who happens to be a member of a protected class.
Sushi Rock restaurants failed to ensure tipped employees made at least minimum wage, according to the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division. Now the chain must pay at least $100,000 in back pay, to be split among 54 employees.
Under the ADA, employees who associate with disabled individuals can’t be discriminated against. But that doesn’t mean you are obligated to accommodate any schedule needs, provide additional time off or otherwise accommodate the employee so she can care for the disabled child.