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Employment Law

Partners in time: Balance FMLA and ADA when employee’s serious illness is a disability

01/05/2012
Employees with a serious health condition are entitled to take intermittent FMLA leave when their conditions flare up. And disabled employees are entitled to reasonable accommodations for their disabilities. That can include time off. Employers must therefore consider granting intermittent FMLA leave among the possible ADA reasonable accommodations when an employee has a serious health condition that is also a disability.

Amtrak HR exec decides she won’t be railroaded

01/05/2012
Amtrak will give an HR executive working at Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station a salary boost of almost $16,000 to bring her into parity with what the railroad pays men doing the same job. She will also receive a lump-sum payment of $171,000.

Unhappy employee? Carefully track complaints

01/05/2012

You know this employee—the one who’s never happy and always finds something to complain about. It may be tempting to ignore repeated complaints, but that’s probably a mistake. Carefully document all her gripes. Those records could come in handy later if she files a lawsuit.

Could high school diploma requirement violate the ADA?

01/05/2012

An “informal discussion letter” from the EEOC had employment-law circles buzzing last month—and creating uncertainty about employer’s use of high school diplomas as hiring criteria. The nonbinding EEOC letter said employers, in some instances, could infringe on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) when requiring all applicants to have a high school diploma.

Chicago’s tough leave lessons: How not to handle FMLA leave

01/04/2012
Here’s a chance to learn from an employer’s FMLA mistakes. Don’t make the same ones yourself.

Ready to fire worker with poor attitude? Document examples before you deliver pink slip

01/02/2012

If a supervisor believes an employee has such a negative attitude that it warrants firing, do your HR duty! Immediately ask for documentation of the problem. It can’t wait until after the termination occurs. After-the-fact, subjective assessments may not survive a court challenge.

Ensure FMLA leave doesn’t affect evaluations

01/02/2012

When employees lose their jobs, they often look for a reason to sue. One common tactic is to argue that a layoff was used as an excuse to get rid of “unproductive” employees, especially those who take advantage of their right to FMLA leave. That’s why HR must develop a performance-appraisal system that documents that having taken FMLA leave wasn’t a factor when you evaluated employees’ work.

Different pay for men and women? Prepare to explain ‘other than sex’ factors

01/02/2012
The federal Equal Pay Act (EPA) is supposed to ensure that men and women doing the same job aren’t paid differently based on their sex. But employees can’t win EPA lawsuits simply by comparing their rates of pay and job titles. Lots of factors unrelated to gender may in­­fluence pay.

Performing same tasks as staff won’t eliminate a manager’s exemption

01/02/2012
An increasing number of those managers are filing FLSA lawsuits, claiming they should be classified as nonexempt, hourly employees—and, thus, due overtime—because they spend most of their time doing the same tasks as their subordinates. But that’s not the test.

What HR pros must know about protecting trade secrets

12/30/2011
When any valued employee leaves, the company experiences a loss. The loss is greater, however, when the former employee departs to work for a competitor and begins using the company’s confidential information or trade secrets. HR has a key role to play in protecting a company’s proprietary information. Here’s how to do it.