• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Employment Law

Do you work for a state agency? Know FMLA’s limitations on leave for self-care

11/30/2010
Because of a bedrock Constitutional principle, a court has ruled that the FMLA does not cover state government employees who want to take time off due to their own illness. Based on this decision, state employees can only use FMLA leave to care for others.

Check pay policies for massive lawsuit threat–simple underpayment can quickly balloon

11/30/2010

Make a small mistake in how you pay hourly employees, and the stakes can be quite high. Individually, a wage-and-hour claim may amount to just a few hundred dollars. But multiply an underpayment as small as $350 by 1,000 employees and now you’re looking at a $700,000 tab–that’s because courts routinely double unpaid wage awards in FLSA cases.

Court orders medical record release in EEOC case

11/30/2010

Here’s a case that might make some employees think twice about going to the EEOC with a failure-to-hire complaint. A court has ruled that employers being sued by the EEOC have the right to review job applicants’ medical records—including mental health notes.

Physical therapy not always sign of disability

11/30/2010
Employees who need to take time off to attend physical therapy to deal with an injury may believe they’re disabled under the ADA. And they assume the time off must be a reasonable accommodation. That’s not necessarily true.

When supervisors leave subordinates in tears, don’t hesitate to demote or fire them

11/29/2010

Some people aren’t cut out to be supervisors. Too bad employers don’t always realize that until a steady stream of subordinates make their way to HR with complaints. If it appears obvious that there’s a problem with the supervisor and not his subordinates, document the complaints and take action.

Cobra, bitten by lawsuit, pays for sexual harassment

11/29/2010
Delray-based construction companies, Cobra Pavers & Engineering and Cobra Construction have agreed to pay $125,000 to settle sexual harassment charges brought by women who worked in the firms’ offices.

Bulletproof anti-harassment policy by ensuring employees know how to lodge their complaints

11/29/2010

It’s been over a decade since the U.S. Supreme Court laid down the law on what employers need to do to prevent and cure sexual harassment. That’s long enough for complacency to have set in. By now, some employers may have started taking sexual harassment less seriously than they did when the court first ruled. That’s a potentially costly mistake.

Lesson from ‘I’m too sexy for my shirt’ case: Be alert to female-on-male harassment

11/29/2010

It’s true that most sexual harassment claims involve a man’s inappropriate behavior toward a woman. But that doesn’t mean you can ignore female-on-male harassment. In fact, from 1990 to 2009, the percentage of sexual harassment claims filed by men doubled from 8% of all claims to 16%.

Spot supervisors’ hidden bias by monitoring daily stream of info flowing into HR

11/26/2010

Is a tendency toward discrimination hiding within your management ranks? If so, you may be courting real trouble. You need to ferret it out as soon as possible. But how? Obviously, few supervisors will openly advertise their bias. But you may be able to spot it in the reams of information that routinely flows into HR.

School leader accused of creating hostile environment

11/26/2010

The Farmington School Board is investigating one of its own. The board recently voted to investigate member Tim Burke to see if he poses a potential liability. Several board members have accused Burke of treating administrators disrespectfully, burdening them with unnecessary data requests and making unfounded accusations against them.