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Employment Law

Changes in benefits? Make sure employees on military leave get written notice, too

04/13/2010
Employers that change their disability or other benefit plans know to inform their employees about those changes. But what about employees on military leave? Make sure they get notice, too.

With Obama’s appointments, a new course for NLRB?

04/13/2010
President Obama in late March announced the recess appointments of attorneys Craig Becker and Mark Gaston Pearce to fill two vacancies on the National Labor Relations Board. That broke a more than two-year-old NLRB logjam—and reignited worries that the board will now tilt heavily in favor of unions.

Beware retaliation charge following transfer

04/13/2010

Employees who are transferred to other positions after complaining about discrimination could end up collecting big from their employers. That’s true even if the transfer doesn’t result in a base pay cut or lost benefits. Reason: The law lets juries punish employers for retaliation based on factors such as lost prestige, overtime pay and other, less tangible benefits.

No need to create job for disabled employee

04/13/2010

What should you do if an employee becomes disabled and can’t perform the essential functions of his job under any circumstances? The employee may be entitled to a transfer to another position—if one is open and the employee is actually qualified for the position. But you don’t have to move employees around to create an opening.

To pay or not to pay interns? The feds are cracking down

04/13/2010
With fewer real, paying jobs available to young people, the number of unpaid internships is on the rise. Now the U.S. Department of Labor and many state labor departments (including California) are stepping up enforcement against employers who illegally use internships for free labor. Here’s how to stay on the right side of the law.

Pros and cons of creating applicant ‘blacklist’

04/12/2010

Employers typically don’t want to hire applicants who haven’t succeeded elsewhere. So they sometimes create a blanket “no-hire” rule for applicants who aren’t eligible for rehire by their former employers. Such a policy can give you cover against possible retaliation complaints. But if you’re tempted to draft such a policy, be careful: Make sure you enforce the rule uniformly.

Now he tells us he’s disabled! Must we still accommodate with a flexible schedule?

04/09/2010
Q. Our employment application asks applicants if they are capable of satisfactorily performing the essential job duties required of the position for which they are applying. We hired a worker who later told us that he has a medical condition that prevents him from coming to work on time and, on some days, coming to work at all. Are we required to accommodate this individual?

N.Y. Department of Labor issues new WARN Act regs

04/07/2010

The New York Department of Labor has released new Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act regulations that are more stringent than federal WARN Act provisions. Employers with at least 50 workers (including part-timers) are covered. That means those employers must provide 90 days’ notice of a mass layoff, plant closing or relocation.

Albany nurses could benefit from Chicago settlement

04/07/2010

In a case with implications for Albany-area nurses, Illinois nurses have settled a lawsuit that claimed Chicago-area hospitals colluded to depress wages in violation of antitrust laws. Nurse Alliance, affiliated with the Service Employees International Union, has filed a similar suit against Albany-area hospitals.

Judge to lawyers: Enough ‘pettifoggery and piffle!’

04/07/2010
Federal appeals court Judge Douglas Ginsburg was not amused when attorneys for PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) asked to have District of Columbia laws applied to a New York case. In fact, he was so perturbed, he heartily rebuked the lawyers with a stinging Victorianism.