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Employment Law

Consider reassignment to open positions as accommodation

03/01/2010

Under the ADA, employers are obligated to make reasonable accommodations. Those accommodations may include transfer to an open position for which the employee is qualified. Failing to do so may attract EEOC attention.

Workplace deaths down across North Carolina

03/01/2010

The number of deaths on the job plummeted to its lowest level ever, in 2009, according to a report issued by the North Carolina Department of Labor. Although some of the decrease could be a result of the slow economy—fewer workers might mean fewer accidents—measures that adjust for the number of workers fell as well.

New contract: Pay up, insurance costs down for AT&T employees

03/01/2010

The Communication Workers of America union has inked a new collective-bargaining agreement with AT&T, bringing 9% pay increases over three years to some 35,000 phone company employees in the Southeast.

Feds launch initiative to ID misclassified ‘contractors’

03/01/2010

The U. S. Department of Labor, in conjunction with the IRS, has announced a “misclassification initiative” aimed at employers that misclassify employees as independent contractors. A 2009 Government Accountability Office report labeled misclassification a “significant problem” with “adverse consequences” for the government.

Understand North Carolina’s workers’ comp notice requirements

03/01/2010

To be eligible for workers’ compensation benefits, the North Carolina Workers’ Compensation Act requires employees to notify their employers if they are injured at work. North Carolina courts have spelled out why this requirement is important:

If fired worker lists us as a reference, will we get in trouble for telling the truth?

03/01/2010

Q. Another company has requested a reference for an employee that we fired. The company has a signed form giving the employee’s written consent to ask us for a reference. Will we have legal problems if we provide negative information about the employee?

What to do about late time sheets?

03/01/2010

Q. One of our field technicians is consistently late in providing her time sheets. This interferes with promptly billing our customers for work performed. Can we delay paying this employee as an incentive to submit her time sheets on time?

Don’t fear personal liability for some firings

03/01/2010

If you have hiring and firing responsibilities, you may worry from time to time whether you could be held personally liable for your decisions. Now a Texas appeals court has answered that question—at least in situations involving the firing of someone who refuses to engage in an act she believes is illegal. The court said there is no personal liability.

Uniformly enforce blanket ‘no-hire’ policies

03/01/2010

Some employers don’t want to hire applicants who haven’t succeeded elsewhere and create a blanket no-hire rule for any applicant who isn’t eligible for rehire by a former employer. If you’re tempted to do the same, make sure you enforce the rule uniformly and don’t make exceptions.

EEOC: Texas awards grew in 2009, even as complaints fell

03/01/2010

Texas workers who complained about workplace sexual harassment, religious intolerance, and age and race discrimination collected $2.7 million more in FY 2009 than they did in 2008.