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Employment Law

Can we forbid employees from gathering in a prayer group while on breaks?

02/25/2010

Q. A group of our employees met during their break to have group prayer. A supervisor complained to our president, who said we should tell employees they can’t pray on break time, nor can they pray during lunch unless they leave the building. Some employees are upset. Is this policy legal?

The legal danger of playing ‘peek-a-boo’ with job postings

02/24/2010

Job postings go up … they come down. They go up … they come down. It all seems quite normal. That is, unless a job posting is pulled down to avoid a specific type of candidate. As this new case shows, you can’t delist a job or try to hide the position when you don’t like who applies. Peek-a-boo, the court will catch you!

How to apply FLSA’s administrative exemption

02/22/2010

Employers that want to avoid paying overtime to white-collar workers often invoke the Fair Labor Standards Act’s administrative exemption. For the administrative exemption to be legitimate, all of the following must be true:

Injured worker reapplying? Beware ADA suit

02/22/2010

You may be naturally disinclined to rehire a former employee who was off work for years because of an on-the-job injury. But that could be a big legal mistake, especially since he is now disabled.

Same offense, different circumstances: The punishment can fit the crime

02/22/2010

The cardinal rule for employers is to punish like offenses the same way. But that doesn’t mean that you don’t have some flexibility. For example, when two employees break the same rule, the underlying reasons might be considerably different. If you decide to punish one more severely than the other, document why you don’t consider the circumstances the same.

Don’t try to avoid OT pay by misclassifying technicians as exempt professionals

02/22/2010

If you classify some employees as exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act’s professional exemption, make sure their jobs truly meet the criteria. Otherwise, you risk a potential wage-and-hour lawsuit for unpaid overtime.

Act fast on harassment to show you won’t tolerate it

02/22/2010

Never ignore sexual harassment complaints. Instead, take quick action against insensitive, rude or crude co-workers. That goes a long way toward showing a court that you take harassment seriously and want it to end.

Leave exhausted? Set strict standards for further absences

02/22/2010

Employers know they may have to accommodate disabled employees by granting additional time off. But what about employees who, although they aren’t disabled, still claim run-of-the-mill illnesses prevent them from working? You can and should set strict standards for further leave.

OSHA loses patience, Freehold executive loses car

02/22/2010

When OSHA said it had received an anonymous complaint about safety conditions at one of Brocon Petroleum’s work sites, executives there had a pretty good idea who made the call. So the Freehold-based company fired the employee. OSHA did not take it well …

Lawsuits allege pervasive sexual harassment at Harrah’s

02/22/2010

Three lawsuits filed against Harrah’s Atlantic City casino allege the employer actively covered up sexual harassment by casino employees. Harrah’s is already fighting 13 lawsuits filed against fired manager Raymond Montgomery, who ran a casino nightclub called “The Pool.”