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Employment Law

What are our notice requirements for responding to an employee’s FMLA request?

01/11/2010

Q. We have an employee who just told us she needs leave to care for her son, who is in the hospital. What are our time restraints in responding to the request?

How much advance notice can we demand when an employee wants to take FMLA leave?

01/11/2010

Q. How much notice should an employee give an employer before taking FMLA leave?

Can we retroactively designate FMLA leave?

01/11/2010

Q. We have an employee who is on leave for two weeks to care for her ill husband. She is also pregnant and has told us she wants to take FMLA leave after she gives birth. We haven’t yet designated her current time off as FMLA leave. Can we do so and cut her entitlement by two weeks?

Does calling in ‘sick’ constitute FMLA notice?

01/11/2010

Q. Is calling in “sick” sufficient notice that an employee needs FMLA leave?

Unemployment Insurance

01/08/2010

HR Law 101: Under the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) and state laws, employers are obligated to pay payroll taxes to provide unemployment compensation to employees who lose their jobs. By understanding how the system works, you may be able to cut your state tax rate through efficient claims control …

Complaint policy ignored? You face punitive damages

01/08/2010

Warning! If you have a robust discrimination policy, but don’t follow it, you may face punitive damages under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination. That law authorizes courts to punish employers financially for conduct that is “especially egregious.”

When discipline differs, be ready to explain why

01/08/2010

Employees often sue for discrimination when they suffer harsher discipline than co-workers did. You can counter those bias claims by having clear records that show how you decided on the specific discipline each employee received. Explain why the punishments were different.

Set job application rules, apply them equally

01/07/2010

Employers are free to create reasonable rules for submitting job applications and make potential employees follow those rules. As long as your rules aren’t enforced in a way that favors one group of applicants over others, courts will let you reject an applicant for failing to follow those rules.

Workplace strife? Transfer is fair solution

01/07/2010

When people have a history of conflict, it makes sense to ensure they don’t have to interact with one another. How you go about separating them may mean the difference between staying out of court or losing a costly successful retaliation or discrimination lawsuit.

Are employee texts private? Supreme Court to decide

01/07/2010

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed late last year to rule for the first time on whether employees have a right to privacy when sending text messages on cell phones and electronic devices supplied by their employers. The case involves several California police officers who were disciplined for sexually explicit texts.