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Employment Law

You can discharge disabled employee if there’s no way to know when she’ll return

06/22/2009

Employers don’t have to provide a disabled employee with an indefinite leave of absence when the employee has a medical emergency and doesn’t know how long it will take to return to work. As long as the employee isn’t covered by the FMLA (in which case, she would be entitled to 12 unpaid weeks of leave), you can terminate her without violating the ADA.

Consent doesn’t mean it wasn’t sexual harassment

06/22/2009

Employers sometimes mistakenly believe that consensual sexual activity between a subordinate and a supervisor isn’t sexual harassment. That’s simply not the case. Fear or threats of losing one’s job can be enough to force an employee to “consent,” but agreeing to participate doesn’t rule out a later sexual harassment lawsuit.

Deducting pay for poor work performance can destroy employees’ exempt status

06/22/2009

FLSA exempt employees must be paid the same salary regardless of the quality or quantity of their work in any given pay period. In other words, employers can’t make deductions from pay for poor work. That’s true even when the compensation comes in the form of an incentive plan.

Congress begins debate on paid-leave bill; Obama OKs same-sex benefits for federal workers

06/22/2009

Legislation recently introduced in Congress would require employers with 15 or more workers to provide at least seven days of paid sick leave per employee per year. The so-called “Healthy Families Act” would guarantee workers at least one paid hour off for every 30 hours worked.

OSHA warns employers to beware using fraudulent trainers for safety programs

06/22/2009

OSHA has established new requirements for trainers to become authorized to teach safety training courses in construction and other industries. Some trainers, OSHA says, are fraudulently failing to provide the appropriate training.

When does ADHD count as a protected ‘disability’?

06/22/2009

Do you have employees who are easily distracted, restless, disorganized and forgetful? Maybe that’s just who they are—or maybe they’ve been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). It’s an “invisible” disability, but one court recently said employers shouldn’t be so fast to discount it. A disability is a disability … whether you can see it or not.

Can we request FMLA recertification for each migraine?

06/22/2009

Q. If an employee constantly calls in sick because of migraine headaches, how can we verify the real reasons for the absences? Can we ask for information each time the employee is absent?

Pregnant poor performer: Can we fire her?

06/22/2009

Q. We have a pregnant employee who is planning to take maternity leave soon. Her performance has deteriorated badly during her pregnancy, but we don’t think her pregnancy has anything to do with it. Can we terminate?

FLSA exempt salaries: Cutting pay and hours by 20%

06/22/2009

Q. We’ve begun paying FLSA exempt employees 20% less per week and asking them to work 20% fewer hours. Some still continue to work far more hours. Can we legally do this, or must the employees report the actual number of hours they worked on their time sheets, even though they’re only receiving 80% of their regular salaries?

Mandatory overtime and the ADA

06/22/2009

Q. We have an employee who has blood clots in her legs and whose doctor says she can work only 40 hours per week. She knew overtime was required when she was hired. Do we have to let her work a reduced schedule of just 40 hours?