• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Employment Law

Can we cut our legal risk by offering unconditional reinstatement?

02/12/2009

Q. If an employee is suing our company, what are the benefits of offering her job back while the litigation is ongoing?

Is it OK to pay hourly workers comp time instead of overtime?

02/12/2009

Q. Is it legal for my company to pay our hourly employees comp time instead of paying time-and-a-half for overtime worked?

Preach zero tolerance for any harassment

02/12/2009

Employers are responsible if they know or have reason to know about a hostile work environment created by employees and do nothing to fix it. As a practical matter, what employers hear and see may be just the tip of the iceberg. Smart employers immediately attempt to get the whole picture and then correct the harassing behavior.

Acute but temporary illness isn’t disability

02/12/2009

Don’t jump to the conclusion that, just because a sudden illness or condition requires emergency medical care or even surgery, the employee who falls ill is disabled. The standard ADA test still applies.

Black employees have 4 years to file Section 1983 lawsuits in Florida

02/12/2009

As an employer, you may be used to cases moving quickly through the EEOC and on to court. That’s because employees must file EEOC complaints within 300 days of the alleged discrimination. They then have 90 days after the EEOC dismisses the complaint to file a federal lawsuit. But black employees can also file a lawsuit under another section of the Civil Rights Act.

Set an example: It’s OK to punish managers more harshly than subordinates

02/12/2009

Impressions do matter, and employers are free to demand more of supervisors and managers than of those who sit lower on the company totem pole. All else being equal, you can treat it as a more serious violation when someone in authority breaks the same rule as an underling.

Public employer alert: Know when you can discipline employees for speaking out

02/12/2009

Public employers know they can’t punish employees who speak out on matters of public importance. Government employees have a Constitutional right to free speech. But that doesn’t mean you must treat with kid gloves every employee who mouths off—or that you can’t legitimately discipline those employees.

Track reasons why you hired or rejected every applicant

02/12/2009

You can never know beforehand which applicant might sue you. That’s one good reason to track every hiring decision and document why you hired some candidates and not others.

Don’t sweat new supervisor’s one-time demeaning act

02/12/2009

New supervisors don’t always manage their subordinates as well as more experienced managers. They’re going to make some mistakes along the way. And not every early mistake will mean a winning lawsuit for the subordinate. As the following case shows, it takes more than one stupid move to create a hostile environment.

Federal minimum wage to top Florida’s $7.21 on July 24

02/12/2009

By now, you have probably adjusted your payroll software and hourly wage information to reflect the new Florida minimum wage of $7.21 per hour, which was effective on Jan. 1 …