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Employment Law

Must we pay for hours lost due to power failure?

11/21/2008

Q. We recently had a power outage and called employees who weren’t in yet to tell them to come in when the power was back up. We then gave these people a chance to make up the lost time by working late or using paid time off. Do we have to pay them for the hours they missed?

Can we make employees use sick leave for FMLA?

11/21/2008

Q. Our employees earn paid sick and vacation leave. Can we require them to use their paid leave at the same time they take unpaid FMLA leave? Otherwise, it seems as if they could use up paid leave and still take 12 unpaid weeks off.

How to merge workers’ comp and FMLA

11/21/2008

Q. One of our employees was injured on the job. She went to the hospital the same night, had surgery and was out of work for eight days. Can we apply FMLA leave or sick leave to that time, even if she ends up being paid through workers’ comp?

Can we require worker to wear hearing aid?

11/21/2008

Q. An employee with severe hearing loss refuses to use his hearing aid. He works in a loud environment with forklifts and other hazards. Can we force him to wear the hearing aid or otherwise remove him from the floor? We think he’s endangering himself because he can’t hear someone warning him about a hazard.

Exception covers some, not all, church staff

11/20/2008

Churches, church schools and other religious institutions don’t always have to follow federal employment laws. That’s because religious entities are entitled to operate free of interference with their religious practices—if the employees in question are part of that religious practice.

Job duties, degree of employer control dictate employee status

11/20/2008

Just calling a worker an independent contractor doesn’t make that worker an independent contractor. It’s the reality on the ground that counts—that is, how much control the individual has over her time, hours and duties.

Honesty clause on application can stop frivolous lawsuits

11/20/2008

Here’s a reason to make sure that your applications include an honesty provision: If an applicant sues for discrimination, she won’t get very far if you catch her being less than honest on the application.

That’s the way the cookie crumbles? Archway faces WARN suit

11/20/2008

A group of employees has filed a lawsuit against Battle Creek-based Archway Cookies, alleging the company violated the federal WARN Act when it terminated hundreds of workers in California, Michigan and Ohio in October.

Pregnancy—an ‘off-duty injury’—prompts Detroit Police suit

11/20/2008

Five Detroit police officers have filed a lawsuit challenging a department policy that forces pregnant officers to go on sick leave as soon as their supervisors find out they’re pregnant.

NLRB: Grand Rapids Starbucks worker fired for union organizing

11/20/2008

The National Labor Relations Board has filed a complaint against Starbucks, claiming it fired a Grand Rapids, Mich., barista because of his union sympathies.