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Employment Law

Could a court order force us to compromise our employees’ privacy?

08/26/2008
Q. I heard that Google is being forced to hand over YouTube access logs to Viacom as evidence in a copyright suit. This seems like a major privacy issue. Our company provides free health information to our employees over the Internet. Our internal web site users have created employee profiles that include personal information such as their names and e-mail addresses. Could we be forced to hand over our user information if we ever became involved in litigation? …

Is video surveillance of employees legal?

08/26/2008
Q. My family owns a chain of electronics stores. We suspect that employees have stolen some merchandise. We want to install surveillance cameras in our inventory storage room and possibly near the back door of the store where the theft occurred. Are there any legal issues that we should take into consideration? …

Justice Department Settles First USERRA Class Action Suit

08/26/2008
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has reached a settlement with the airline in a class-action suit brought by pilots who alleged that the company’s benefits-accrual practices violated USERRA. The settlement should be a wake-up call to employers: Now’s the time to make sure your benefits policies don’t discriminiate against military reservists and members of the National Guard.

Weigh downsides before requiring arbitration agreements

08/25/2008
It sounds like a great idea: Instead of risking a large jury award in court, get employees to agree in advance to have an arbitrator mediate all employment disputes. But, in practice, arbitrators often bend over backward to give employees a break. Plus, an arbitrator’s decision is hard to undo …

Discrimination irrelevant if basic qualification is missing

08/25/2008
It may sound logical and reasonable, but it took a federal appeals court to decide it once and for all: An individual can’t sue for discrimination and win when it’s crystal clear he lacks an essential job requirement and therefore isn’t qualified for the job …

If employees become disabled, consider them for other jobs

08/25/2008
Employees who become disabled and can no longer perform the essential functions of their jobs, even with accommodations, can be discharged. The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD) does not protect employees under these circumstances. But the law does prohibit discriminating against such individuals who want to apply for other open positions …

Don’t assume disability: Let applicant or employee bring it up

08/25/2008
The ADA makes it illegal to discriminate on the basis of a covered disability or to discriminate because of a perceived disability. An employer’s belief that an applicant or an employee has a disability—even if she does not—is enough to trigger liability if the employer acts on that belief and refuses to hire or discriminates based on the perceived disability …

Research, diligence, documentation key to making good-Faith FLSA classifications

08/25/2008
Under the FLSA, exempt employees don’t receive overtime pay. But figuring out just who fits in one of the exemptions is not an easy task. Get it wrong, and you could be liable for twice the overtime you should have paid, going back two years. Get it really wrong—by failing to act in good faith—and you’ll have to pay for an additional year. There’s a small silver lining behind that dark cloud …

Discharging employee after FMLA leave expires may be retaliation

08/25/2008
Eligible employees are entitled to up to 12 weeks of FMLA leave per year and are guaranteed their jobs back (or equivalent ones) if they return at the end of that leave. That means you can terminate at the end of 12 weeks, right? Maybe not …

Editor tries to stop presses on alleged retaliation

08/25/2008
Silvina Barboza served as editor of Latinos Unidos, a Spanish language newspaper owned by Greater Media Newspapers (GMN) in Freehold. Early in 2005, Barboza was diagnosed with obesity and scheduled for gastric bypass surgery in December. When management learned of her plans, GMN terminated her …