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Employment Law

Letter carrier preferred not to

05/28/2008
U.S. Postal Service (USPS) investigators have discovered 100,000 pieces of undelivered mail at an Apex postal worker’s home. The mail, which was stacked on the letter carrier’s back deck, dated back as far as six years …

What does N.C.’s civil rights act provide?

05/28/2008
Q. Does North Carolina have a state civil rights act that applies to private employers? …

Follow These 5 Rules for Documenting HR Decision-Making

05/27/2008
The best way to prevent lawsuits or to get a quick dismissal of unfounded charges is to document every employment decision carefully. Following these five simple rules can convince judges and juries that your HR decision-making is legit, above board and fully in line with the law.

Good news: Employees have just two years to file sales commission complaints

05/27/2008
It could have been the case that employer nightmares are made of—but the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals saved the day. Interpreting Indiana law, the federal court ruled that employees have just two years to sue over disputed sales commissions, not the 10 years a former employee argued for …

Good news: No personal liability for age discrimination claims

05/27/2008
It’s hard enough being a manager, supervisor or HR professional without worrying that a court may second-guess your decisions. It’s even harder in cases where making a mistake means personal liability. Fortunately, you don’t have to add age discrimination claims to those for which you can be held personally liable …

A settlement’s a settlement, court rules

05/27/2008
Once the legal bell tolls, you can’t un-ring it. So learned a South Bend educator who this spring sought to overturn an employment law settlement she had seemingly agreed to four years ago …

Tyson Foods beset by another overtime lawsuit

05/27/2008
Roughly 600 workers at the Tyson Foods meat processing facility in Logansport have filed suit seeking compensation for time they spent preparing for shifts and cleaning up afterward. The lawsuit is the latest in a string of “donning and doffing” overtime suits against Tyson and others in the meatpacking industry over what constitutes “compensable” activities …

Managers can pay for their bullying behavior—And so can you

05/27/2008
For the first time, the Indiana Supreme Court has endorsed a claim brought by a former employee against a supervisor (rather than the company for whom he worked) on the grounds that the general harassment was so severe as to constitute illegal bullying …

Concurrently running FMLA leave, vacation time and short-Term disability

05/27/2008
Q. Our policy requires an employee out on FMLA leave to run any accrued vacation or sick time concurrently with FMLA leave until that time is used up. (At that point, the FMLA leave becomes unpaid.) We also have a short-term disability (STD) policy that kicks in after seven consecutive days and lasts up to eight weeks. A pregnant employee recently requested 10 weeks of FMLA leave, starting upon the birth of her child. She currently has 3½ weeks of accrued vacation time. Can we require her to use up all of her vacation time once she goes out on maternity leave, even though she is also receiving STD payments? …

Can we discipline an employee for secretly recording workplace conversations?

05/27/2008
Q. Some employees discovered that a co-worker has been secretly recording conversations with them and some supervisors. One of them brought it to our attention after he grew suspicious that the employee was digging for information about some employment decisions we had made. Several employees have complained about the invasion of their privacy. The company president’s first reaction was to have the employee arrested, but I’m not sure he broke any laws. Our policies prohibit general harassment, but do not specifically address clandestine recordings. Can we discipline this employee? Should we contact police? …