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Employment Law

What should we include in our updated employee handbook?

05/27/2008
Q. Our company is looking to revise and update its employee handbook. This will be the first update in several years. Is there anything specific that we should focus on to make sure that we are up-to-date? …

Objective evaluations get lawsuits dismissed

05/27/2008
The quality of your performance evaluation process—whether it is objective or subjective—can determine how a discrimination lawsuit turns out. Handle evaluations improperly, and a case can linger for months. Do it the right way, and the case may be dismissed immediately …

You can require employees to sign agreements to arbitrate employment disputes

05/27/2008
A federal court concluded that New Jersey contract law does allow employers to require employees to arbitrate most employment-related complaints. Plus, if an arbitration agreement contains terms that a court finds invalid, the court may throw those provisions out and still enforce the rest of the agreement …

Court tackles pregame prayer, rules it out of bounds

05/27/2008
East Brunswick High School football coach Marcus Borden ran afoul of the U.S. Constitution when he prayed with his team, the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia has ruled …

Army engineer arrested for spying

05/27/2008
An 85-year-old former U.S. Army engineer has been arrested on charges of giving classified U.S. documents about nuclear weapons to the Israeli Consulate. Ben-Ami Kadish, who worked at the U.S. Army’s Picatinny Arsenal in Dover from 1963 to 1990, is charged with assisting the same Israeli handler who recruited U. S. Navy analyst Jonathan Pollard …

Misclassifying employees an expensive mistake for Madison firm

05/27/2008
Madison-based Quest Diagnostics has agreed to pay more than $688,772 in back overtime wages to 238 employees following a U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) investigation. The DOL found that Quest misclassified as exempt the systems analysts working at all of the company’s facilities …

Supreme Court Opens the Door to More Race-Based Retaliation Lawsuits

05/27/2008
Bad news for employers: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on May 27 that employees who suffer retaliation after voicing complaints about on-the-job race discrimination can file lawsuits under a little-known Civil War-era law. The result: increased risk of retaliation lawsuits and bigger jury awards.
 

Township of Monroe will stand trial for racial discrimination

05/27/2008
A jury will decide whether a black senior employee of the Township of Monroe in Gloucester County lost his job because of racial bias. Elvis Gooden was appointed the town’s chief financial officer and director of finance in 2001 …

OK to ban the use of your e-Mail system for union organizing

05/27/2008
Employers with unionized work forces, take note: The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has made it more difficult for union organizers and members to use your e-mail system for union business—if you adopt the right electronic communications policies …

Warn employees: No FMLA certification, no excused absence

05/23/2008
If employers take a lackadaisical approach to medical certifications, they might be issuing an invitation to abuse FMLA leave. Remind your employees that they must provide FMLA certifications—and that refusing to cooperate will result in the time off being counted as unexcused absences. The consequence: possible termination …