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Employment Law

Judge says prison harassment could have been deadly

12/01/2007

A lesbian prison guard has been awarded $850,000 after an administrative judge found that she had endured a “relentless, daily regimen of mental and physical threats” by a co-worker at the Wende Correctional Facility in Alden …

Saigon Grill told delivery drivers to hit the road

12/01/2007

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has accused Manhattan’s Saigon Grill restaurants of illegally firing 22 delivery drivers because they requested minimum wage. The workers complained they were paid as little as $120 for a workweek that sometimes reached 75 hours …

Odd workplaces: Trader claims he was forced to take hormones

12/01/2007

The EEOC is investigating a lawsuit by a former junior trader at SAC Capital Partners, headquartered in Stamford, CT, claiming his boss forced him to take female hormones and then sexually assaulted him …

$4.3 million to settle Hispanic workers’ discrimination suit

12/01/2007

B & H Foto and Electronics Corp., the enormous 9th Avenue photo mecca in Manhattan, will pay $4.3 million to settle a race discrimination lawsuit by the EEOC. The lawsuit alleged B & H paid Hispanic warehouse workers less than others …

Morgan Stanley out $46 million to top female advisors

12/01/2007

A federal judge has approved a settlement by Wall Street financial services firm Morgan Stanley to end a sex discrimination suit. A class of 3,000 current and former female employees of the firm will share $46 million …

Greengrocer to pay $675,000 to underpaid workers

12/01/2007

Rossman Fruit and Vegetable, a Brooklyn discount greengrocer, agreed to pay $675,000 in back wages to 222 employees to settle a U.S. Labor Department lawsuit. The settlement covers payments below minimum wage and unpaid time-and-a-half for overtime hours from 2001 to 2005 …

How to develop an employee handbook that avoids liability

12/01/2007

With employment litigation rising steadily, the employee handbook has become an essential tool in the employer’s arsenal to defend against liability for employment decisions. A good handbook tells employees what the rules are and how they will be enforced …

Do temporary employees count?

12/01/2007

Q. We’re a small company with about 45 employees, but we have another 20 employees who are temporary. Do we have to count the temps when complying with the EEO or other employment laws? …

Do supervisors’ ‘Unofficial’ employee files raise any legal red flags?

12/01/2007

Q. We have several supervisors who insist on keeping their own private files on employees in their departments, especially to record absences and comp days. Is this legal? …

Commissions, overtime and the Fair Labor Standards Act

12/01/2007

Q. We have a number of employees who are paid on a commission basis. Are they exempt from overtime under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act? …