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Employment Law

Best practices: conducting background checks on new hires

11/01/2007

No matter the size of your operation, hiring and retaining qualified and honest employees is critical. A recent study found that 36.5% of employment verifications revealed inconsistencies and 14% provided false or inconsistent information about education. That means every employer has a good reason to undertake background checks of all potential employees before making hiring decisions, particularly for positions involving confidential or sensitive information …

Stay on top of FMLA recertifications—Track when employees receive your requests

11/01/2007

When employees take intermittent FMLA leave, it’s your responsibility as the employer to insist employees regularly update their medical information through their physicians. That means you must be prepared to prove employees not only knew they needed to get their conditions recertified, but also received the forms …

No unemployment comp for workers who quit to care for disabled family members

11/01/2007

Family and military leave laws require Indiana employers to accommodate employees dealing with certain family problems. But the law doesn’t stick employers with an unemployment compensation bill when employees quit after their protected leave expires. Thanks to a recent Indiana Court of Appeals decision, it is now clear that voluntarily quitting to care for an ill family member does not mean the employee is eligible for unemployment compensation payments …

Dismissed pathologists allege discrimination by coroner

11/01/2007

Two white pathologists have sued the Marion County coroner, alleging their terminations were based on race, not merit. The two were terminated eight months into a five-year contract. The coroner’s office gave no reason for the dismissals …

FedEx’s federal fallout lands in Indiana court

11/01/2007

FedEx Ground/Home Delivery drivers have filed suit in the federal district court in South Bend, claiming the delivery giant fired them in retaliation for exercising their legal rights. The California-based drivers, who operate single routes as contractors, have fought for years to obtain employment status with the company …

Teamsters-UPS deal means Indy employees may unionize

11/01/2007

UPS and the Teamsters have agreed to a pact that will increase wages and benefits by $9 an hour over five years. The agreement covers 238,000 employees and is the largest union contract in the country. More than half the increase will go toward pensions and benefits …

$15,000 convinces employee to drop complaint and leave

11/01/2007

A man who landed a job with the Penn-Harris-Madison (P-H-M) School Corp. after fleeing Hurricane Katrina has agreed to drop his race discrimination complaint in exchange for $15,000. As part of the agreement, the man will resign …

Discrimination claim dropped, retaliation claim goes to jury

11/01/2007

A cosmetology instructor in the state prison system will have her case heard by a jury after she convinced a judge her employer most likely retaliated against her for filing a race discrimination charge with the EEOC …

Know your Indiana Military Family Leave Act responsibilities

11/01/2007

Indiana has joined a growing number of states that require midsize and larger employers to provide job-protected leave to eligible employees who have family members on active duty in the U.S. armed forces and the Indiana National Guard. The law is expected to have a significant impact on Indiana employers since more than 37,000 Indiana residents serve in the military or in National Guard units. Note, though, that the deployed family member doesn’t have to be an Indiana resident …

Grandparent leave for military service

11/01/2007

Q. One of our employees has a grandson who has just been called for duty in Afghanistan. She wants to take off the week before he ships out to attend a get-together in Orlando with him and other family members. She has no vacation time left, and this is a very busy season for our company. Do we have to let her go? …