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Employment Law

Tell managers: No paternalistic protection allowed

10/01/2007

Check patronizing attitudes—and comments—at the workplace door. Protective attitudes have no place at work and even a comment or two may spur on a sex-discrimination lawsuit. That’s why HR must tell managers and supervisors: Lay off the “I know what’s good for the delicate sex” comments. They are direct evidence of sex discrimination and a sure way to court …

Track discipline by type and protected characteristics

10/01/2007

Do you have ready access to your organization’s discipline records? Can you say with certainty that everyone charged with the same misconduct receives the same punishment? Or is there bias hiding in those records? The best way to check is to group discipline by type of misconduct and punishment and then compare employees’ sex, race, age and other protected characteristics against punishment for the same conduct …

Origin not the sole factor in national-Origin discrimination

10/01/2007

You know it’s illegal to discriminate against someone based on his or her national origin. You may not know that it’s also illegal to discriminate against someone who simply has characteristics that reflect a particular heritage, whether or not he or she claims a particular heritage …

No pay owed for on-Call employees’ ‘Commuting’ time

10/01/2007

If you have employees on call, you know how complicated paying them can be. But now at least one area of the law is fairly clear. A recent decision in a class-action case held that if employees report to their regular workplace in response to a call, they aren’t entitled to extra pay for their trip time. That counts as regular commuting time—which is always unpaid …

Promised to pay overtime when it wasn’t required? You have to anyway

10/01/2007

Are you sure you understand the Fair Labor Standards Act overtime provisions and when they apply? If not, now’s a good time to review them. An employer that agrees to pay more than required (because it mistakenly thought its workers were hourly employees entitled to overtime) can’t just change its mind …

No need to pay prisoners minimum wage—Court says it’s not ‘Slave labor’

10/01/2007

Is your organization providing employment opportunities within Illinois prisons? If so, you don’t have to worry about being sued for minimum-wage or overtime violations by the prisoners you employ, thanks to a federal court’s common-sense decision …

Easy come, easy go: Judge cuts huge discrimination award 92%

10/01/2007

Carol Tamao had won a $6 million verdict in her Age Discrimination in Employment Act and ADA lawsuit after her supervisor implied her age was a factor in her termination. But a federal judge ruled the jury got carried away when it started handing out her former employer’s money …

Disabled woman says McDonald’s refused to serve her

10/01/2007

An Illinois woman who suffers from Holt-Oram syndrome, a condition where the sufferer’s arms and hands are underdeveloped, sued McDonald’s after employees refused to allow her to pick up her drive-through ordered food with her feet …

Governor signs Employee Classification Act

10/01/2007

Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed Illinois’ Employee Classification Act into law in early August. The law targets the construction industry with the intent to prevent employers from misclassifying employees as independent contractors. Under the law, people performing construction work are presumed to be employees unless they can meet the ABC test …

Understanding how Illinois leave laws overlap with FMLA

10/01/2007

Illinois employers must comply with numerous state leave laws, in addition to the federal FMLA. To track leave usage, employers must understand which state leave laws overlap with the FMLA …