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Employment Law

Good news: Discussion of discipline that doesn’t name names is not defamation

09/01/2007

Supervisors can discuss discipline with co-workers if the situation warrants and not fear a defamation lawsuit. As long as the discussion is necessary for a legitimate business reason, such as preventing workplace violence or squelching rampant and erroneous rumors, the employer won’t be liable. Otherwise, mum’s the word …

Supreme Court to hear Florida FedEx drivers’ discrimination case

09/01/2007

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear an Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) case involving FedEx drivers. Employees in three states, including Florida, filed an ADEA suit against FedEx, citing policies designed to “drive out older workers” …

Manager wounded after guards were eliminated sues bank

09/01/2007

A SunTrust Bank manager, who was wounded during a bank robbery, has sued the bank because it had eliminated security guard positions for economic reasons just before the robbery …

Frostproof gets chilled after harassment heats up

09/01/2007

The city of Frostproof has a hot-to-trot city manager, according to allegations made by a former assistant city manager. The manager apparently sexually harassed her on a business trip to Tampa. After she complained, the manager and the city gave her the cold shoulder by suspending her, cutting her pay, changing her title and even trying to have her arrested …

City settles meter reader’s race claim

09/01/2007

Port St. Lucie has settled a race discrimination claim filed by a demoted meter reader for $60,000 and a promotion. The black woman filing the suit was a meter reader supervisor when she was called away for duty in the Army Reserve. Upon returning, she found she had been demoted and a white male now held her position …

Congress considers redrawing the lines between employees and independent contractors

09/01/2007

The title of recent congressional hearings—“The Misclassification of Workers as Independent Contractors”—says it all. Some in Congress are looking to change the Fair Labor Standards Act to further define who is an “employee” and who is an “independent contractor” …

Ink’s barely dry on minimum wage hike, but some in Washington want to go higher

09/01/2007

Congress this year pushed the federal minimum wage up to $5.85 per hour, with 70-cent jumps planned for the next two summers. But some lawmakers want to keep that mojo working. A group of Democrats, led by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., are proposing to push the federal minimum to $9.50 per hour starting in 2009 …

Tech firm learns the hard way: Don’t switch employees to exempt once they hit a pay threshold

09/01/2007

Aerospace contractor Ball Corp. agreed to pay out almost $1 million to 900 employees to settle a U.S. Labor Department complaint. The problem: The company switched top-tier hourly workers to exempt status once employees reached the top of the hourly pay scale. They were also required to work through lunch without pay …

Gender-Bender Liability: More States, Cities Make It Illegal to Discriminate Based on ‘Gender Identity’

09/01/2007

Don’t fire an employee for cross-dressing or allow co-workers to harass a female worker who acts masculine until you understand your potential liability under the increasing number of “gender-identity discrimination” laws. Such laws typically prevent discrimination against workers or applicants because they don’t conform to the stereotypes of how a man or woman looks, lives or acts …

Porn at work: Don’t get into debate over what is ‘Too much’

09/01/2007

When an employee says no to the sexual images posted in co-workers’ workstations and to their sexually laced comments, your company had better listen … and act. It shouldn’t debate over “how much” porn is acceptable. As a recent lawsuit shows, even if an employee initially tolerates a sexually charged workplace, she can drop the lawsuit hammer at any time …