• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Employment Law

Michigan Seamless Tube to pay $500,000 for hiring discrimination

08/01/2007

Michigan Seamless Tube will pay $500,000 to settle a class-action race-discrimination lawsuit filed by the EEOC for refusing to hire black former employees of Vision Metals …

Lesson to teen: Don’t (Wolf) whistle while you work

08/01/2007

A teenager working at Nino Salvaggio’s International Marketplace in Clinton Township lost his job for whistling at a co-worker when she entered the store decked out in her prom dress …

Draft ‘Last-Chance’ agreements with care

08/01/2007

Q. We have a poor-performing employee who is up for discharge. The union has requested that we give him one “last chance,” and has said that it will agree to a last-chance agreement if we don’t terminate his employment now. What is the impact of a last-chance agreement? — J.R.

Health insurance maintained during FMLA leave

08/01/2007

Q. We have an employee who is out on an FMLA leave of absence. Our company provides health insurance for its employees and their families, and employees pay 20% of the premium. Our employee has not paid his share of the premium. Should we cancel his health insurance? We are very nervous about doing so because the employee has a very serious health condition. — J.B.

Discipline process doesn’t have to be ‘Right,’ just honest

08/01/2007

If every decision you made on the job when disciplining employees had to be based on absolute truth, the workplace would be paralyzed. So it should come as some comfort to know that courts don’t require you to be 100% correct …

Before discharge, investigate supervisor’s claims

08/01/2007

If you don’t want to subject your organization to liability for a supervisor’s biased or discriminatory discipline recommendations, conduct at least a brief independent investigation …

Establish promotion criteria to discourage lawsuits

08/01/2007

If your organization is like many, employees anxious to move up the ladder covet promotions. But if you have no clear-cut standards or easy-to-explain criteria, lawsuits lurk behind every unqualified, but passed-over, employee …

Judge to Del Monte: Prepare for discovery south of the border

08/01/2007

Mexican workers who worked for Del Monte Fresh Produce, Inc., have filed a class-action suit alleging the company violated the Fair Labor Standards Act when it failed to properly pay the workers their wages …

Does FMLA cover ‘Emotional care’ of spouse in ICU?

08/01/2007

Q We have an employee whose wife is in a hospital intensive-are unit. The employee has asked for FMLA leave. Is this an FMLA-eligible reason, even though the employee isn’t providing "care" as the law requires?

Make sure you can track when downsizing decision was made

08/01/2007

Employees suddenly confronted with unpleasant alterations in their duties, responsibilities or schedules may look for reasons to avoid making the change …