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Employment Law

It’s harder for staff to block discipline using ‘Junk’ claims

04/01/2007

The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD) makes it illegal to retaliate against employees simply because they’ve filed a discrimination complaint. Employees know this law. So, all too often, employees who are having trouble at work file an internal complaint as a preemptive strike …

Make sure absence policy doesn’t clash with FMLA

04/01/2007

Warning: If you terminate employees who take more than 12 weeks off in a given period, you may be violating the FMLA even if you allow employees their full FMLA allotment of 12 weeks unpaid leave …

Keep good records of employee leaves; workers have three years to file FMLA suits

04/01/2007

It pays to keep some records longer than you think you’ll need them. For example, any notes, correspondence, medical certifications and other documents related to an employee’s FMLA leave request should be kept a minimum of three years …

Employee acting out of character? Balance safety, liability

04/01/2007

An otherwise good employee is acting out of character, and you think she needs help. Do you insist she contact the employee assistance program (EAP), and send her home? …

Quest lawsuit shows how to plan for ‘Turncoat’ employee

04/01/2007

Lyndhurst-based Quest Diagnostics, the largest U.S. provider of diagnostic tests and services, has sued a former employee for allegedly taking confidential client information to benefit its arch rival …

Former HR exec wins $9 million in gender-Bias lawsuit

04/01/2007

Curtiss-Wright Corporation was ordered to pay $9 million to former HR exec Joyce Quinlan after a Newark Superior Court jury found that the company denied her promotions because of her gender and then fired her when she filed a complaint …

The fine line between humor and harassment in Passaic County

04/01/2007

How do you know where to draw the line between workplace humor and harassment? The answer: You don’t get to make that choice. Harassment, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. And it begins when somebody decides they’ve had enough of the “jokes” …

Nextel employees claim that sweetheart deal was a bitter pill

04/01/2007

Five former Nextel employees who received settlements from a class-action discrimination lawsuit have filed suit against Nextel and the law firm that brokered the settlement …

Employee or supervisor? Classification affects union eligibility

04/01/2007

One of the toughest tasks for HR is to decide which employees are supervisors. Employers need to know this because supervisors are excluded from a collective bargaining unit for union organizing and voting purposes …

Automatic deductions for mealtime: Legal, but dangerous

04/01/2007

Take note if you automatically deduct meal periods from your hourly employees’ total hours worked: Although making that deduction isn’t technically illegal and doesn’t by itself violate the Fair Labor Standards Act, it’s a dangerous practice …