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Employment Law

Traffic tardiness: Be consistent with punishments

02/01/2007

Q. How many times should we allow an employee to be late before giving an oral warning? We have a mandatory 8:30 a.m. production meeting. Everyone knows traffic is out of control, but most employees manage to arrive on time most of the time. Some are consistently late and constantly blame traffic. —J.A., California

Deducting partial-day absence from leave bank is OK

02/01/2007

You may assume that employers must pay exempt employees their entire salary even if they arrive late and leave early. Well, that’s only partially true …

Whistle-blowers protected only if concerns are in writing

02/01/2007

Florida’s Whistleblower Act protects employees only if they notify their employers of alleged wrongdoing before reporting it to authorities. That way, employers have a chance to correct the problem first …

Section 1981 bias law doesn’t cover national-origin claims

02/01/2007

Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 has become an increasingly common route for African-Americans to bring to federal court a variety of discrimination claims not covered by Title VII. But claims of national-origin discrimination aren’t allowed under Section 1981…

To defeat bias lawsuits, track all supervisors’ discipline

02/01/2007

Nothing will sink an employee’s discrimination case faster than evidence that you handed out punishment in the exact same doses to other employees as well …

Florida’s whistle-blower law doesn’t cover report of co-worker assault

02/01/2007

Florida’s Whistleblower Act protects employees from retaliation for bringing wrongdoing to the proper authorities’ attention. But the law covers only illegal activities that are purposely committed for the employer’s benefit …

No joking matter: Stuffed monkey costs official his $88,000 job

02/01/2007

Poor taste can be expensive. That’s what a Fort Pierce deputy building official learned after losing his $88,000 job over a two-inch stuffed monkey that he presented at a retiring director’s going-away party …

Employer takes pricey gamble playing with pension funds

02/01/2007

The owner of a Hollywood, Fla., insurance agency who siphoned money from the company’s pension fund has been found in contempt of court for failing to restore $107,938 to the plan …

Printed policies don’t suffice; be vigilant about harassment

02/01/2007

If your business operates in far-flung parts of the country, make sure everyone’s on the same page in following your anti-discrimination policies …

‘He said, she said’: Train staff in conflict resolution

02/01/2007

What’s a manager to do when faced with conflicting accounts of an argument between employees? An important part of that answer is to resolve it quickly, before the dispute spreads like a cancer through your organization …