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Employment Law

Interpret Military Leave Law in Most Employee-Friendly Way

02/01/2006

Due to widespread confusion over the federal military leave law, the Labor Department issued its first regulations that try to clarify the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act …

Look to states, not Congress, for radical health care changes

02/01/2006

Employers and consumers alike have been wrestling with skyrocketing health care costs, with no end in sight. And while Congress has talked much about reforming the system, it’s been spinning its wheels for years. The same can’t be said for state legislatures, where lawmakers are actively passing laws to make coverage more affordable …

Office romance: Don’t ban it; manage it the right way

02/01/2006

Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act prohibits employment discrimination based on a person’s sex. When office romances sour, scorned lovers often use this law to allege that their former lover was a sexual harasser …

Set a clear policy on confidential talks with employees

02/01/2006

Should you guarantee employees confidentiality when they voice complaints to you or to supervisors? Blanket promises of confidentiality could blow up in your face; some laws require you to report illegal or unethical conduct …

Don’t guess about a worker’s condition; test and inquire

02/01/2006

If you treat employees as if they’re disabled, they’ll garner ADA protections even if they’re healthy as horses. Wait for skills testing and medical results to determine an employee’s condition; don’t make snap judgments …

Keep ‘Customer Preference’ Out of Your Hiring Criteria

02/01/2006

Make sure your hiring managers understand that basing hiring decisions on the prejudices of your customer base is a sure way to land in court. Applicants’ race, age, sex or religion should always be irrelevant. Courts won’t be swayed by claims that customer preferences forced your hiring hand …

State law decides if workers can see personnel file

02/01/2006

Q. Are we required to let terminated employees come in and view their actual personnel files, or can we copy the information and send it via mail? One of our fired employees has hired an attorney and wants to see her file. —T.M. California

You can remove injured worker for safety reasons

02/01/2006

Q. An employee told us he has a bad hernia. He wants to wait a couple months to have the operation, since it requires six weeks’ recovery. He does some lifting in his job. Yesterday, he had to go home early because he was in pain. Now that we are aware of his condition, what’s our liability? And what should we do? —D.C., New Jersey

Make Your Return-to-Work Requirements Reasonable

02/01/2006

Can you probe into employees’ conditions when they’re returning from medical leave? If you ask too many questions of such workers (or erect too many roadblocks to their return), you’ll risk a lawsuit. Use your right to medical certification appropriately, but don’t go overboard …

Revise your overly complex employee review methods

02/01/2006

If your evaluation procedures are too complicated, employees may question whether they’re being treated fairly. Mild suspicions can quickly grow into expensive discrimination lawsuits, as a new court ruling shows …