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Employment Law

Evacuation planning: Pay attention to ADA responsibilities

01/01/2006

While the ADA was created to stop employment discrimination, the law also requires you to provide equal access (and possibly accommodations) for disabled employees in the area of emergency evacuations from your workplace …

Employees’ right to view personnel file is a state issue

01/01/2006

Q. I support the concept of permitting employees to view their personnel files upon request, but I want to know if any law or regulation requires us to provide access. If so, where can I find out about this law/regulation? I’ve been unable to find the rule, and I’m beginning to suspect that we’ve passed this “law” around so long in HR that we believe it exists. –R.C., Alabama

Should You Give FMLA Form to ‘Ineligible’ Employee?

01/01/2006

Q. An employee who’s been employed since May is out on workers’ comp and will be for a while. Do I send her FMLA paperwork even though she hasn’t met the criteria of being employed for at least a year? It’s my understanding that I should send it to everyone that requests leave, and only after they return the paperwork should I determine if the person is, in fact, eligible. —L.P., California

Know the ‘Cooling Off’ Period for Age-Bias Waivers

01/01/2006

Q. Can you tell me if there’s a law that says a 45-day waiting period must exist from the time employees are told they’ll be laid off until they receive the severance payment? Supposedly, this is called a cooling-off period. Is this a federal law? —T.M., Pennsylvania

Same job titles don’t demand the same pay

01/01/2006

While the Equal Pay Act prohibits wage discrimination against women, make sure you and your supervisors realize that it doesn’t require every employee in the same position to earn the same salary. If you can point to factors other than gender (seniority, education, experience, skills, etc.), you can set radically different salaries for employees who hold the exact same job …

When can nonsexual bullying equal sexual harassment?

01/01/2006

f you think sexual harassment involves only those headline-grabbing actions like groping behind closed doors or demands for sex, you’re wrong. The law also says that if your organization tolerates employees who single out co-workers of one gender for abusive (nonsexual) treatment, you could be liable for a sexual harassment lawsuit based on a hostile environment …

Unions are revving up: Here’s how to keep them at bay

01/01/2006

Infighting among union groups has the labor movement cranking up its organizing efforts to prove a point. Many employers panic when they become union targets, tripping over costly labor relations rules. Follow these steps to avoid becoming a union target …

Understand links between FMLA and workers’ comp

01/01/2006

Q. If an employee is out on workers’ comp due to a work-related injury that requires surgery, can we also force him to use FMLA days in conjunction with that workers’ comp leave? The workers’ comp carrier is paying the employee’s reduced wages. —B.F., Pennsylvania

Avoid Phrases That Can Sabotage Job-Review Meetings

01/01/2006
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Asking for Test Results Is OK if a ‘Business Necessity’

01/01/2006

The ADA prohibits you from seeking medical information simply to find out if the person has a disability. You can, however, seek such details to discover whether a person is medically fit to perform the job duties. Don’t shy away from every medical inquiry; just make sure it’s based on a legitimate business necessity …