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Employment Law

You can’t ask employees to sign away FMLA rights

10/01/2005
Issue: Severance packages usually ask departing employees to waive their rights to file various employment lawsuits.
Risk: If you include FMLA in that mix, you’ll risk having the whole package …

You can track hours for exempt and nonexempt staff

10/01/2005

Q. We have mechanics who work on a straight commission basis. Do we need to track their hours? —E.D., Nevada

When must you pay nonexempt employees for travel?

10/01/2005
Issue: Many employers are baffled about how to pay nonexempt employees when they travel locally or on overnight trips.
Risk: Mistakes could spark anything from mild complaints to class-action lawsuits, …

Don’t try to muzzle employee gossip

09/01/2005
You may not like employees comparing their bonus checks or bad-mouthing their managers in the break room, but don’t even think about trying to silence such off-duty chats. If you do, …

FMLA caregivers must stay close; calls don’t count

09/01/2005
While the FMLA allows employees time off to care for a sick spouse, child or parent, such “care” doesn’t have to be physical. FMLA regulations say employees can take FMLA leave …

Watch those nicknames: Turning El-Hakem into ‘Hank’ spells bias

09/01/2005
You know that ethnic slurs and name-calling have no place in the workplace. But a new court ruling proves that any kind of ethnic intolerance can be punished.
If supervisors …

Put limits on supervisors’ ‘power-differentiated’ relationships

09/01/2005
A new court ruling gives you more reason to consider a “no-dating” rule among your employees or a “no-dating subordinates” rule for your supervisors. At the very least, require supervisors to …

Don’t ask employees to sign away their FMLA rights

09/01/2005
In severance agreements, employers typically require employees to sign promises not to file employment-related lawsuits. But don’t try to include FMLA rights in that
waiver.
Why? A new ruling …

Self-diagnosis won’t cut it; require proof of disability

09/01/2005
Do you have an employee whose sniffles, coughing or health complaints drive co-workers crazy? Has she told you that she’s disabled and can’t help the snorting and sneezing? You don’t need …

Don’t shrug off complaints of female-on-male harassment

09/01/2005
If a male employee complains about sexually harassing comments by a female co-worker, how would your supervisors respond?
Too often, bosses (and some HR professionals) laugh off such “reverse” harassment …