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Employment Law

Don’t ‘Oversell’ a job opening

02/01/2004

Avoid the temptation to lure star applicants by painting an overly rosy financial picture of the organization or making misleading statements about job security. One faulty promise could lead to a fraud lawsuit …

Keep health data private: ‘HIPAA time’ nears for small firms

02/01/2004
Issue: The federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) places new privacy requirements on employers. Risk: Smaller businesses must start complying in April. Fines range from $100 per violation …

Hiring interns? Keep it legal, dude

02/01/2004
Issue: How to avoid the often-overlooked liabilities of using interns in your workplace. Risk: Courts view interns the same as employees, as “agents” of your organization. Plus, you face extra …

Don’t break severance promise to employee

02/01/2004
If your organization’s execs grumble about not wanting to pay a promised severance package, point them to this case: A company president refused to fully honor Donald Chisholm’s severance package as …

Break time must be uninterrupted time

01/01/2004
Spread the word that nonexempt employees’ breaks and meal times should be used for those purposes, not for work. And put the policy in writing. That may force you to juggle …

You can enforce ‘last-chance’ pacts with on-the-ropes employees

01/01/2004
Last-chance agreements are signed pacts between employers and employees that provide workers accused of serious misconduct one last chance to shape up. They’re common in cases involving alcohol abuse, drug abuse …

Don’t break severance promise, you may be personally liable

01/01/2004
A company president refused to fully honor employee Donald Chisholm’s severance agreement, even though it was clearly spelled out in Chisholm’s employment contract. So Chisholm sued for breach of contract and …

Compliments on dress and hair don’t equal sex harassment

01/01/2004
A female supervisor repeatedly complimented a female customer service rep on her choice of jewelry, clothing and hairstyle. The rep sued, alleging the constant comments were harassing and constituted a hostile …

Not all ADD, ADHD diagnoses qualify as protected ‘disability’

01/01/2004
Unfortunately, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) doesn’t come with a laundry list of conditions that qualify as disabilities. So what about attention deficit disorder (ADD) or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder …

You can set ‘no rehire’ policy for workers fired for misconduct

01/01/2004
The Supreme Court last month handed employers more power to set and enforce policies that deny rehiring to employees fired for misconduct. The court said such “no-rehire” policies are valid reasons …