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Employment Law

How to close the door on invasion-of-privacy lawsuits

08/01/2003
Most companies don’t spend a lot of time worrying about their employees’ privacy rights. But they should. Consider this: Privacy lawsuits jumped 300 percent …

Pre-employment testing: Know the legal limits

08/01/2003
THE LAW. Pre-employment tests are an effective tool to discover applicant’s skills or abilities that can’t be gleaned from an application or interview. And …

Different vacation policies are legal if done fairly

08/01/2003

Q. We are rewriting our vacation pay policy. Currently, we have two categories of hourly employees. Can we offer 10 vacation days after two years to some employees and five days for the same period to other employees? Can we offer different benefits to salaried and hourly employees? —S.P., Washington

Pay for Prep Time if It’s ‘Integral’ to Job

08/01/2003

Q. We expect our bank tellers to be at their workstations and ready to open at 9:15 a.m. Should the tellers punch in before or after they go to the safe and get their money? —L.S., Michigan

Which posters to post?

08/01/2003

Q. We’ve received differing information on exactly what notices we’re legally supposed to post in our office. Where can I find a reliable listing? —W.I., New York

Take extra anti-harassment steps with younger workers

08/01/2003
Issue: Courts may hold your harassment-prevention efforts to a higher standard when young workers are involved.
Risk: Big court judgments, ugly PR and damaged morale …

Ease bumpy workplace re-entry for returning reservists

08/01/2003
Issue: Reservists returning from war create special challenges for your work force and your organization.
Risk: Loss of productivity and distractions among staff; reservists may face challenges at work and …

If workers’ ‘free speech’ threatens others, you can ban it

08/01/2003
Issue: Employees wrongly believe the First Amendment protects their comments at work.
Risk: You don’t need to put up with employees who claim their harassment or bias is just “free …

Indefinite leave is not a ‘reasonable accommodation’

08/01/2003
Issue: How long must you accommodate medical-related leaves of absence?
Benefit: Court rulings give you legal backing to draw a line in the calendar.
Action: Don’t let employees …

When must you pay for employees’ ‘on-call’ time?

08/01/2003
Issue: Many employers trip over the issue of when to pay on-call workers.
Risk: One mistake can result in big damages, forcing you to pay several workers for years of …