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Employment Law

Don’t set automatic deadline for workers returning from disability leave.

10/01/2001
Make sure your medical leave policy doesn’t automatically terminate employees after a certain number of days. Blood Systems Inc. recently agreed to pay 23 employees a total of $650,000 after the …

Heterosexuals also protected.

10/01/2001
A secretary for the Metropolitan Opera’s stage director filed a discrimination suit, saying her boss subjected her to a hostile environment and fired her because she isn’t a homosexual. The New …

Be vigilant against bias in wake of terrorist attacks

10/01/2001
Following the attacks on Sept. 11, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is urging employers to guard against harassment of Arab-American and Muslim workers.
It wants companies to:
…

EEOC rewriting rules on retiree health benefits

10/01/2001
The U.S. Equal Employment Oppor-tunity Commission (EEOC) is taking a fresh look at age discrimination in retiree health benefit plans. The commission rescinded its policy that had said employer plans …

Beware of sick leave policies that allow pay reduction of exempt

10/01/2001
To protect employee exemptions from overtime, make sure your sick leave policy defines which classifications would not be subject to pay deductions. In 1997, the U.S. Supreme Court said employees …

Giving a bonus can cost you in discrimination case

10/01/2001
Lisa Russell was rated “excellent” and received a bonus of $807. So what’s her gripe? An African-American co-worker received a higher rating of “outstanding” and a bonus of $1,355. Russell, who …

Workers feel threatened …?

10/01/2001
Nearly half of black workers say they have experienced workplace discrimination, and nearly a quarter of women employees say they have been sexually harassed on the job, according to a new …

Sweeten Deal to Retain Worker After Training

10/01/2001

Q. We just covered the entire cost for an employee to complete nurses’ aide training. We intended to draw up an agreement before the training so that this employee would be available to our business for six months before she could seek other employment, but we failed to discuss the agreement before the training. Can we have her sign such an agreement now? —C.E., Ohio

Weigh Cost Before Denying Accommodation Request

10/01/2001

Q. An employee we hired a couple weeks ago through a temporary agency (he is on their payroll) has just told us that he is Muslim and can’t work on Fridays. During the interview, he was asked whether anything would prohibit his working a proposed schedule that specifically included Fridays for the next 30 days. He said no, and this is in writing. He did not mention this problem until he had already been working for a week or two. Can we let this guy go? —M.R., South Carolina

Raise Doesn’t Prove Employee Was Succeeding

10/01/2001

Q. About three months ago, we gave a marginal employee who is pregnant a pay raise in hopes that it would improve her job performance by boosting her morale. Unfortunately, her performance has gone from bad to worse. If we fire her for poor performance, can she successfully argue that the recent raise indicates that she was performing well and that our reason for terminating her was discriminatory? —H.K., Illinois