Employment Law

Negligent employer liable for 2 years of back pay, not 3

10/25/2023

The Fair Labor Standards Act has two measures of liability: Pay two years of back pay if your failure to pay minimum wages or overtime wasn’t willful, or three years if it was. A mistaken failure to pay overtime due to negligence isn’t the same thing as willfully failing to pay employees, so an employer’s liability for back pay was limited to two years, a federal appeals court explained.

National-origin discrimination: What you need to know

10/25/2023

The rapidly increasing diversity of the U.S. workforce requires all managers to be aware of their legal responsibilities when dealing with applicants and employees from different races, ethnic groups and religions.

Prepare to comply: Pregnant Workers Fairness Act regulations due soon

10/23/2023

The EEOC is gearing up to begin enforcement of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. The law, enacted in December 2022, requires employers to reasonably accommodate a worker’s limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, unless the accommodation will cause the employer an undue hardship.

ADA: Regularly review essential job functions

10/23/2023

Under the ADA, disabled workers are entitled to reasonable accommodations that allow them to perform the essential functions of their jobs. But what is an essential function? That’s almost entirely up to the employer to determine. Courts will almost always defer to the employer’s criteria as long as the employer identifies what it considers essential in job postings and job descriptions.

How to accommodate employees affected by sleep disorders, insomnia

10/19/2023

Together with insomnia, many sleep disorders may qualify as both disabilities under the ADA (warranting reasonable accommodations) and serious health conditions under the FMLA (entitling employees to take blocks of leave or intermittent leave for treatment or rest)

ADA: Make medical inquiries after extending job offer

10/19/2023

The ADA bars employers from asking applicants about their medical histories before they are hired. However, it allows those inquiries after the employer has offered the job—and employees must be honest when they answer.

Think twice before demanding proof an employee’s religion requires accommodation

10/16/2023

Thanks to a series of employee-friendly court decisions, workers now have a far easier time winning lawsuits alleging their employers failed to accommodate their religious beliefs and practices. Employers are greatly limited in how far they can go to require employees to prove their religious beliefs and practices require accommodations.

Prepare now for possible strikes and walkouts

10/16/2023

Across industries and across the nation, workers are voicing their displeasure with poor working conditions and low pay at a time when prices are rising and corporate profits remain high. The issues prompting strikes vary: demands for higher pay, concerns over two-tiered pay systems and complaints about being forced to return to in-person work and inadequate staffing.

HR needs to know: New guidance explains how EEOC plans to enforce anti-harassment law

10/13/2023

The EEOC has released proposed guidance explaining how its investigators and lawyers should handle workplace harassment claims the commission receives. That means it’s critical for smart HR pros, employers and their attorneys to get familiar with it, too.

With war breaking out in the Middle East, beware harassment based on religion here in the U.S.

10/11/2023

The Oct. 7 attack by Hamas against Israel has raised the possibility that antisemitism and other forms of religious bias could break out here in the United States. As an employer, you have a responsibility to ensure your workplace remains free of hate speech and actions motivated by hate.