• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Employment Law

Follow 3 rules of pre-hire medical tests: Timing, privacy, job descriptions

02/24/2016
If you perform pre-employment medical tests on applicants, take your cues from the following case to avoid running afoul of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Mere threat of pay cut isn’t reason enough to sue

02/24/2016
Employees are expected to have relatively thick skins when it comes to how their bosses treat them. They aren’t supposed to overreact and quit at the drop of a hat.

Technology bytes; the FLSA bites harder

02/22/2016
Odds are your company has a website. If you’re thinking of enhancing that website, say, with employee-written blogs, be careful. A federal trial court provided a stark reminder of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s rule that nonexempts can’t volunteer any time to their employers when it ruled that a nonexempt who volunteered to write a company blog can pursue her claim for unpaid overtime.

Discrimination claims rise in 2015, disability cases see biggest jump

02/20/2016
The EEOC handled 89,385 charges of workplace discrimination in fiscal year 2015.

Scalia’s death could turn union dues case

02/16/2016

The death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on Feb. 13 could affect the outcome of close cases that have already been argued but not yet decided, including one that could determine the future of government employees’ unions.

Harassment occurring now? Ensure safety first

02/16/2016
When an employee reports sexual harassment that may place her in physical danger, act immediately. Do everything you can to keep the complaining employee safe. Only then should you start investigating.

FMLA: Notice Requirements

02/15/2016
HR Law 101: Employees who want to take FMLA leave must give their employer 30-day advance notice when the need for leave is foreseeable. Employers should respond in writing within five business days to their leave requests …

Pregnancy protections expand, as do compliance obligations

02/12/2016
Federal and state laws protecting pregnant employees and prospective new parents continue to expand at a rapid rate.

Labor relations sour at American Crystal Sugar

02/12/2016

American Crystal Sugar in Moorehead fired a warning shot across the bow of the union that represents employees when it announced in November that it wanted to begin contract negotiations early.

Court upholds union for personal care assistants

02/12/2016
A federal appeals court has dismissed a lawsuit challenging a Minnesota law that allows personal care assistants to unionize. A business group representing for-profit companies that provide in-home care filed the lawsuit.