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Employment Law

How to change your work rules without courting a lawsuit

12/16/2015
It’s management’s prerogative to change workplace policies and rules. Courts don’t like to second-guess employers for managing their businesses as best they see fit. But how (and how consistently) you change those rules can make a big difference in your exposure to legal liability.

Reprimand may be sufficient if harassment was mild and unlikely to occur again

12/16/2015
You don’t necessarily have to fire someone who committed a single act of sexual harassment—as long as the conduct wasn’t truly outrageous or continuous. Sometimes, it’s fine to issue a reprimand and then monitor the employee to ensure the situation doesn’t recur.

Age-discrimination worry: Is it legal to ask 63-year-old about his retirement plans?

12/16/2015
Q. We have a long-time employee who will accumulate the necessary points under our retirement program to become fully vested in his retirement benefit on his next birthday, which is in April. At that time, the employee will be 63 years old. He has not talked about how long he intends to continue working or his plan for retirement with our management team, which is concerned about having enough time to transition the employee’s work in the event that he abruptly retires. Can we ask this employee about his retirement plans without creating a claim of age discrimination? (Of course, the employee is also having performance issues, and management would prefer that he retire upon vesting in the retirement program.)

Three years is the outer limit to sue

12/16/2015
If you haven’t been served with a lawsuit within three years of firing a worker, she generally won’t be able to sue you later. Most state law claims have a strict three-year statute of limitation for claims.

All jobs–even short-term, temp assignments–are subject to anti-discrimination laws

12/16/2015
Someone who comes into Minnesota and hires workers for a short, temporary job still has to abide by employment laws. The employer doesn’t escape liability based on the temporary nature of the employment.

Systemic discrimination at laundry company? OFCCP says yes

12/16/2015
G&K Services, which operates laundry facilities under federal contract in seven states, has agreed to pay more than $1.8 million and reform its hiring systems after the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs cited it for systemic discrimination.

Document every ADA accommodation offer

12/16/2015
Sometimes, an employee doesn’t want to ask for disability accommodations, even though it would help him perform his job. Regardless, document your offer to accommodate. That could be a legal life-saver if you ever have to terminate the employee for poor performance.

In harassment cases, treat all offenders alike

12/14/2015
You need a clear process for handling harassment complaints, following the same procedures for every accused harasser. Otherwise, you could end up facing a discrimination lawsuit.

Who gets the promotion? 6 steps to smart and legal decisions

12/14/2015
If your organization is typical, it’s relying more heavily on internal promotions. And as more employees compete for coveted promotion, we’re seeing a corresponding rise in failure-to-promote lawsuits. To ensure a discrimination-proof selection process, you should:

Is collecting trash a ‘man’s job’? Ask the EEOC

12/13/2015
A Louisiana staffing firm is facing an EEOC sex discrimination lawsuit accusing it of failing to hire at least 34 women—all qualified—who sought temporary positions as residential trash collectors in Harrison County, Missis­­sippi.