Employment Law

Let the pros in HR handle that! Bosses shouldn’t meddle in FMLA, ADA issues

10/21/2015

Some managers think they can handle employees with disabilities on their own. That’s never a good idea. Someone in HR should oversee every aspect of disability accommodations. Leave management out of it—other than requiring every manager and supervisor to report immediately potential disabilities to HR. Otherwise, things can go badly wrong, as they did in one recent case.

Fancy title doesn’t make employee exempt

10/21/2015

What you call an employee doesn’t determine whether she’s properly classified as exempt. What matters are her duties. If they are routine and menial in nature, she’s not exempt, even if she holds a lofty title within the organization.

Don’t let FMLA stop planned staffing changes

10/20/2015

Normally, it’s risky to fire someone who has just taken FMLA leave. However, you can terminate such an employee—if you can show that changes were underway before FMLA leave began.

Does your parental leave policy discriminate?

10/19/2015

In several recent lawsuits, courts have ruled that parental leave policies thought to generously provide time off for new mothers were actually discriminatory—against new fathers.

The 5 reasons employees can take FMLA leave

10/19/2015

Except in the case of leave to care for a covered service member with a serious injury or illness, U.S. Department of Labor regulations say an eligible employee’s FMLA leave entitlement is limited to a total of 12 workweeks of leave during any 12-month period for any one, or more, of the following reasons.

NLRB rejects employer contention of no union support

10/16/2015

Anderson Lumber Co. in Sacramento has lost its bid to decertify Local 150 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters as its employees’ bargaining unit. The controversy arose in 2012 when the two sides were negotiating a successor agreement. The Teamsters have represented Anderson Lumber employees for 50 years.

Protect against breach-of-contract claims

10/16/2015

Precise language in a settlement agreement helped an employer survive a breach-of-contract lawsuit filed by a former employee.

New push to mandate predictable schedules

10/15/2015

While there are no federal rules that require employers to tell employees well in advance what their schedules will be, some states are beginning to change that.

Grooming standards prompt EEOC class-action suit against UPS

10/15/2015

The EEOC has filed a class-action suit on behalf of several men of various religions who have allegedly been forced to shave or cut their hair to obtain jobs at UPS.

Do help desk staffers qualify for the FLSA’s computer professional exemption?

10/13/2015

Q. My company is switching to a new technology platform that will require many hours’ worth of IT support at the help desk level. The job must be done quickly, but we don’t have the resources to hire new staff. I’ve heard “computer people” are exempt from overtime requirements. Is that true?