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Employment Law

Minimum wage wars move to local level

06/05/2015
Los Angeles is the latest municipality to stop waiting for federal or state action on minimum wage legislation. The L.A. City Council voted 14-1 to raise its current $9 an hour minimum wage to $15 by 2020, a move that will give a pay raise to half the city’s workforce.

Review policy after Supreme Court scarf ruling

06/05/2015
Consider amending your dress code policy in light of a June 1 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of the EEOC in a case that pitted fashion retailer Abercrombie & Fitch against an Oklahoma teenager who wasn’t hired after wearing a Muslim headscarf to a job interview.

OK to call employee who is on FMLA leave–just keep the conversation short and sweet

06/03/2015

Employees out on FMLA leave are supposed to be freed of their regular work responsibilities. They are on leave, after all. Some supervisors have taken this to mean that they may never call an employee who is out on FMLA leave to discuss work-related matters. That’s not entirely true.

Weigh prior discipline when deciding to fire

06/03/2015
Before you fire a worker for making a serious mistake, take into account his or her past disciplinary history and make it part of your decision-making process. That way, should the worker challenge the decision by claiming others outside his protected class were treated more leniently, you have that past discipline as support for a harsher punishment.

Old school: No ageist comments about training

06/03/2015

Remind managers and supervisors that all qualified employees, regardless of age, should be offered appropriate training. Telling older workers that they may not succeed can mean a big lawsuit loss later.

New DOL rules could blacklist fed contractors

06/02/2015
Current and prospective federal contractors that violate employment laws could be barred from doing business with Uncle Sam if new proposed rules from the Department of Labor go through.

More free lawyers may lead to more litigation

06/02/2015

Generally, only indigent defendants are entitled to a free lawyer to defend against serious criminal charges that may result in jail time. The practical result is that employers really don’t have to worry too much about wholly frivolous claims, since few attorneys will take such cases on a contingent fee basis. Recently, however, there has been a growing trend among judges to appoint free attorneys in employment cases.

NLRB: It’s OK to F-bomb the boss on Facebook

06/02/2015
The NLRB has ordered an employer to reinstate an employee who was fired for posting an obscenity-laden rant about his supervisor on Facebook.

Supreme Court backs EEOC in headscarf case

06/01/2015
The Court has ruled in favor of the EEOC in a case that pitted fashion retailer Abercrombie & Fitch against a teenager who wasn’t hired after wearing a Muslim headscarf to a job interview.

Give lots of notice before changing FMLA rules

06/01/2015

Employees who need FMLA leave must notify their employers either 30 days before, if the need is foreseeable, or as soon as “practicable” if the need is unforeseeable. Thus, elective surgery requires 30 days’ notice, while emergency surgery does not. Lots of employers, however, have far less formal rules in place. Some allow a simple doctor’s note to stand in as a request for FMLA leave.