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

Employment Law

Pennsylvania hospital becomes a ‘no nicotine’ employer

04/29/2015
On April 1, Holy Spirit Hospital in Camp Hill began refusing to hire anyone who tests positive for nicotine use.

Prepare for legal trouble when bosses play detective with employees on FMLA leave

04/29/2015
Train all supervisors about the FMLA. Instruct them to refer any perceived problems to HR. Direct supervisors should not, for example, conduct their own “investigations” into whether an employee is abusing intermittent FMLA leave by conducting surveillance or taking other intrusive steps. Doing so may net a lawsuit alleging interference with FMLA rights.

NLRB rules against Pennsylvania-American Water

04/29/2015
The National Labor Relations Board has ruled that Pennsylvania-American Water Co. violated the National Labor Relations Act when it disciplined two Pittsburgh-area workers for refusing to cross a picket line. The board also censured the company for removing a union letter from a bulletin board.

Ensure complaint doesn’t taint firing decision

04/29/2015

Employees who file discrimination complaints are protected from retaliation. When a complaint is closely followed by termination, it becomes easier for the fired employee to show the two were linked and that one caused the other. Smart employers cut this causal connection by making sure that whoever makes the termination decision wasn’t involved in the employee’s original complaint.

OK to pay more for different skills, duties

04/29/2015
Under the Equal Pay Act, men and women performing substantially similar jobs must be paid the same. But what exactly constitutes “substantially similar” jobs?

Pregnancy bias: Supreme Court creates a new legal framework

04/28/2015
The Supreme Court has ruled that a pregnant UPS employee who was denied a light-duty position is entitled to a new trial. The court’s framework for pregnancy discrimination cases allows employees who show that an employer policy that creates a “significant burden” for pregnant employees violates the Preg­­nancy Dis­­crimi­­na­­tion Act.

Sudden quit? Sort out why before panicking

04/28/2015
Good news if an employee isn’t satisfied with whatever you did to try to address a problem she raised: She can’t just quit in frustration and expect to win a lawsuit against you.

Johns Hopkins provides model for lactation rooms

04/27/2015

The Affordable Care Act requires employers of 50 or more to provide lactation rooms so nursing women can feed their babies or express breast milk. The rooms must be clean and private—and importantly, they can’t be restrooms. Johns Hopkins University and Health System decided not only to meet the law’s requirements, but exceed them. The result is a model that other employers may want to copy.

EEOC loses case based on ‘illegal’ claims releases

04/27/2015
The EEOC has lost an important test of a novel theory that could have changed how some severance agreements are structured. It wanted to forbid requiring workers to waive the right to sue if they were converted from employees to independent contractors.

Get the Most Out of Exit Interviews

04/25/2015
Login Email Address Password I forgot my password To continue reading this page, become an HR Specialist Premium Plus member today! Your subscription includes: Ask the Attorney: Answers to your HR legal questions Compliance Guidance: Access to 7,000 HR news articles, updated daily, sorted by state State-by-State: Summaries of HR laws in all 50 states […]