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Employment Law

With handbook warning, it’s OK to deviate from policy

01/05/2015
It’s OK to occasionally deviate from the disciplinary process outlined in your employee handbook—if you leave yourself some wiggle room by explaining that some infractions are so serious they warrant immediate discharge.

Investigate all bias claims, even reverse discrimination

01/05/2015
It may not be common, but reverse discrimination does occur. Ignore it at your peril.

Court refuses to punish employer for scrubbing employee’s cellphone

01/05/2015
A federal court has dismissed a former employee’s claim under the Electronics Communication Privacy Act alleging that his employer illegally destroyed valuable information when it remotely wiped clean his iPhone after he resigned. That’s good news for IT departments that must protect company information that might be stored on former employees’ smartphones.

Courts reluctant to make losing employees pay for employers’ legal fees

01/05/2015

It can be frustrating to have to defend your organization against what you consider frivolous claims. Unfortunately, that’s just another cost of doing business. As the following case shows, even when you win the case and thought it should never have been filed, you probably won’t persuade a court to penalize the employee by having him pay your legal fees.

Discrimination based on transgender status still not illegal in Texas

01/05/2015

While there is growing acceptance of same-sex marriage and homosexuality in the United States, being transgender is still not a protected status under federal law. That may be changing in the coming years, but there is as yet nothing preventing a Texas employer from discriminating against a transgender applicant or employee, as the following case shows.

Austin rates as one of best cities for LGBT rights

01/05/2015
Austin scored a perfect 100 in the Human Rights Campaign’s annual rankings of American cities with local laws and policies that protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from discrimination.

Never skip ADA accommodations process

01/05/2015

When an employee returns to work with restrictions after an illness, he or she may be disabled and entitled to reasonable ADA accommodations. Don’t make a mistake and skip the interactive accommodations process, even if you believe no accommodation is possible. You are still required to consider the possibility before taking action like terminating the employee.

Never ignore lawyer’s advice on classification

01/05/2015
If your lawyers have told you that you have misclassified an employee, ignoring that advice can be used against you. The opinion becomes evidence of a willful violation, making the employee eligible for the bonus payment.

ERISA: Overview

01/05/2015

HR Law 101: The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) governs the administration of employee benefit plans and the rights of plan beneficiaries. While many tend to associate ERISA only with retirement benefits, the law covers many other areas …

Can you refuse leave for nonreligious church events?

01/04/2015
During Christmas and Hanuk­­kah, some of your employees may have requested time off to attend religious services—as federal law allows them to do. But what if an employee wanted to go to church not for a religious service, but for a holiday sing-along or some other church event. Can you legally say “no”—or would that be considered discrimination?