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Employment Law

Long Island insurance firm settles age bias claim for $300,000

06/09/2014
PJP Health will pay three f­ormer employees $300,000 to settle charges it harassed, fired and retaliated against the workers.

For wage litigation, no disguising common ownership

06/09/2014
Setting up several different corporations to run related enterprises won’t insulate the businesses from liability for wage-and-hour claims if the interrelationship is close.

Act fast on word of supervisor harassment

06/09/2014
Here’s a powerful reminder that when a supervisor is the harasser, prompt action can still save the day—as long as the harassed employee hasn’t yet been demoted, fired or otherwise substantially harmed.

A few isolated, annoying comments don’t create a hostile work environment

06/09/2014
Disabled employees are entitled to a workplace that’s free of hostility or harassment because of a disability. But that doesn’t mean that a few isolated comments are enough to create a hostile work environment.

Retaliation rule: Would ‘reasonable employee’ have been dissuaded from complaining?

06/09/2014
Employers can’t retaliate against employees for complaining about alleged discrimination or harassment. But before something is considered retaliatory, it is measured by whether a reasonable employee would find the alleged retaliation severe enough to have dissuaded him from complaining in the first place.

Limit requests for employees to prove religious need to be exempt from grooming code

06/09/2014

Before accommodating certain dress practices, employers can ask for some kind of proof of the religious custom that demands an exception—usually a letter from the employee explaining the practice and stating that he or she adheres to it. Once that letter is on file, however, employers should be careful about again demanding that the employee explain the practice or produce evidence of its validity.

TGI Fridays served with class action in N.Y. court

06/09/2014
Hospitality giant Carlson Restaurants faces a class-action suit alleging numerous Fair Labor Standards Act violations at the TGI Fridays casual dining chain.

Harsh criticism alone isn’t discrimination

06/09/2014
Few workplaces are perfect, and it’s the rare supervisors who has never uttered an angry word. But some employees are too sensitive to criticism. While yelling and screaming may be uncomfortable, it usually doesn’t reach the level required for a court to conclude that it’s hostile.

Abused employee: Give her FMLA or let her go?

06/06/2014
Q. An abusive boyfriend sent nude photos of one of our employees to other employees. We’ve deleted everything from our server and blocked his email. But now we have complaints from other employees that we should have fired the employee. We did not. In fact, we let her take FMLA leave due to the depression she suffered. How should we handle these co-worker complaints?

Unwritten rules: Are your supervisors quietly encouraging off-the-clock work?

06/05/2014

Many employers think that simply writing a policy prohibiting off-the-clock work and unapproved overtime will protect them from overtime claims by hourly employees who work beyond their shifts. But courts won’t be swayed by an employer’s “we told them not to work” assertion.