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Employment Law

New EEOC stats: Charges down, retaliation up

02/11/2014
The EEOC received 93,727 charges in fiscal year 2013, a 5.7% decrease compared to 2012. However, retaliation charges grew for the eighth straight year.

Employee Handbooks: Overview

02/10/2014

HR Law 101: Employee handbooks are extremely valuable business tools. But if you’re not careful, your handbook could land you in court. In particular, employees are increasingly suing for wrongful discharge, pointing to a handbook they claim guaranteed them employment indefinitely …

High Court: CBA can address ‘donning, doffing’

02/07/2014
The U.S. Supreme Court handed employers a major victory on Jan. 27 when it ruled unanimously that workers need not be paid to change into and out of protective gear if a union contract has already specified that the time isn’t compensable.

Smell alcohol on employee’s breath? What to do now

02/07/2014
When you smell alcohol on an employee, or receive reports that an employee smells of alcohol, you need to act fast to protect everyone’s safety—but not so fast that you mishandle the situation. Follow these guidelines.

When porn is ‘research,’ First Amendment may apply

02/07/2014
Some professions in the public sector may benefit from constitutional protections more than other employees.

Warn bosses: Their texts could be used as evidence

02/06/2014
When a woman sued her employer for sex bias, her lawyer asked the company to produce text messages sent between bosses discussing her salary. A court ruled they must be turned over.

Austin P.D. reassignments: Culture change or bias

02/05/2014
The Austin Police Department last year reassigned 19 supervisors from its organized crime division in what officials term an attempt to “change culture.” Thirteen reassigned officers see the move differently, and they are fighting it.

Frito-Lay seeks end to OFCCP discrimination probe

02/05/2014

In 2007, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs selected Frito-Lay for an audit by issuing a scheduling letter. Two years later, the agency re­­quested hiring data for January 2008 to October 2009 claiming it had found a “statistically significant” difference in its hiring rate for women at its Dallas facility. Frito-Lay refused, claiming the scheduling letter did not authorize the new data’s release.

Firing during FMLA leave may mean personal liability

02/05/2014
In a bizarre legal twist, the 5th Cir­­cuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a supervisor who was sued over his decision to terminate an employee for taking FMLA leave may be personally liable for terminating her—despite the fact that the public employer may be immune to an FMLA lawsuit.

There’s one foolproof way to win discrimination lawsuits

02/05/2014
When you evaluate whether a former employee may sue you successfully over her discharge, consider this: If you replaced her with someone belonging to the same protected class, she’ll have a hard time winning a lawsuit that claims you were biased against her class.