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Employment Law

Corning nursing home settles GINA, ADA lawsuit

02/18/2014
The Founders Pavilion nursing home in Corning will pay $370,000 to settle charges it violated the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act and the ADA. The problem: The facility asked job applicants about their family medical histories during post-offer, pre-employment physical examinations.

Bad bosses? Probably. Were they racist? No

02/18/2014
A federal judge has dismissed race discrimination charges against the New York Post newspaper. While the judge agreed that two black reporters who sued experienced “a raucous work environment” in which bosses “yelled and cursed at reporters,” they were treated no differently than co-workers who aren’t black.

Harassment over interracial relationship spells big trouble

02/18/2014
Don’t let biased notions of who can marry whom poison your workplace.

Don’t let manager’s attitude taint new mom’s career

02/18/2014
Some managers don’t think mothers-to-be are serious about their work. That attitude can spell trouble for an employee’s future opportunities in subtle ways. Don’t let it happen.

EEOC can’t sue over nationwide discrimination unless it first investigates

02/18/2014

Employers with locations in multiple states that find themselves responding to an EEOC discrimination complaint sometimes fear the agency won’t limit its investigation to a single complaint or two. Instead, they worry the commission might conduct a wide-ranging investigation and sue over so-called “pattern-and-practices” discrimination, alleging companywide bias.

Obama: Higher minimum for fed contractors’ employees

02/18/2014
President Obama plans to issue an executive order requiring federal contractors to pay employees at least $10.10 per hour, starting in 2015.

It’s just a kiss … sealed with a lawsuit

02/18/2014
Even a single incident of overt sexual harassment can become the basis for a sex discrimination and sexual harassment lawsuit. Warn all supervisors and managers: Keep your hands off your subordinates—and your lips, too!

NLRB releases ‘quickie union election’ rule

02/17/2014
To the chagrin of U.S. employers, new rules designed to speed up union elections have been finalized by the National Labor Relations Board …

Consistency is key when firing for performance

02/14/2014
Poor performance sounds like a legitimate reason to fire someone. That doesn’t mean the employee won’t sue. If that happens, you must be prepared to show that other em­­ployees who held the same position and had similar performance issues were also terminated. If not, you had better be able to explain why.

Latest stats: Union membership continued to stagnate in 2013

02/13/2014

In 2013, the union membership rate was 11.3%, the same as in 2012, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported. That’s about 14.5 million workers. Union membership has been declining for decades.