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Employment Law

AG announces partnership to combat misclassification

01/08/2014

Attorney General Eric T. Schneider­­man has signed a memorandum of understanding that allows his office to cooperate with both the federal and New York Departments of Labor to battle worker misclassification.

Manhattan clerk sues over ‘Burrito Face’ slur

01/08/2014
A former sales clerk at Manhattan’s Alexander McQueen boutique claims she was subjected to numerous slurs concerning her heritage while working at the upscale store.

One comment by boss doesn’t justify age bias claim

01/08/2014
Supervisors should avoid any age-related references, but don’t despair if you learn someone made such a comment—as long as nothing else points to age discrimination. Simply warn the boss to watch what he or she says in the future.

ADA: What to do when employee won’t cooperate

01/08/2014
The ADA says you must reasonably accommodate disabled employees. That requires substantial discussion with the employee to understand her condition and formulate a solution.

To include in training: zero tolerance for religious name-calling

01/08/2014
While most employees know it isn’t socially acceptable to use racial slurs, some may not realize that religion is an equally sensitive topic, especially for religions that have been targeted for abuse and worse for decades or even centuries. Why not eliminate potential litigation costs with solid education?

Here’s a no-brainer: No charts predicting when female workers will get pregnant

01/08/2014
A New York employer has learned the hard way that it shouldn’t make assumptions about ­mothers in the workplace—and certainly shouldn’t actively try to predict who may become pregnant and miss work.

Condé Nast ends internships

01/08/2014
Condé Nast, publisher of The New Yorker, Vogue, GQ and 26 other magazines, has stopped offering unpaid internships following legal fallout from 2012’s “Black Swan” lawsuit.

ADA accommodations too costly? Too bad!

01/08/2014
Don’t let cost-cutting measures derail ADA reasonable accommodations requests. Offering an accommodation may be far cheaper than losing a failure-to-accommodate lawsuit.

EEOC: Fewer bias claims in 2013, bigger bucks

01/08/2014

Charges of job discrimination traditionally spike during recessions. And that certainly happened during the Great Recession, as employee job-bias complaints filed with the EEOC reached all-time highs of more than 99,000 complaints in 2010, 2011 and 2012. However, an improving economy had employees in a less litigious mood during fiscal year 2013.

ADA: Mental Disabilities

01/08/2014

HR Law 101: A few years ago, the EEOC released guidelines that clarify employers’ responsibilities in applying the ADA to workers with psychiatric disabilities. The law protects persons with mental disabilities, and employers must reasonably accommodate them …