• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Employment Law

Paying workers with debit cards isn’t as easy as it seems

10/10/2013
More employers are pushing their workers to receive pay via debit cards. But not all employees want to be paid that way—and the law is often on their side.

The NLRB invalidates employer’s confidentiality rule

10/10/2013
Employers have long believed that they could restrict access to information about wages and benefits so employees couldn’t discuss pay rates, raises and so on. If that’s the case at your workplace, check with your attorney. The prohibition may run afoul of the NLRA, which covers the right to unionize.

Merrill Lynch agrees to settle race bias suit for $160M

10/10/2013
Merrill Lynch will pay $160 million to 1,200 black brokers who have worked for the Wall Street giant since 2001. The plaintiffs’ attorneys alleged that Merrill Lynch (now owned by Bank of America) engaged in “systemic” discrimination.

Bronx KFC turns away veteran with service dog

10/10/2013
A manager and an employee at a Bronx Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant are being sued after they told a disabled Iraqi war veteran he had to leave because he had a dog with him. The vet tried to explain that his dog, named Valor, was a service animal.

Boss expresses obvious bias? That’s a firing offense

10/10/2013
When a supervisor expresses clear illegal bias, fire her. Otherwise, her attitude may taint any subsequent termination decisions involving members of the protected class the manager harbors resentment about.

Retaliation after 4 years have gone by? Yes, in some cases

10/10/2013
Don’t ignore applicants who have filed prior EEOC complaints against your organization. Give them a fair opportunity to compete for jobs.

ADA: Making accommodations doesn’t mean you accept that employee is disabled

10/10/2013
Consider this when deciding whether to offer a simple and cheap accommodation to an employee who claims he’s disabled: Offering help doesn’t mean you accept that he’s disabled. You can still challenge his status under the ADA if he sues.

Mere petty behavior? Don’t sweat bias suit

10/10/2013
Employees sue over the most trivial workplace incidents. Fortunately, courts have more important things to do than soothe hurt feelings. Busy judges are quickly dismissing cases that are based on nothing more than a few petty incidents.

Timeout! Don’t let sports analogies penalize you in court

10/10/2013

As football season heats up, we pause today to recognize all the football-related expressions in the workplace. We ask employees to “quarterback” a project. We develop a “game plan” for the big meeting. We praise workers who are “on the ball.” But as a new court ruling shows, supervisors who misuse sports analogies at work could find themselves benched in a federal courtroom …

Firing for ‘dishonesty’? Offer specifics about what happened

10/09/2013
Like most employers, you probably have general rules about what constitutes a firing offense—and “dishonesty” is probably on the list of no-no’s. It’s a vague term, subject to interpretation. That’s a good reason to make your disciplinary records specific.