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Employment Law

Court: Vague EEOC complaint isn’t protected

06/26/2013
By now, you no doubt understand the dangers of retaliating against someone who has filed an EEOC discrimination complaint. Some workers think all it takes to stop legitimate discipline is to file with the agency. But courts are losing patience with workers who use this tactic.

Create–and enforce–policy requiring honesty

06/26/2013
Employers want honest ­employees who don’t lie, cheat or steal. To encourage honesty, be sure your company has a policy requiring honesty. That way, it’s easy to terminate someone you believe has acted dishonorably.

New psych manual could open floodgates for disability cases

06/26/2013

The new version of the main psychiatric diagnosis manual, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, loosens the criteria for defining some rather ­ordinary conditions as mental illnesses. This could lead to many more employees claiming job-protected disabilities covered under the ADA.

Fair investigation all that’s needed to support discharge

06/24/2013
Employers don’t have to be absolutely right before disciplining an employee. They merely have to investigate first.

How risky is it to fire a pregnant employee having attendance problems?

06/20/2013
Q. An employee has been with us for less than a year, so she isn’t yet eligible for FMLA leave. Last month she missed five days because her child had a high fever. She used available PTO for the time off. Last week, she was no-call/no-show for three days. She told the supervisor she had been hospitalized because of pregnancy complications and didn’t have access to a phone and was sedated. She provided a doctor’s note that released her to return to work, but stated that she may need to be put on bed rest. The supervisor would like to terminate her because we can’t afford to continue employing someone so unreliable. Can we do this?

What happens next? An alleged harassment victim doesn’t want to come forward

06/20/2013
Q. An employee confided in a regional VP that their boss had invited a co-worker to have a drink in his hotel room while they were attending a conference. When she declined, the boss became angry. Now, the boss has reported the co-worker for leaving work early without permission. The employee doesn’t want anything bad to happen to her friend, but she can’t let this go without telling someone. The co-worker refuses to come forward herself out of fear of retaliation. What should we do?

New law permits veteran preferences in private sector

06/20/2013
Public employers in Minnesota have been able to give employment preference to veterans for years, but private employers that favor hiring vets have always run the risk of facing discrimination claims from other applicants who lack military experience. A new state law gives some limited protection to private employers with hiring policies that give preference to hiring veterans.

Court allows class action in outside sales case

06/20/2013
A federal court has authorized a group of employees who claim they were misclassified as exempt outside sales employees to bring a collective action alleging unpaid wages.

Transferring harasser won’t necessarily stop harassment

06/20/2013

Recent, highly publicized sexual abuse scandals have shown that hiding the problem by simply transferring abusers often doesn’t work. The same is true for supervisors with a penchant for sexual harassment. Problems often crop up again, despite a “fresh start.”

Undocumented workers’ best witnesses may be other undocumented workers

06/20/2013
Former employees who are un­­documented or illegal immigrants and claim they have been discriminated against based on their country of origin can sue, even if the em­­­­ployees they are comparing themselves to are also undocumented.