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Employment Law

Fighting fire with fire: Is it wise to countersue?

05/22/2013

“Can’t we sue him for this?” That’s what many employers say after being hit with what they believe is a frivolous employee lawsuit. The First Amendment protects the rights of companies to seek such redress in court. But, in most cases, a counterclaim is not a smart move.

Can we change full-timer to part-time after maternity leave?

05/20/2013
Q. We are a small company and have seven employees. One of our employees recently went out on a leave of absence for pregnancy. During that time, we hired a replacement worker to do the same job. The replacement only worked part time, but was still able to complete work that our employee did full time. When our employee returns to work, we would like to change her job status from full time to part time. Is this legal?

Supreme Court rules FLSA class-action properly dismissed as moot

05/20/2013

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a class-action lawsuit filed by a worker under the FLSA was properly dismissed because the ­worker’s suit was moot when she failed to accept an offer of judgment from her employer.

Disability-bias suit seeks promotional video captions

05/20/2013
A hearing-impaired Los Angeles man is suing the Bed Bath & Beyond retail chain, complaining that it fails to provide captions or transcripts for the promotional videos that play in the aisles of its stores.

The latest word on seats from the appeals court bench

05/20/2013
A recent court decision on the availability of seating at work suggests the best approach may be to just offer everyone a chair. It seems employees sue without actually requesting a place to sit down.

Manager ‘smirks’ about employee’s situation? That’s not enough to justify a lawsuit

05/20/2013
Here’s some good news: An employee’s interpretation of a manager’s facial expressions isn’t enough for a successful lawsuit. A smirk isn’t evidence.

OK to terminate disabled employee if effort to accommodate is unsuccessful

05/20/2013
Employers are supposed to reasonably accommodate an employee’s disability so he or she can perform the essential functions of the job. Some workers take that as a guarantee that—should they develop a disability—their employer must find a position the employee can do. That’s simply not the case.

Central Valley fast food firm forks over $100K for bias

05/20/2013
Merced-based Alia Corp., which owns 20 McDonald’s franchises in the Cen­­­­tral Valley, will pay $100,000 to settle a former supervisor’s disability discrimination suit. The man claimed Alia illegally demoted him because of his intellectual disability.

Leave arbitration agreement out of handbook

05/20/2013

Like most employers, your em­­ployee handbook probably in­­cludes a disclaimer informing employees that nothing in the document creates a contract. But what if your handbook also includes a clause that says employee disputes must go to arbitration instead of state or federal court, where a run­­away jury might bankrupt the company? Bad idea.

Wage-and-hour lawsuits up sharply

05/20/2013
Employees filed a record 7,764 federal wage-and-hour lawsuits between April 1, 2012, and March 31, 2013, a 10% jump over the previous year, according to the Federal Judicial Center. Last year, FLSA lawsuits rose only 1%.