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Employment Law

Consider ADA if sick worker needs more leave

03/20/2013
Employees who are temporarily unable to perform their jobs because of a disability are entitled to reasonable ADA accommodations. You’ll want to think about starting the interactive accommodations process as soon as a potentially disabled employee asks for more than the usual amount of leave.

Retaliation: Your #1 risk in job-bias lawsuits

03/19/2013
Supervisors in your organization probably know it’s illegal to discriminate based on race, age, sex, religion or disability. But apparently far fewer realize those same federal laws also make it illegal to retaliate against people for voicing complaints about such discrimination.

Does time in alcohol rehab count for FMLA leave?

03/18/2013
Q. If an employee is admitted to a nonmedical facility for alcohol addiction, can this leave qualify under the FMLA? If so, what documentation is acceptable? Can a letter from the facility be substituted for medical documentation?

What could get in the way of a settlement that prevents all possible future claims?

03/15/2013
Q. We are entering into a settlement agreement with a former employee with whom we have had lots of issues over 10 years. We want assurances that he will not come back with any further claims. Can a single release cover every type of legal claim?

Is our employee entitled to take FMLA leave so she can try out a new job?

03/15/2013
Q. The minor child of one of our employees has a disability. She was approved to be his personal care attendant and requested FMLA leave to see if she would like to do this as a job going forward … I know FMLA is available to care for a child, but can she use FMLA as a way of trying out a new job?

Can we require a release of legal claims in exchange for severance pay?

03/15/2013
Q. We have to let an employee go because we are overstaffed. In the past, we have given one week of severance pay for every year of employment. We would like to start requiring those who accept severance to sign a waiver. Can we? Do we have to pay more?

Weigh pros and cons when considering mandatory arbitration

03/15/2013
Just because employers can compel arbitration doesn’t necessarily mean that they should. There are pros and cons to such agreements that em­­ployers should weigh carefully before committing to either ap­­proach.

Percentage of union workers continues its long slide

03/15/2013

Unions represent an ever-shrinking slice of U.S. employees, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Only 11.3% of workers were unionized in 2012, down from 11.8% in 2011. In 1981, 20.1% of American workers belonged to a union. Several factors have contributed to the decline.

Calling tactic ‘blackmail’ isn’t necessarily defamation

03/15/2013
Publicly calling an innocent person a criminal can lead to a defamation lawsuit. But what if, during court proceedings, you call a lawsuit a form of blackmail? Is that defamation?

Quest for ‘new blood’ could bleed bank account if it results in huge punitive damages award

03/15/2013
If you place an older worker who has complained about age discrimination on a performance improvement plan  that is essentially impossible to complete, watch out! You’re setting yourself up to pay out huge punitive damages—even if the employee winds up winning just a modest retaliation verdict.