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Employment Law

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.

Instead of firing after FMLA and disability leave, consider reasonable accommodations

03/15/2013

Do you automatically terminate employees who aren’t ready to return to work after using up all available FMLA and short-term disability leave? If so, you may be asking for an ADA refusal-to-accommodate lawsuit. The better approach: Determine if reasonable accommodations might help the employee return to work despite lingering problems.

Whistle-blower isn’t doing her job? Feel free to discipline

03/15/2013
Here’s an important reminder when management gets nervous about terminating a so-called whistle-blower. Solid, legitimate reasons for discipline take precedence over protections to which whistle-blowers are entitled.

Clairvoyance not required to ID need for FMLA

03/15/2013

Under the FMLA regulations, if an employee is incapacitated, someone else can notify the employer, whose FMLA obligations are then triggered. But that doesn’t mean that a co-worker merely telling a supervisor that the employee is “sick” works as notification. Employers are entitled to better notice than that.

Don’t try to guess reasonable accommodations

03/15/2013
Employers have no obligation to try to anticipate if a disabled employee needs reasonable accommodations. It’s up to employees to ask for accommodations help.

FMLA issue: Can employee call in sick for her co-worker?

03/14/2013
Sometimes, employees are so sick they can’t even call into work. So, they have a friend or co-worker do it for them. But when this happens, an employee’s request for FMLA leave can get lost in the translation. Here’s how to correctly handle this old-school game of telephone.

Federal sequester raises issues for exempt employees

03/14/2013
Under the federal sequester, a federal contractor may be forced to rejigger its workforce through reduced hours or furloughs. The problem: Under the FLSA, exempts must receive a full week’s pay if they do any work during the week. You have three options.

Courts crack down on EEOC’s ‘fishing expedition’ tactics

03/12/2013

The EEOC has great power and considerable autonomy when investigating employers. But that doesn’t mean the commission has carte blanche to do whatever it wants. In fact, courts have recently issued rulings that place significant curbs on some EEOC practices.

Another lawsuit in state police Asian sex-trip scandal

03/12/2013
The Pennsylvania State Police sex-tourism scandal gripping Harrisburg just got even more complicated. Yet another trooper is suing the state, claiming he was passed over for a promotion after testifying in connection with the original lawsuit that blew the whistle on police officials who allegedly traveled to Asia to engage in sex.