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Employment Law

DOL: Horsham steakhouse gauchos got gouged

12/18/2012
The parent company of na’Brasa Brazilian Steakhouse in Horsham will pay $110,369 to 42 workers following a DOL investigation that concluded the restaurant misclassified servers in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Feel free to adjust pay to suit local standards

12/18/2012
Don’t let pay concerns get in the way of a transfer. Feel free to adjust compensation to account for different market rates in different locations. It’s perfectly fine to adjust salaries to suit local standards.

Before you’re sued: Check for bias patterns

12/18/2012

Do you regularly audit your HR records for signs of hidden bias? Would you know if members of a particular protected class were getting fewer promotions than others? The start of the new year is the perfect time to identify and correct any problems.

Can we request doctor (not nurse) sign FMLA form?

12/17/2012

Q. Do we have to take a nurse’s signature on an FMLA certification? I’d like to have an actual doctor sign the forms so I am sure someone actually saw the employee.

EEOC lawsuits are down, but is that good news?

12/14/2012
The EEOC filed only 122 discrimination lawsuits against employers in fiscal year 2012, less than half the number it did in 2011, says the Seyfarth Shaw law firm. They attributed the decline to a series of court rulings in which the EEOC was slapped down for “shooting first, aiming later.”

FLSA personal liability hits some, misses others

12/13/2012
The Fair Labor Standards Act is expansive enough to classify individual managers and corporate officers as employers. Upshot: You can be individually liable for FLSA violations. Key: the amount and degree of operational control you have over employees.

What are the rules on hands-free cellphone use for commercial drivers?

12/12/2012

Q. We have several employees who drive commercial motor vehicles. We have heard that there are rules about the use of cellphones by those drivers. How do those rules affect us?

Investigating customer complaint: How can we access our sales rep’s cellphone records?

12/12/2012

Q. We recently received a complaint that one of our sales reps had sent false emails and texts about one customer to another. We determined that the emails and texts have been sent from the cell­­phone we provide to the sales rep. We asked the service provider to send us copies of the emails and text messages. The service provider refused our request. Why can’t we get that information?

Do your policies comply with the National Labor Relations Act?

12/12/2012
Many employers assume that the National Labor Relations Ac, enacted over 70 years ago, applies only to unionized workplaces and employees who belong to unions. Not true. In fact, the NLRA covers almost all employees and private employers.

Cliffs Natural Resources, Steelworkers sign pact

12/12/2012
Cliffs Natural Resources and the United Steelworkers have ratified a 37-month labor agreement, retro­active to Sept. 1, 2012. The agreement provides a 4.5% wage increase with an additional bonus of $4,250 per employee.