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Employment Law

Shut down demeaning name-calling ASAP–or else prepare to pay for your ‘tolerance’

08/21/2012
If you need an incentive to stop name-calling in the workplace, consider this: The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld a jury award of $70,000 for a supervisor’s repeated and demeaning use of the word “bitch” when speaking to a subordinate.

Illinois ‘Facebook Law’ bans seeking employee passwords

08/21/2012
Gov. Pat Quinn has signed legislation barring employers from requesting job applicants’ or employees’ social media passwords. Dubbed the “Face­­­book Law,” the new law is intended to protect employees’ private communications from the prying eyes of prospective or current bosses.

Was that sex bias–or clumsy geek-speak?

08/21/2012
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has apparently concluded that some professionals are less articulate than others and deserve a pass when they make sexist comments.

Got a hugger on your hands? He spells trouble

08/21/2012
Having a good sexual harassment policy in place doesn’t mean much if your supervisors ignore it. Take, for example, someone who is what we might call “touchy feely.”

Record number of federal wage-and-hour lawsuits filed in FY12

08/20/2012
A record number of federal wage-and-hour lawsuits were filed in FY12. The most common cases reaching the courts these days concern employee misclassification, off-the-clock work and miscalculation of overtime pay.

How to make medical inquiries the legally safe way

08/15/2012
Complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act is like walking a tightrope over Niagara Falls, only without a tether. If you fall off, you end up getting whisked away by lawsuits and drowning in litigation. That’s especially true when it comes to the ADA’s rules on medical inquiries about employees.

OSHA sanctions SeaWorld after orca trainer death

08/14/2012
OSHA has ordered Orlando’s SeaWorld marine park to change the ways in which trainers and orcas interact following the death of orca trainer Dawn Brancheau.

DOL: Miami’s Barton G stiffed tipped servers

08/14/2012
The U.S. Department of Labor has ordered Barton G, the company that owns three renowned Miami fine-dining restaurants, to pay $28,000 to low-wage workers who did not receive minimum wage.

SunTrust sued after harassment allegations surface in Sarasota

08/14/2012
SunTrust faces a federal sexual harassment lawsuit after three women who worked at the bank’s Sarasota Gulf Gate branch accused a manager of inappropriate touching and making lewd and unwelcome comments about their anatomy, sex lives and dating habits.

Subway can’t make workers suffer for ‘art’

08/14/2012
A Tampa-area Subway franchisee will pay $7,536 in back wages plus $3,768 in liquidated damages following a ruling by a federal judge that workers should have been paid for the time they spent taking a required “Sandwich Artist Certification” course.