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Employment Law

EEOC forces cardiologists to have change of heart

08/23/2012
A Western Pennsylvania cardiology practice has agreed to settle EEOC sexual harassment charges alleging that its doctors routinely made sexually offensive and debasing comments to women who worked there.

Want to fire employee for attendance problems? Make sure no absences are FMLA-related

08/23/2012
It’s frustrating to deal with employees who call in on short notice to say they won’t be able to make it to work. Even so, don’t let it get to you. An angry reaction could launch an FMLA lawsuit. That could happen if you are already thinking about terminating the employee.

Suspect employee is scamming FMLA leave? Investigate–and discipline if it’s true

08/23/2012

When an employee takes FMLA leave because her physician says she’s too sick to work and needs to stay home, it’s natural to assume she’ll follow the doctor’s orders. But what if you discover that she isn’t—and is instead working for someone else during her leave? Can you terminate her? Of course.

Fayette County grocer to settle sex harassment beef

08/23/2012
A Fayette County grocery store will pay $95,000 to settle four sexual harassment complaints filed by female employees who alleged the store’s meat manager harassed them by constantly making crude remarks and touching them.

Train supervisors on proper handling of FMLA return-to-work certifications

08/23/2012
Supervisors who handle employee return-to-work requests following FMLA leave must know what they are doing. Otherwise, your legal risk could rise significantly.

Doc clears return to work? Disability unlikely

08/23/2012

When an employee has a life-threatening and acute illness, he may need time off to recover. That’s a legitimate use of FMLA leave. But what if the employee fully recovers and comes back to work with a clean bill of health from his doctors, yet still feels weaker, more fatigued and not quite back to full health?

Demand immediate stop to demeaning language

08/23/2012
Make sure managers and supervisors understand that belittling name-calling has no place in the workplace and won’t be tolerated. Bans on obscenity aren’t enough. You must also stop other sexist terms, such as referring to a woman as “Barbie.”

A friend indeed: Do Facebook users have privacy rights?

08/23/2012

At last count, the more than 900 million Facebook users have more than 125 billion “friends.” But in the workplace, who is really your friend on Facebook? In this recent case, a manager strong-armed an employee to get access to a co-worker’s Facebook page. Is that an invasion of privacy?

NLRB takes aim at at-will clauses in employee handbooks

08/22/2012
In a continuation of its recent anti-employer rulings, the National Labor Relations Board is now focusing on a staple of employee handbooks—at-will employment clauses that notify employees they can be terminated at any time for any lawful reason.

How must we accommodate breastfeeding?

08/21/2012

Q. One of our employees is on maternity leave. What are our obligations to accommodate her need to breastfeed when she returns to work?