Employment Law

OK to lay off worker who took FMLA leave as long as that’s not a factor in the decision

07/31/2012

Once an employee has used up FMLA and other leave, requiring employees to show up and get their work done is a reasonable expectation. In the following case, the court reasoned that the employer could consider attendance when deciding personnel cuts, as long as it didn’t use FMLA leave as a factor.

Texas Supreme Court clarifies: It’s not age bias if new worker is older than the original

07/31/2012

The Texas Supreme Court has just made it much easier for employers to avoid age discrimination claims. In what the court calls a “true replacement case” under the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act, an older worker must show that she was replaced by a younger worker.

How not to treat a learning-disabled employee

07/31/2012

Here’s a cautionary tale for supervisors who have a learning-disabled subordinate. Do all you can to accommodate the employee and don’t let co-workers—or anyone in the workplace—make fun of disability traits.

Aftermath of an affair: Beware harassment

07/31/2012

You can’t stop all romantic entanglements at work, but you can and should make sure the post-affair fallout doesn’t disrupt the workplace.

Manager mistakes: 3 key lessons from the courtroom

07/30/2012

It’s always smarter—and less expensive—to learn about employment law from others’ mistakes, rather than your own. Here are three new court decisions that serve up great lessons for any manager:

Lessons from the SHRM 2012 conference

07/27/2012

Here are some nuggets of employment law advice from the speakers at this summer’s Society for Human Resource Management annual conference in Atlanta.

When woman returns from maternity leave, must she return to her exact former job?

07/27/2012

Q. When an employee returns from maternity leave, do we have to give her the very same job she had or can she be put to work in a different type of position?

The ‘perceived as’ theory of discrimination in Pennsylvania

07/27/2012

An intriguing discrimination case in New Jersey raises complicated issues that Pennsylvania courts may one day have to address: discrimination claims based on perceived membership in a protected class.

School drops teacher’s contract after son comes out

07/27/2012

Sharon Wright, a former teacher at Covenant Christian Academy in Harrisburg is suing the private school, claiming officials there made her life intolerable after her son revealed he is gay on a social media website.

EEOC won’t pay legal costs until case runs its course

07/27/2012

There’s no collecting attorneys’ fees from the EEOC in mid-litigation. A court said that it must wait until a case ends.