• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Employment Law

Is it risky to indemnify a candidate against violating a noncompete agreement?

03/29/2012
Q. We want to hire someone who signed a noncompete agreement with his current employer. He asked us to indemnify him in the event his employer sues him. What are the legal risks associated with agreeing to indemnify him?

Can we force forfeiture of vacation days?

03/29/2012
Q. Under our company policy, an employee who fails to give 20 working days’ notice before resigning forfeits any earned vacation days. Is this policy lawful?

NLRB limits arbitration agreement class-action waivers

03/29/2012
Recently, the National Labor Relations Board held that class-action waivers violate em­­ployees’ rights to engage in concerted activity. In D.R. Horton, the NLRB said that employers may not compel employees to waive their NLRA rights to collectively pursue litigation of employment claims in all forums, arbitral and judicial. What does that mean for employers?

Compass sent retirement funds the wrong way

03/29/2012
Two recent settlements make what should be an obvious point: You can’t misappropriate employees’ retirement money and expect to get away with it. Cases in West Chester and Bethlehem show that the feds will come looking for you, and make you pay it back.

Courts give benefit of doubt to pro se plaintiffs

03/29/2012
Some employees act as their own lawyers, something that can put employers at a disadvantage. That’s because courts bend over backward to make sure an unrepresented litigant gets his day in court.

Contract worker EPA claims have long shelf lives

03/29/2012

You probably think that once a contract employee’s contract expires, that’s the end of the matter. You don’t renew the contract and she moves on. That may not be the case. She can still sue over Equal Pay Act claims for at least two years after her last check.

Different employee races alone aren’t enough to support a race discrimination lawsuit

03/29/2012
Should you worry every time you retain one employee and dismiss another who belongs to a different protected class? Probably not—as long as there’s no other reason to believe that the terminated employee’s protected status was the reason he was fired.

Full-time leave for medical treatment? Make sure it’s what employee wants

03/29/2012
Faced with a sick employee, you may recommend short-term disability leave to receive medical treatment. But that could violate the ADA if the employee neither needs nor wants all that time off.

Age comments plus termination equal trouble

03/29/2012
Here’s an important reminder for all supervisors: Innocent age-related comments can come back to haunt you. That’s especially true if the comments come from someone who has a direct say in hiring and firing decisions.

Can employees dodge discipline by hiding behind FMLA?

03/29/2012
Beware employees who fear they’re about to be disciplined or fired! They’re among the most likely to launch a pre-emptive lawsuit. Conventional wisdom says you should call that bluff. But what if the claim involves the FMLA?