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Employment Law

Needle points toward court for WRS Compass

11/16/2011
Civil construction and environmental cleanup firm WRS Compass has lost its bid to have racial discrimination and harassment charges dismissed stemming from incidents at a Chicago work site.

Lawsuit accuses temp agency of gender bias, retaliation

11/16/2011
The EEOC’s Chicago office has filed a class-action lawsuit against Source One Staffing, Inc., alleging the employment and temp agency assigns workers based on gender, explicitly defining some jobs as “men’s work” or “women’s work.”

Union contract can keep you out of federal court

11/16/2011
Being a union-free workplace has many advantages, but there are also some built-in benefits to operating under a collective bargaining agreement. For one, such contracts typically require all rank-and-file employees to take their complaints to arbitration rather than filing a federal lawsuit.

Government employers: Don’t trample on workers’ rights to speak out on public matters

11/16/2011

Public employees don’t lose their rights to free speech just because they work for a government agency. They retain the right to speak out on matters of public importance, and they can’t be punished for exercising that right. That’s why, if you work for the gov­­ern­ment, you should warn super­visors against any action that smacks of punishing employees for speaking out.

Worried about reining in religious tension? Don’t ban all discussion of faith

11/16/2011
Some employers ban discussion of religion at work, believing that talking about faith might constitute harassment or coercion of workers who aren’t members of a majority religious group. But such a prohibition can cause more problems than it solves.

What’s in a name? Legal settlement just the same

11/16/2011
A Chicago ambulance service has decided to settle a lawsuit after a federal judge nixed the novel argument that some other company must have been responsible for alleged sexual harassment of its employees.

Beware firing after good employee complains

11/16/2011
Think twice before firing a good employee who has complained. If she can prove she earned excellent reviews and had good attendance, she may win a jury trial based on timing alone.

Never base RIF decision on FMLA leave status

11/16/2011

Employees who take FMLA leave don’t enjoy greater protection than anyone else when it comes to reductions in force. If a position would have been eliminated regardless of whether the employee took FMLA leave, then the termination doesn’t violate the law. On the other hand, it’s dangerous to change who is scheduled to be laid off after learning that an em­­ployee plans to take FMLA leave.

Which of the following issues requires the most work on your part?

11/15/2011
Handling benefits and mediating workplace disputes top the list of difficult HR duties.

How to make the leap to electronic HR records

11/15/2011
Given the low cost and the easy accessibility of electronic records storage, many employers are making the digital leap to “paperless” HR. But despite the many benefits of going paperless, a host of legal problems could derail even the best-intentioned digital records plan. Carefully consider these legal issues when transitioning to an electronic personnel records system.