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Employment Law

Review development programs to ensure inclusion

03/07/2025
To protect against reverse-discrimination charges, thoroughly review all your training and development opportunities to ensure they don’t violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and other anti-discrimination laws. Here’s what to look for when you review your development programs.

Handling harassment amidst legal changes and uncertainty

03/05/2025
The legal and regulatory landscape surrounding workplace harassment is shifting rapidly, leaving many HR professionals wondering how to stay compliant while maintaining a fair and inclusive work environment.

USERRA: Review military leave policies in light of massive class action against Amazon

03/03/2025
A federal judge has given the go-ahead for a massive class-action lawsuit against Amazon over how the online retailer handles leave so its military-connected employees can fulfill their training and deployment obligations. The case asks how far employers must go to pay for military-related absences.

Court says DOL can use salary level to determine exempt classification

03/03/2025
The Biden administration’s bid last year to raise the white-collar overtime salary threshold from $35,568 per year to $58,656 is dead, the victim of a series of court rulings that said the Department of Labor overstepped its authority by mandating such a big jump. However, one aspect of the OT threshold process stands.

Document termination decision before telling worker

02/28/2025
Always document disciplinary decisions the moment you make them—and before you tell the employee. That way, you can successfully argue that you could not have retaliated against the employee because the decision was made before you knew about their request.

As Ramadan approaches, consider religious accommodation obligations

02/26/2025
Two upcoming religious holidays make it an opportune time for employers to review the laws regarding religious accommodations.

ADA & your workplace: How to document an unreasonable accommodation

02/24/2025
Under the ADA, employers don’t have to go along with an accommodation that is unreasonable—one that, in the terminology of the ADA, “causes an undue hardship.” If you reject what you consider an unreasonable accommodation, be ready to explain why.

EEOC seeks to drop 6 gender-identity lawsuits

02/24/2025
The EEOC has asked federal courts to drop lawsuits it previously filed alleging that employees experienced workplace discrimination and harassment because they are transgender.

Disabled remote worker? Think twice before demanding return to office

02/24/2025
Recently, many employers (and the federal government) have ordered most employees to return to their offices. Be careful about ordering disabled employees to do so. The EEOC just sued an employer that insisted on requiring everyone to come back to the office, despite some having disabilities.

Beware potential huge cost of small wage-and-hour mistakes

02/21/2025
When employers don’t understand wage-and-hour laws such as the Fair Labor Standards Act—or worse, when they try to circumvent that law—they can find themselves on the hook for potentially costly penalties. Even relatively small violations can quickly add up.