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

Employment Law

Children’s Hospital nurses return to work after strike

05/20/2011
After a five-day strike, registered nurses have started returning to their jobs at Children’s Hospital in Oak­land. The nurses, represented by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United, walked out on May 5 over a dispute about health care benefits.

You may be liable for harassment of nonemployees

05/20/2011
Employees shouldn’t have to endure sexual harassment, whether it comes from another employee or someone outside the company.

Lawmakers urged to reject new labor contracts

05/20/2011
The nonpartisan California Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) has urged state law­makers to consider rejecting some or all of six new collective bargaining agreements negotiated with state employee unions in March.

Discuss retirement after layoff decision has been made

05/20/2011
Timing is everything. Suggesting retirement before any decision has been made to terminate an employee may show age discrimination. Discussing it after informing the employee that he’s been terminated doesn’t.

When workers’ comp and disability collide: 100% disabled worker may deserve accommodation

05/20/2011
Don’t make a common employer mis­take and assume that someone who is declared 100% disabled under a workers’ compensation claim can’t also be entitled to reasonable accommodations for a different job.

Be prepared to prove you had reasonable cause to deny reinstatement after FMLA leave

05/20/2011
Employers that deny an employee the right to reinstatement after protected FMLA leave must make sure there’s solid proof that there was a rational reason for doing so. As a practical matter, that means employers must show that the employee would have lost her job regardless of whether she took FMLA leave.

Ensure arbitration agreements are clear, fair

05/20/2011
Given their druthers, courts would just as soon rule that employment arbitration agreements are valid—and send them back for an arbitrator to settle. But employers must help by making those agreements easily understood, fair and not entirely one-sided.

Note accommodation offers, employee’s response

05/20/2011

Employers and disabled employees are supposed to engage in an interactive process to decide on reasonable accommodations. It should be a two-way conversation. If you suggest possible accommodations and the employee either turns them down or doesn’t follow through, make sure you create a solid, contemporaneous record of the discussions.

No adverse action needed for hostility case

05/20/2011

Think you’re immune from lawsuits as long as you don’t cut an employee’s pay or fire, demote or refuse to promote him? You’re wrong. Employees who belong to a protected class and can show they endured enough slights, insults or other harassing conduct to affect the way they perform their jobs can win a hostile environment lawsuit.

Another reason to track everything: Passage of time makes it harder for worker to successfully sue

05/20/2011

It’s possible that a supervisor might wait years to get back at an employee who filed a discrimination complaint. Possible, but unlikely. The more time that passes between an initial complaint and any alleged retaliation, the less likely courts are to entertain a lawsuit.