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Employment Law

Accruing sick leave while on FMLA

04/15/2011
Q. If an employee is on FMLA paid sick leave, can we stop her from accruing sick leave while out?

Family that harasses together… gets to go to court together

04/15/2011
DiMare Ruskin, an agricultural products company, faces sexual harassment charges stemming from the alleged actions of father and son supervisors at the company’s Immokalee plant.

Hiring? Don’t make promises you can’t keep

04/15/2011
Here’s a new worry for employers: If you have a supervisor who makes hiring promises to an applicant that he knows the company can’t keep, the applicant may be able to sue for fraud.

She’s not our employee! Are we liable for subcontractor harassment?

04/15/2011
Q. We recently received a complaint of harassment from an employee of one of the contractors we hire to do some work around our facility. I know, of course, all about our duty to prevent and stop sexual and other kinds of harassment of our own employees. But we don’t have a duty to do the same for the employees of another company, do we?

Beware state law that could cost you millions

04/15/2011
If you need additional incentives to stop sexual harassment in the workplace, how’s this for a motivator: A court has ruled that employees who endure gender-related violence can now sue their employers for damages under the Illinois Gender Violence Act.

Audit all discipline to ensure fairness, equity

04/15/2011

You never know where the next lawsuit will come from. That’s powerful incentive to make sure you treat all employees fairly. A simple self-audit of discipline can prevent many lawsuits.

Remind employees: They must continue to pay health insurance premiums while on FMLA

04/15/2011
Employees out on unpaid FMLA leave are still entitled to health insurance benefits if they were covered before going out on leave. However, if the employee was required to pay part of the premium before taking leave, that obligation continues.

How not to handle FMLA leave: Bank learns the hard way that following the law isn’t optional

04/15/2011

Some employers believe that pregnant women aren’t entitled to time off for pregnancy-related matters because pregnant women aren’t disabled or unable to perform their jobs. That’s wrong and can land employers in big trouble. The fact is that prenatal visits and even bouts of nausea are the sorts of things that Congress considered when covering pregnancy under the FMLA.

Don’t fear lawsuit after mere lateral transfer

04/15/2011
You have lots of latitude to decide the shifts and locations to which employees are assigned. As long as there are no obvious flags (like only assigning members of a particular protected class to the night shift), courts likely won’t interfere with your management decisions.

Ocala firm pays for tolerating same-sex harassment

04/15/2011
Prestige Home Centers, a mobile-home manufacturer based in Ocala, has agreed to pay $79,000 to several male employees who claimed a male supervisor at the company’s Lake City facility verbally harassed, groped and propositioned them.