• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly
Connection failed: SQLSTATE[HY000] [2002] No such file or directory

Indiana

Employees can’t wait years to sue for intentional harm

11/12/2008

Sometimes, it seems as though employees spend all their time thinking up new ways to sue. At least now, courts are stopping some of the most frivolous claims by insisting employees act fast—or forget about the alleged wrongdoing.

Can a ‘bad’ motive firing of an at-will employee backfire?

11/12/2008

Marsha Bartel was an award-winning NBC journalist working on the “Dateline NBC” television show. NBC fired her, claiming it was laying off staff. She sued, alleging NBC had fired her for complaining that the show was not adhering to NBC’s internal ethical standards. The case offers some important reminders about how to handle termination of at-will employees.

Employment law in the Obama administration: What to expect

11/06/2008

With a Democratic-controlled Congress, President-elect Barack Obama will likely push for these employment law priorities …

Lawyer’s letter says don’t destroy ex-worker’s records—now what?

10/29/2008

Q. My department recently received a “litigation hold letter” from an attorney’s office. It instructed us not to delete or destroy any documents belonging to a former employee of ours … While we have a few documents related to this person’s employment, the significant majority of her personnel documents were destroyed through our normal record-retention process. Are we required to comply with this litigation hold letter …? If so, what can we do about the documents already deleted?

Former township assessor: Take my salary, please

10/28/2008

After Indiana’s property tax restructuring bill left 12 township assessors in Harrison County with contracts but no work to do in the coming year, the county council voted to pay them through 2010, the end of their elected terms …

Both love and justice are blind: Consider banning boss/employee relationships

10/28/2008

Does your handbook and employment policy specify that supervisors and subordinates shouldn’t develop personal, romantic or sexual relationships? If not, consider adding such a provision. It can go a long way to avoiding potential lawsuits when those relationships go bad.

ADA protections don’t cover independent contractors

10/28/2008

Independent contractors aren’t covered by the ADA, as the following case shows …

Don’t be surprised if tort claim follows initial lawsuit

10/28/2008

Government employees who want to sue for such things as defamation have to let the state know before they file suit. It gets trickier, however, when the employee amends a previous suit …

When cutting costs, hands off the doughnuts

10/28/2008

Faced with rising costs, Quality Environmental Professionals Inc. scrambled to find ways to cut costs without laying off staff. But when the CEO tried to cut into the doughnut budget, employees balked. Employees offered to work an extra hour or two each week to ensure the continued flow of doughnuts …

New Purdue University policy grants paid parental leave

10/28/2008

Purdue University implemented a new parental leave policy in October that grants paid time off to either parent for a birth or adoption. The policy provides up to six weeks of paid leave for the birth mother and up to three weeks for the father of the child or same-sex domestic partner of the birth mother …