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Kansas

Clearly label delivery fee ‘not a gratuity’

03/15/2013
If your business delivers food and adds a small delivery charge, make extra sure customers understand the fee is not a gratuity.

Quest for ‘new blood’ could bleed bank account if it results in huge punitive damages award

03/15/2013
If you place an older worker who has complained about age discrimination on a performance improvement plan  that is essentially impossible to complete, watch out! You’re setting yourself up to pay out huge punitive damages—even if the employee winds up winning just a modest retaliation verdict.

Whistle-blower isn’t doing her job? Feel free to discipline

03/15/2013
Here’s an important reminder when management gets nervous about terminating a so-called whistle-blower. Solid, legitimate reasons for discipline take precedence over protections to which whistle-blowers are entitled.

Clairvoyance not required to ID need for FMLA

03/15/2013

Under the FMLA regulations, if an employee is incapacitated, someone else can notify the employer, whose FMLA obligations are then triggered. But that doesn’t mean that a co-worker merely telling a supervisor that the employee is “sick” works as notification. Employers are entitled to better notice than that.

Don’t try to guess reasonable accommodations

03/15/2013
Employers have no obligation to try to anticipate if a disabled employee needs reasonable accommodations. It’s up to employees to ask for accommodations help.

Ask your attorney about class-action waivers

02/20/2013
The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that an employee who previously agreed to waive her right to file a class-action overtime lawsuit does indeed have to rely on individual arbitration of her claim.

OK to cut returning veteran’s job if decision wasn’t based on military status

01/11/2013
Generally, members of the military released from active duty service are entitled to return to their former jobs. But what happens if bad economic times force a layoff before the em­­ployee returns to work? Is he exempt from the cuts?

Employee has routine gripe about timekeeping? That’s not necessarily protected activity

01/11/2013
Employees who question your timekeeping process may be setting you up for an FLSA lawsuit. How you respond may make the difference between winning and losing. If you promptly fix what turns out to have been an innocent mistake, the court probably won’t consider the original complaint protected activity.

Hysterics may be sign FMLA leave is required

12/12/2012

Here’s something to consider before you reflexively terminate an employee who walks out. If she’s so distraught that she’s shaking, crying and hysterical, she may need FMLA leave. Instead of terminating her, let her know she should request FMLA leave.

Want to cut overtime pay? OK to alter workweek–as long as change is permanent

11/15/2012
Good news for cost-conscious employers: The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that an employer is free to change how it designates the workweek as long as it does so “permanently”—even if the sole reason is to reduce overtime pay.