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Kansas

Returning soldiers must follow your policies

09/16/2011

Soldiers who take military leave for active service or training are generally entitled to return to their jobs when they finish their military service. They even have protection from being terminated without cause if they served long enough. But USERRA does not protect employees who fail to follow existing company rules when they return or try to return.

Employee alleges hostile environment? Act fast to identify culprits, repair damage

08/10/2011

Fortunately for employers, courts measure a hostile work environment against the “reasonable employee” standard. If a reasonable employee would not find the conduct hostile, then it doesn’t matter how intensely a particular employee reacts to allegedly hostile acts. The idea behind the standard is to protect employers from exaggerated claims, especially when it is clear the employer took the allegations seriously and moved to prevent further problems.

Clear and fair hiring process yields the best candidates–and impresses judges

08/10/2011

Employers that develop clear, fair and transparent hiring processes seldom have to worry about losing a failure-to-hire lawsuit. That’s true even if they end up using so-called subjective reasons for not hiring a candidate. Simply put, judges are impressed when it looks like a potential employer bends over backward to ensure it doesn’t discriminate.

Use break room posters to cut legal liability

08/10/2011

Employers know they are supposed to provide their employees with in­­­­for­mation about how to handle discrimination or harassment. Most employers put up a poster on a break room bulletin board to outline the process. This simple practice can prove invaluable when an employee tries to use ignorance as an excuse for not complaining right away.

Court: One less way to claim promotion bias

08/10/2011
The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals has refused to expand the ways in which employees who are passed over for promotions can sue. It turned down a request to allow a lawsuit alleging that previously denied promotions could be considered as evidence of bias in later promotion denials.

Firing those with obsolete skills isn’t age bias

07/13/2011
In today’s tough economy, it’s sometimes necessary to terminate em­­ployees. That may be especially true when new technology makes it easier to perform some tasks, reducing the need for employees.

If employee can’t return from FMLA leave, it’s not interference to terminate

07/13/2011

Employees who take FMLA leave to deal with their own serious health condition are entitled to reinstatement to their jobs or substantially identical ones when they return. But what if the employee isn’t ready to come back after 12 weeks? In that case, employers don’t have to reinstate the employee—at least not under the FMLA.

Honestly believe worker broke rule? Firing OK

07/13/2011
Here’s something to remember when you’re worried about firing someone because you might get sued: Judges don’t want to run HR departments. As long as HR acts honestly and believes the employee should be fired because she broke a company rule, chances are a lawsuit won’t ­succeed.

Good faith wins court cases! Don’t use investigation to trap employee

06/24/2011

Employers get lots of leeway when it comes to terminating employees. For example, courts generally uphold firing someone for breaking a rule as long as the employer reasonably believed the employee broke the rule—even if it turns out he did not. But when it looks as if the employer tried to trick the employee into breaking a rule, judges won’t look the other way.

Federal appeals court rules on OT for city firefighters assigned to state duty

06/08/2011
Government entities that employ fire­fighters face thorny Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) problems. The law requires overtime pay for fire­fighters who work more than 204 hours in a 27-day period. But that can get complicated when a local agency assigns its firefighters to battle wildfires for the state.