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Minnesota

Train staff to respect transgender customers

03/20/2018

Do you train employees to treat all customers with respect, regardless of sexual orientation, transgender status and the like? If not, you may be unwittingly creating a hostile environment for some customers, which can mean a lawsuit.

Think twice before firing safety whistleblower

03/20/2018

Before you discipline or discharge anyone who has filed safety complaints, make sure you have rock-solid reasons for doing so. Otherwise, punishing a safety whistleblower may mean liability for retaliation and punitive damages.

Graco alone now opposes Minneapolis minimum

02/14/2018

The Minneapolis ordinance requires large employers (those with $500,000 or more in gross annual revenue) to pay $15 per hour by July 1, 2022.

Note 90-day deadline after EEOC right-to-sue letters

02/14/2018

Employees who receive their EEOC right-to-sue letter have just 90 days to file a federal lawsuit. Advice: Note that deadline as soon as you receive your copy.

Good records get lawsuits dismissed fast

02/14/2018

Employers that have well-documented business reasons for every discharge typically win lawsuits that allege discrimination. Good records force employees to prove that an allegedly legitimate reason for firing was a pretext for covering up discrimination.

Requesting religious accommodation isn’t protected, but that doesn’t kill lawsuit

02/14/2018

Employees who engage in so-called protected activity under Title VII cannot be retaliated against for doing so. But the definition of protected activity is narrow.

Employees have up to two years to file FMLA interference lawsuits

02/14/2018

Employees have up to two years after a request for FMLA leave is denied to file an FMLA interference lawsuit unless the violation was willful.

OK to add more reasons for termination, as long as they’re consistent with first rationale

02/14/2018

Some former employees who sue over alleged discrimination try to discredit their employers’ explanations for discharge. Even so, employers have a great deal of flexibility about how they explain the reason an employee was fired.

MHRA doesn’t require interactive process

02/14/2018

Disability protections under the Minnesota Human Rights Act differ from those set by the ADA. Employers covered only by the MHRA and not the ADA are free to reject a reasonable accommodation request without consulting with the employee.

Work romance ends? Separate the former lovers

02/14/2018

When a sexual relationship between a supervisor and a subordinate ends, there’s likely to be trouble in the workplace. If the subordinate is complaining about how her former lover is treating her at work, the only safe course of action is to remove the supervisor entirely.