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Minnesota

Employment Lawyer Network:
Minnesota

Carl Crosby Lehmann (Editor)

Minnesota Employment Law

Carl.Lehmann@GPMLaw.com
(612) 632-3234

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Carl Crosby Lehmann, Esq., of Gray, Plant Mooty in Minneapolis, has significant experience in advising employers on personnel matters, drafting employment policies and agreements, and litigating employers' interests in both administrative and judicial proceedings. Carl's practice includes advising employers in personnel-related matters, including terminations, discrimination and sexual harassment issues, defamation claims, employment and independent contractor agreements, noncompete and confidentiality agreements, wage-hour concerns, voluntary and mandatory affirmative action policies, and insurance issues.

Age-discrimination worry: Is it legal to ask 63-year-old about his retirement plans?

12/16/2015
Q. We have a long-time employee who will accumulate the necessary points under our retirement program to become fully vested in his retirement benefit on his next birthday, which is in April. At that time, the employee will be 63 years old. He has not talked about how long he intends to continue working or his plan for retirement with our management team, which is concerned about having enough time to transition the employee’s work in the event that he abruptly retires. Can we ask this employee about his retirement plans without creating a claim of age discrimination? (Of course, the employee is also having performance issues, and management would prefer that he retire upon vesting in the retirement program.)

Can we fire employees we just learned are registered sex offenders?

12/16/2015
Q. Management wants to implement a zero-tolerance policy with respect to employing registered sex offenders. Recently, we conducted an internal investigation and determined that three current employees are registered sex offenders. Management wants to terminate those employees immediately. Is that legal?

Workers’ comp reinstatement must fit physical restrictions

12/16/2015
Under workers’ comp rules, people who are injured at work are entitled to reinstatement into open jobs for which they are qualified and which fit any physical restrictions. The penalty for not placing a worker in such a job is one year’s wages.

Three years is the outer limit to sue

12/16/2015
If you haven’t been served with a lawsuit within three years of firing a worker, she generally won’t be able to sue you later. Most state law claims have a strict three-year statute of limitation for claims.

No unemployment benefits: New duties weren’t grounds for quitting

12/16/2015
Employees who quit generally aren’t entitled to unemployment compensation. Unless something occurred that would compel a reasonable worker quit, employees won’t get benefits.

All jobs–even short-term, temp assignments–are subject to anti-discrimination laws

12/16/2015
Someone who comes into Minnesota and hires workers for a short, temporary job still has to abide by employment laws. The employer doesn’t escape liability based on the temporary nature of the employment.

Give employees easy access to paystub info

12/16/2015

You must provide all employees easy access to their pay records. It’s not enough to tell workers they can log in from a computer at home or elsewhere. Give them a place at work where they can easily and quickly check their pay.

Systemic discrimination at laundry company? OFCCP says yes

12/16/2015
G&K Services, which operates laundry facilities under federal contract in seven states, has agreed to pay more than $1.8 million and reform its hiring systems after the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs cited it for systemic discrimination.

How to accommodate Muslim employees in the workplace

11/25/2015
Minnesota is home to North America’s largest Somali immigrant community, most of whom are Muslims. For Minnesota employers, this means becoming familiar with Islamic practices and the ways employers often must accommodate them.

Calling boss ‘Scrooge’ online: Protected?

11/13/2015

Q. An employee brought to the attention of his supervisor that a co-worker had posted a comment on social media saying that her supervisor is Scrooge, that the supervisor is probably planning to fire a bunch of people right before the holidays, and that everyone should complain about her unfair behavior so that the supervisor is the one who will get fired. The company has a social media policy that prohibits making disparaging comments about it or its employees. Can the company discipline the posting co-worker for these comments?