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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.

NLRB’s relentless attack on employment policies continues

07/09/2015
In recent years, the National Labor Relations Board has steadily, aggressively increased its scrutiny of employment policies found in almost every employee handbook. Seemingly well-intentioned and generally accepted policies have been found to violate the National Labor Relations Act because they are seen as chilling employee rights to engage in protected, concerted activity.

Franken introduces bill limiting mandatory arbitration

06/18/2015
Sen. Al Franken has co-sponsored a bill with Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) that would limit what issues employers could force employees to arbitrate.

Does FMLA apply to same-sex spouses who don’t live in states that recognize same-sex marriage?

06/18/2015
Q. We have operations in South Dakota, and one of our employees there has requested FMLA leave to care for his same-sex spouse for an FMLA-qualified reason. The couple was married in Minnesota, but South Dakota does not recognize same-sex marriage. Should we grant the FMLA leave request?

Must we pay for time spent preparing to work?

05/18/2015
Q. We have an employee who regularly comes into work a half-hour or more before her scheduled shift in order to get her work station ready and otherwise get herself set up for the day. This preparation time is important to the employee because she does not believe that she can meet the production requirements of her job without it. The employee has been told that she cannot start performing her actual job tasks until the start of her scheduled shift. Our new HR manager has advised that we must pay the employee for the time that she spends preparing for her shift, even though she had no approval to work during that time. Is that right?

May we remove a restaurant server from shifts because of sores on her face?

05/18/2015
Q. We have a server at one of our restaurants who has open sores on her face. She claims she can’t get a bandage to stick to her chin, leaving the sore uncovered. As a result, we have received a few customer complaints. May we remove the server from her shifts so that we do not lose business?

Pregnancy accommodations in light of Young v. UPS decision

05/18/2015
On March 25, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its much-anticipated decision in addressing whether employers must provide light duty and other accommodations to pregnant employees as they do for nonpregnant employees who experience a work-related illness or injury. The court’s decision in Young v. UPS did not directly answer that question.

Police union election offers lessons for employers

05/18/2015
The highly publicized battle for the leadership of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis offers lessons for all employers with unionized workforces.

Employee failing test? OK to end it early

05/18/2015

Generally, employees taking an exam required for promotion should be tested under similar circumstances, take the same test and generally be treated the same. But sometimes, especially during a hands-on test, it becomes obvious early on that the employee does not have the skill to pass. If that’s the case, you can end the test early.

You don’t always have to be right–just honest

05/18/2015
As long as you act in good faith, most courts will uphold your honest HR decisions.

Court: Arbitration OK as long as employee doesn’t have to give up any rights

05/18/2015
A federal court has upheld an arbitration agreement negotiated between a union and an employer that compelled individual arbitration for FMLA claims.