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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.

What counts–and doesn’t–as part of a ‘personnel record’

03/11/2015
You probably receive at least occasional requests from current and former employees to view or receive a copy of their personnel file. This sounds like a straightforward request. But must an employer produce all documents in the employee’s “file?” Must information that may not be in an employee’s file be produced?

Wronged consulate employee seeks $2.3 million in legal fees

03/11/2015
A former employee at the Twin Cities Norwegian consulate is asking the country to pay her legal fees after she won a $270,000 equal pay judgment. A federal judge ruled that the woman was paid $30,000 less than a male employee performing comparable work.

Cut lawsuit risk by listing minimum job qualifications

03/11/2015
Be sure your job announcements list minimum qualifications applicants must have. That way, if someone who lacks the right background sues, the case can quickly be dismissed.

Employee claims harassment? Consider transferring him

03/11/2015

Employees who are forced to work under conditions that leave them little choice but to quit can still sue, alleging they were constructively discharged. You can prevent those suits by transferring the employee who says he is being harassed to another equivalent job.

When terminating public-sector employees, be careful how you announce their departure

03/11/2015

Government workers have more protections than other employees when it comes to termination. For example, if a public employee is falsely charged with some form of misconduct, she may have a l­awsuit. By all means, resist the temptation to make an example out of the fired employee.

Consider extended leave as accommodation if disabled employee is likely to return to work

03/11/2015
Before rejecting a disabled employee’s request for additional time off as a reasonable accommodation, consider whether the time would allow the employee to return. If not, you probably won’t have to provide the additional leave.

Tell bosses: Many subtle–and not so subtle–comments can add up to evidence of age bias

03/11/2015
Remind supervisors that when it comes to age discrimination, what they say matters. They should never comment directly on age, and should avoid references to “generational differences” or anything else that might be construed as code for age discrimination.

Never threaten deductions from exempts’ pay

03/11/2015
A supervisor’s single threat leading to a salary deduction could cost your company millions.

Can we make employees pay for new uniforms?

02/18/2015
Q. We had to provide an employee with a replacement uniform shirt after he lost the one we gave him when he was hired. Can we require him to pay for this replacement by taking it out of his pay?

Must we provide a place where our customers can pray?

02/18/2015
Q. A customer was in our sales showroom in the process of purchasing merchandise when he asked his sales person to provide him with space where he could pray while the sales person finalized the paperwork. Our sales person was surprised by the request but ended up providing the customer with an empty office. Do we need to accommodate a similar request in the future? We would, of course, accommodate a prayer request from one of our employees. But we have concerns with leaving a customer unattended in our office area.