• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Minnesota

Employment Lawyer Network:
Minnesota

Carl Crosby Lehmann (Editor)

Minnesota Employment Law

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

Click for Full Bio

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.

When new employee quits, can we deduct vacation time she took but never earned?

02/18/2015
Q. We permit our employees to take two weeks of advanced vacation before accruing vacation hours. When an employee takes advanced vacation, we typically reduce the employee’s negative vacation balance as the employee later accrues vacation. Unfor­­tu­­nately, we recently had an employee quit before accruing sufficient vacation time to correct her outstanding balance. May we deduct the negative balance from her final paycheck?

Weigh EEOC guidance when considering criminal histories

02/18/2015
In April 2012, the EEOC issued comprehensive guidance addressing the use of an applicants’ criminal history in hiring, which it further clarified in March 2014. The guidance offers details and hypotheticals regarding situations when excluding an applicant based on his or her arrest or conviction record could constitute discrimination based on race or national origin in violation of Title VII.

St. Paul mayor touts paid leave before State of the Union

02/18/2015
St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman talked up the city’s paid leave program at the White House just ahead of Presi­­dent Obama’s State of the Union. Effective Jan. 1, city employees may now take paid leave for the birth or adoption of a child. Birth parents receive four weeks of paid leave.

Workers sue Bloomington restaurant for reverse bias

02/18/2015
Panchero’s Mexican Grill in Bloom­­ing­­ton faces charges it fired white workers who worked as line cooks because of their race. The fired workers claim managers openly stated they preferred white workers for management jobs, but wanted only Mexi­­cans for line positions.

Muslim workers sue Hertz for bias

02/18/2015
The Hertz car rental operation at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport faces charges it discriminated against Mus­­lim employees and harassed them. The employees, who worked cleaning vehicles, claimed managers would routinely walk in on their prayers de­­manding to see the employees’ badges.

NLRB: Workers get to decide on locations to be unionized

02/18/2015
If you are in the health care industry and have several facilities, it might be convenient to have one union represent all your employees. Just don’t expect the National Labor Relations Board to buy that argument.

No do-overs for employee who files serial suits

02/18/2015
An employee who loses a lawsuit over her termination can’t revive the litigation a second time just by coming up with a second claim that could have been raised earlier.

Good intentions don’t matter: You’ll pay if you compensate men and women differently

02/18/2015
Employers that don’t pay men and women the same for substantially identical work violate the Equal Pay Act (EPA). The employer’s intent doesn’t matter. What matters is that the pay is unequal. The EPA is a strict liability statute, as one of the world’s most gender-equitable nations learned when it was sued in Minnesota.

Pick one good reason to justify firing

02/18/2015
A poor performer may disappoint on many levels, doing lousy work and failing to get along with others … harassing co-workers and fudging time sheets. While you should document all the problems, you don’t have to cite every one when you terminate the employee. Pick one and stick with it.

Don’t fear surveying employee attitudes

01/28/2015
You might not always like what they tell you, but one thing you don’t need to be wary of is a lawsuit.