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Minnesota

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.

Must we pay for time spend in security line?

01/21/2015
Q. To prevent theft, we require our employees to pass through security screenings after they finish their shifts. Because we have a large number of employees, it can take up to 25 minutes for employees to get through the screening line. Do we have to pay our employees for the time they spend in line and going through the security screenings?

Can we replace employee who has been on FMLA leave for 14 weeks and isn’t due back soon?

01/21/2015
Q. An employee went out on leave for a medical condition after working for us for 10 months. While the employee was not FMLA-eligible when the leave commenced, he was inadvertently advised that his leave was covered by the FMLA. The employee has now been on leave for 14 weeks, and he is not expected to immediately return to work. We would now like to fill his position. Is this permissible?

Does our lactation room need a lock?

01/21/2015
Q. An employee will be returning from maternity leave next month. She has indicated she intends to express milk during her breaks. We have a room that is rarely used that seems perfect but it does not have a lock. Will this suffice?