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Minnesota

Owners of Rochester, MN hotel settle age bias suits

04/15/2014
Interstate Hotels and Resorts, the Virginia-based firm that managed Rochester’s Kahler Grand Hotel, has settled age discrimination charges that four former employees brought against the company. Interstate began managing the hotel, which serves the Mayo Clinic, in January 2013.

Employee must be open to compromise before quitting

04/15/2014
Employees can sometimes quit and sue for constructive discharge if their employer made work life intolerable. That doesn’t mean an employee can quit anytime she faces a difficult situation. She has to let her employer try to resolve the problem first.

Focus on behavior, not possible disability when disciplining employees

04/15/2014
Here’s a tip that may save you from unnecessary litigation: When it comes to disciplining a disruptive worker, focus on the behavior. Don’t speculate on the reason the employee may be disruptive.

Male candidate needs to ‘support his family’? That’s no reason to pay him more

04/15/2014
Here’s a warning to pass on to any manager or supervisor involved in employee interviewing, hiring or supervision: Never make a sexist comment about pay or benefits. It may come back to haunt the organization should an employee later sue for sex discrimination or pay equity.

Ban unwritten rules forcing off-the-clock work

04/15/2014

Most employers think that if they just tell employees not to work more hours than their regular schedules call for, that’s the end of it. They put together a policy prohibiting off-the-clock work and figure, “Hey, problem solved.” But that may not be the case.

Informal hiring input does not an exec make

04/15/2014

Managers and supervisors are often classified as exempt from overtime under the FLSA’s executive exemption. It requires that the employee have the authority to hire and fire or make hiring and firing recommendations that carry particular weight. Some employers believe they can meet this requirement by asking for recommendations or insight into potential hires. That’s not enough.

Does Minnesota require allowing time off for employees to attend school activities?

03/25/2014
Q. One of our employees came in two hours late today, without an advance call. When he got here, he told his supervisor that he needed “school leave” for the morning. Can we discipline him for being late?

No matter how complicated the firing, have a rational explanation for decision

03/25/2014
A messy termination doesn’t have to mean losing a subsequent lawsuit. Just be proactive, figure out what happened and document the underlying discharge reasons. They’re probably in plain sight, despite the drama.

What should we tell manager who wants to ask inappropriate interview questions?

03/17/2014
Q. We have a manager who is really concerned about “fit” when we interview for his group. He wants to ask questions about hobbies, whether the candidate has a family and how that will affect the candidate’s ability to be at work. I’ve tried to explain that, due to discrimination laws, we should only ask questions based upon the job and its requirements, but he ignores me. What can I do?

How can we fire a poor performer–who up until now has earned glowing reviews?

03/17/2014
Q. We recently hired a new manager in an underperforming division. After getting to know her team, the manager wants to fire an employee for poor performance. But, the employee has only had glowing performance reviews under his previous manager. Can we go ahead with the termination?