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New York

Firing for poor work or rule breaking? Clear business reason will beat lawsuit

04/06/2011
Most workers are at-will employees, who can be fired for any reason or no reason at all, as long as your actions don’t violate anti-discrimination laws. That can tempt some supervisors to get lazy and fire a difficult employee without documenting exactly why. That’s a big mistake.

Courts to serial litigants: Enough is enough! Lawsuit-happy employees may face fines

04/06/2011

Some employees and applicants think that if they sue often enough, they’ll eventually end up collecting the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Fortunately, judges don’t like wasting valuable courtroom time on meritless cases. More and more, they are blocking efforts to file additional lawsuits by employees acting as their own lawyers.

Be prepared to root out hidden harassment: EEOC files a whopper against Burger King

04/06/2011
When a former Burger King employee complained to the EEOC that she had been sex­ually harassed at one of the chain’s restaurants in Glens Falls, N.Y., the EEOC sprang into action. As part of its efforts to stop sexual harassment against teenage employees, the agency began looking at more than 350 Burger King restaurants in 16 states. The agency eventually sued.

Offer FMLA, but still enforce attendance rules

04/06/2011

Employees occasionally have to step in on short notice to help care for a family member and may legitimately need FMLA leave to handle those responsibilities. Go ahead and suggest FMLA time off. However, until the employee takes you up on the offer, you can hold her to your regular attendance policy.

Quick action cuts sexual harassment liability

04/06/2011
You can’t prevent every vulgar act an employee may commit. But you can and should act fast when you learn about misbehavior. Doing so can keep a minor problem from growing into a major one.

Supreme Court: Check boss bias before disciplining

03/08/2011
The Supreme Court’s latest unanimous employment-law opinion found that two biased supervisors conspired to get HR to fire someone. The lesson is clear: HR must independently check supervisors’ disciplinary recommendations to ensure they have no ulterior motives.

New wage order means pay changes for hospitality employers

03/04/2011
New York employers in the hotel and restaurant industry have a new pay rule to work with, changing how tip income is handled and tweaking other details that affect how much pay workers take home.

Make sure employee handbook supports compliance with leave laws

03/04/2011
Employers are generally free to develop their own internal policies, but many laws require employers to notify employees of those policies. Consider the case of Jones v. City of Atlantic City in which an FMLA dispute revealed that Atlantic City hadn’t updated its handbook in 13 years. In fact, the last update happened two months before the FMLA was signed into law.

Benefits 101: Understanding fundamental ERISA compliance

03/04/2011
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 sets minimum standards for retirement and health benefit plans in private industry. ERISA does not require any employer to establish a plan. It only requires those that do to meet certain standards. Complying with ERISA can be difficult because it is a complex law. There are three components to compliance:

Don’t grant unlimited leave as ADA accommodation

03/04/2011

Employees who use up their FMLA leave may still be entitled to more time off when that leave expires. Some additional time off can be a legitimate reasonable accommodation under the ADA. But if the employee still can’t return after additional leave, it may be time to discuss termination.