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New York

Violence on the job? OK to base punishment on job classification and severity of offense

06/04/2008
While a zero-tolerance policy for fighting on the job is a good idea, it may not always be necessary. Instead, you can draw a distinction between violent transgressions and mere arguments that escalate into pushing or shoving. You also may want the discretion to punish workers in some categories more harshly than others …

Feuding employees leave employer mired in the middle

06/04/2008
Annie Ludwig began working for the Rochester Psychiatric Center (RPC) as a psychiatric nurse in the Adult Services Unit. Within a month, she was counseled to improve her professional knowledge, supervision and attendance. Otherwise, she would be in danger of losing her job …

Switched at birth: DCS women will get almost $1 million

06/04/2008
The New York State Department of Correctional Services (DCS) will pay $972,000 to 23 female DCS employees who were shortchanged by the department’s maternity leave policy when they became pregnant while on workers’ compensation leave …

Sexual harassment costs Rochester company $375,000

06/04/2008
American Industrial Sales Corp., a Rochester-based distributor of highway and industrial safety products, will pay $375,000 to 18 women to settle an EEOC sexual harassment lawsuit …

Con Ed retirees sue, saying buyout was a costly sellout

06/04/2008
New York Con Ed employees who took an early retirement buyout have filed a class-action lawsuit alleging the deal was nothing more than a loan-shark scheme …

Attorney General Cuomo calls double dipping ‘Inexcusable’

06/04/2008
State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has subpoenaed the records of all 124 school districts on Long Island in an investigation of “double dipping” by administrators who received state pensions and were rehired for lucrative interim positions …

Whether paper or electronic, make sure job applications are legal

06/04/2008
The days of the paper job application may be fading away, but whatever takes the place of paper applications better measure up the same way. Specifically, employers have to understand that online applications can hold more legal land mines than hard copy applications ever did …

Job background check must comply with Fair Credit Reporting Act

06/04/2008

The Fair Credit Reporting Act regulates how your company performs a job background check on applicants. Contrary to popular belief, this federal law doesn’t just cover credit checks. It covers any background report, such as driving records and criminal histories obtained from a “consumer reporting agency.”

Base reinstatement on job held at time leave began

05/07/2008
For determining reinstatement rights under the FMLA, it’s the job the employee was in at the time she began her FMLA leave that counts. As long as the job she returns to is substantially equivalent, it does not matter that the job may be below her capacities and educational background …

Beware: ‘Association discrimination’ is new HR worry

05/07/2008
You know it’s illegal to retaliate against an employee who has engaged in so-called “protected activity,” such as filing a discrimination complaint. Now the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals has taken the concept one step further …