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New York

$4.3 million to settle Hispanic workers’ discrimination suit

12/01/2007

B & H Foto and Electronics Corp., the enormous 9th Avenue photo mecca in Manhattan, will pay $4.3 million to settle a race discrimination lawsuit by the EEOC. The lawsuit alleged B & H paid Hispanic warehouse workers less than others …

Morgan Stanley out $46 million to top female advisors

12/01/2007

A federal judge has approved a settlement by Wall Street financial services firm Morgan Stanley to end a sex discrimination suit. A class of 3,000 current and former female employees of the firm will share $46 million …

Greengrocer to pay $675,000 to underpaid workers

12/01/2007

Rossman Fruit and Vegetable, a Brooklyn discount greengrocer, agreed to pay $675,000 in back wages to 222 employees to settle a U.S. Labor Department lawsuit. The settlement covers payments below minimum wage and unpaid time-and-a-half for overtime hours from 2001 to 2005 …

How to develop an employee handbook that avoids liability

12/01/2007

With employment litigation rising steadily, the employee handbook has become an essential tool in the employer’s arsenal to defend against liability for employment decisions. A good handbook tells employees what the rules are and how they will be enforced …

Do temporary employees count?

12/01/2007

Q. We’re a small company with about 45 employees, but we have another 20 employees who are temporary. Do we have to count the temps when complying with the EEO or other employment laws? …

Do supervisors’ ‘Unofficial’ employee files raise any legal red flags?

12/01/2007

Q. We have several supervisors who insist on keeping their own private files on employees in their departments, especially to record absences and comp days. Is this legal? …

Commissions, overtime and the Fair Labor Standards Act

12/01/2007

Q. We have a number of employees who are paid on a commission basis. Are they exempt from overtime under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act? …

Disciplining tardy, exempt employees

12/01/2007

Q. We have an exempt employee who is consistently late a few times a week, arriving anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of hours late. Can we discipline him for being consistently late? In addition, can we require him to work at set times—for example from 9 am to 5 pm? …

Exec claims systemic bias? Don’t shoot the messenger

11/01/2007

If a manager or other high-level employee comes forward with charges the company discriminates based on race, sex or other protected characteristics—stop, look and listen! Unless you are absolutely sure there’s no basis for the manager’s claims, take those charges seriously. Whatever you do, don’t punish the manager or try to drive him out …

No matter how many contracts, OT still starts after 40 hours

11/01/2007

Do you have employees working on different contracts during the same week? If so, you must make sure you add up their total number of hours and pay overtime for the hours in excess of 40 per week. You can’t issue separate paychecks for each contract and avoid overtime payments. The Fair Labor Standards Act clearly states that all hours worked “for a particular employer” count for overtime, even if the work is done on different projects or contracts.