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North Carolina

Do you have employees covered by USERRA? Warning: You could be personally liable for bias

08/27/2010
Managers, supervisors and HR professionals, beware: Courts are cracking down on employers that punish employees who serve in the military. One way is by clarifying that those who participate in hiring and firing decisions may be held personally liable for violating USERRA.

What to do when the EEOC drags its feet

08/27/2010

Unfortunately for employers, the EEOC can spend as much time on the investigation as it wants without losing the right to sue. That’s because there is technically no statute of limitations on the commission’s actions. But that doesn’t mean employers are powerless. Fortunately, there is a legal doctrine employers can use when the EEOC waits and waits to initiate litigation.

Track rationale for all discipline decisions

08/27/2010

Employees who sue for discrimination usually have to show they were punished more harshly than other employees outside their protected class. Counter such claims with specifics. While you may have punished 10 employees this year for breaking the same rule, chances are that each case was unique—and that you made the punishment fit the crime. That’s fine.

When co-workers engage in racial harassment, act fast to remove offensive symbols

08/13/2010
Employers can escape liability for employees’ racist actions if they can show they acted quickly to stop any potentially race-based harassment such as graffiti or offensive symbols.

May we check an employee message sent from work to his personal e-mail?

07/23/2010
Q. One of our sales managers thinks a salesperson has been e-mailing confidential customer information to his personal e-mail address. Can we review the salesperson’s sent-messages file on the company’s e-mail server to see what he has been sending out?

Can we use GPS cell phones to track employees without telling them?

07/23/2010
Q. Our employees have company-issued cell phones with global positioning systems capabilities. Can we use the GPS to track employees’ movements without telling them we are doing so?

Are there privacy concerns when I use social media to check out applicants?

07/23/2010
Q. Am I invading applicants’ privacy by reviewing their Facebook, MySpace, blogs and Twitter feeds?

Am I allowed to check social media web sites for information on job applicants?

07/23/2010
Q. Is it OK for me to consider information about a job applicant that I learn by using Google, viewing Facebook pages and reviewing Twitter feeds?

How to comply with new lactation break and facility rules

07/23/2010
Hidden deep within the recently enacted health care reform legislation is a provision that garnered neither debate nor controversy in the media or the halls of Congress. The law amends the FLSA to require large employers to provide lactation breaks and facilities for employees who are breastfeeding.

Greensboro pastors side with suspended police captain

07/23/2010

According to a group of black ministers, Greensboro Police Department Capt. Charles Cherry is being punished for helping black officers file race discrimination complaints. The group, called the Pulpit Forum, held a news conference expressing its support for Cherry, who is black.