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Ohio

Case of the Week: Revoking remote work privilege isn’t basis for lawsuit

06/09/2023

Employees who sue their employers for retaliation must prove that they experienced an adverse employment action. Being fired, demoted or transferred to a different location with lower pay generally qualify as adverse. But minor changes that don’t include lower pay, lost benefits or substantially different duties and responsibilities aren’t enough to justify a lawsuit.

Cost of segregating jobs by sex: $1.25 million

05/22/2023

Buying into old stereotypes about the kind of work men and women do can be a costly error. One employer recently found that out the hard way, paying $1.25 million when it was caught placing women in traditionally female roles and reserving more physically strenuous (and higher-paying) jobs for men.

Avoid surprise OT claims with this simple policy

05/08/2023

The Fair Labor Standards Act imposes stiff penalties on employers that cheat employees out of overtime pay. They must pay double what they should have paid in the first place. But there’s a simple way to avoid that liability: Have a policy that makes it easy for employees to report being underpaid. Then promptly investigate if someone reports not receiving the overtime pay they were expecting.

Dropping degree requirement? It could trigger discrimination lawsuits

04/24/2023

Today’s competitive recruiting environment has employers rethinking their hiring criteria. Many have decided to scrap requirements that say applicants must have college degrees to even be considered for a job. But as with many things in life, there may be unintended consequences. One is a potential increase in lawsuits that allege bias in the hiring process.

Document every step in investigation

03/16/2023

Employees who get fired are very likely to file lawsuits. Their lawyers will surely scrutinize your investigation for any evidence that you took shortcuts or were biased in some way against their client. It’s up to HR to prepare for that possibility by showing that the investigation was based on valid business reasons and that you applied the process even-handedly.

No retaliation ever for invoking FMLA rights—even if employee may be ineligible

02/16/2023

The 6th Circuit revived the FMLA retaliation claim of an attorney fired immediately after she requested unpaid leave to care for her two-year-old child at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keep it Legal: The case for detailed disciplinary notes

01/06/2023

Do you keep detailed disciplinary notes and pass them on to HR? Here’s why, as a manager, you should. If you have to fire a worker and he sues, alleging discrimination because another worker broke the same rule and wasn’t fired, those notes will come in handy. Detailed narratives let you explain why you allowed one worker to get away with a warning or short suspension while you fired another worker who broke the same rule.

Follow these key FMLA intermittent leave call-off rules

01/04/2023

Managing employees authorized to take FMLA on an intermittent basis can be a massive headache. You never know when the employee will call off work. But disciplining the employee for missing work can backfire. Here’s how to create call-off rules that comply with the law.

Court: Faith allows skipping preferred pronouns

07/14/2022

A worker whose gender identity differs from that assigned at birth can insist on being addressed by his or her preferred pronouns. At the same time, a co-worker whose sincerely held religious beliefs reject the concept of transgenderism might object on religious grounds to having to use those preferred pronouns.

Investigations: Interview all bystanders

06/30/2022

Courts will generally honor employer decisions that seem to have been made in good faith. That includes decisions concerning who was telling the truth about a workplace incident.