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Ohio

Toledo reaches settlement with former staff–and rehires them

03/09/2010

The Toledo City Council voted to pay $450,000 to settle a race discrimination and wrongful-termination lawsuit brought by two former city employees. That makes for a happy ending to a two-year legal odyssey for Office of Affirmative Action Director Perlean Griffin, and executive director of the city’s Youth Commission Dwayne Moorehead, who served under former Mayor Carty Finkbeiner.

Hugo Boss sews up deal to close suburban Cleveland plant

03/09/2010

German high-end clothing maker Hugo Boss has decided to close its factory in suburban Cleveland, even though the plant is profitable. Hugo Boss joins a decades-long exodus of textile and clothing manufacturers that have left the United States in favor of countries where they can pay workers less.

Koch Foods fined $536,000 after immigration raid

03/09/2010

In late 2007, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials raided a Koch Foods plant in Fairfield, just outside Cincinnati. They found 161 illegal workers at the poultry plant. Now ICE has fined the company $536,000.

RIFs and age bias suits: Understand the power of statistics

03/09/2010

If you’re like many employers, you offer severance pay when you have to implement a reduction in force. Never pay severance without getting something in return from the employee, namely a release and waiver of liability. There’s an important catch to understand when you ask for such a release from older workers.

Are we allowed to prohibit moonlighting?

03/09/2010

Q. Is there any law against having a policy that prohibits my employees from working a second job?

Can I terminate a cashier who just filed for bankruptcy?

03/09/2010

Q. I just found out that an employee filed for bankruptcy. I’m concerned, because she works a cash register and has access to money. Can I fire this employee?

What are the rights of an employee who wants leave to care for his pregnant girlfriend?

03/09/2010

Q. An employee’s girlfriend is pregnant and having some complications. He has asked for time off to care for her until the baby is born. What are his rights?

Must we allow an employee’s ‘representative’ to sit in on investigative meetings?

02/11/2010

Q. We are a nonunion shop. One of our employees is currently under investigation for sexual harassment. He has asked to have a representative present during all meetings and interviews related to the investigation. Do we have to permit him to have representation?

ADA: Accommodate fertility treatment, adoption

02/09/2010

Employees who suffer from an impaired ability to become pregnant are disabled under the ADA. Since childbearing is a major life activity, conditions that interfere with it qualify as disabilities. That means that employees who are infertile or have low fertility may be entitled to time off as a reasonable accommodation.

You’re liable for bias–even against temps

02/09/2010

Employers sometimes mistakenly believe that hiring a temporary employee through an agency means they won’t be liable if the worker files a discrimination or harassment complaint. The fact is that most temps—even if they are paid and generally managed by an agency—are still “employees” of the organization where they actually perform work. And they’re entitled to work in an environment free of harassment and discrimination.