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Pennsylvania

What goes in a company credit card policy?

02/02/2009

Q. I work for a nonprofit agency. We plan to start using an agency credit card. We need a policy that covers who can use the card and when, plus some other things I haven’t thought of yet. What should the policy include?

Employers cut ’09 salary budgets; raises fall below 3%

02/01/2009

Remember those surveys last summer forecasting steady 3.6% salary increases for 2009? Forget about it. U.S. workers, on average, are now projected to receive annual merit increases of between 2.3% and 3.0% …

Obama signs Ledbetter Act, easing path for pay-bias suits

01/29/2009

President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act on Jan. 29, making it easier for women and others to sue for pay discrimination that may date back decades. Drafted in response to a 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision that said employees had at most 300 days to file pay discrimination complaints, the new law counts each unfairly low paycheck as a fresh discriminatory act.

Boss makes employee sick? That’s no disability

01/27/2009

If every employee who got depressed or anxious after receiving a poor performance review or trying to satisfy a demanding boss could sue, the courts would have little time for anything else. That may be one reason that courts have been rejecting ADA cases based on stress and anxiety brought on by work conditions.

Promptly investigate co-worker harassment—and ensure employees know how to report it

01/27/2009

There’s no time like now to review your sexual harassment policies and processes. First, remember that sexual harassment by a supervisor is the most dangerous kind. But that’s not the case with most sexual harassment complaints, however—the ones that occur between co-workers.

Don’t let petty grievances cost you sleep: They seldom cause discrimination liability

01/27/2009

Most minor grievances never add up to a discrimination lawsuit. That’s why you shouldn’t lose too much sleep over employees who whine about every little problem. Employees—even those belonging to a protected class—must be able to tolerate minor annoyances. Judges don’t like having to referee workplace pettiness.

Attendance policies: Control absenteeism without breaking the law

01/05/2009

Regular attendance is a key job function for most of your employees. But while you are free to set and enforce attendance rules, you must also comply with key federal laws, including the FMLA and the ADA …

Court not sold that SEPTA is ‘arm of the state’

12/24/2008

A bus driver recently sued the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), claiming she and all others like her had been paid less than they were entitled to. SEPTA tried to get out of the lawsuit by saying it was an arm of the state, and therefore immune from Fair Labor Standards Act claims.

Winning unemployment case doesn’t let you off the hook for wrongful discharge

12/24/2008

Many employers carefully prepare for unemployment compensation hearings, especially if the employee was fired for misconduct. Then, having proven that the employee was fired for some wrongful act, they naively conclude that the same employee can’t turn around and sue them for wrongful discharge.

Prepare for the worst: Public employees can sue even for being suspended

12/24/2008

Government employees frequently have a constitutional right to notice and some sort of a hearing before losing their jobs. And according to a recent federal appeals court decision, that right sometimes extends to a suspension or some other discipline that stops short of termination.