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Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh McDonald’s faces suit alleging rogue manager

07/24/2008
A former McDonald’s employee is suing the Oak Brook, Ill.-based company for permitting sexual harassment at a Pittsburgh restaurant. Vonda Jackson alleges that an assistant store manager touched her inappropriately …

Never, never on a Sunday

07/24/2008

Timothy Walker was hired in 1995 at the Lafayette, Ind., plant of Alcoa Inc., based in Pittsburgh. Walker also served as a pastor at an area church. In May 1998, when he was appointed head pastor, Walker asked to be excused from work on Sundays …

Feds ask former steelworkers to pay up for government’s mistake

07/24/2008
Hundreds of retired steelworkers in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and New York have been notified that their pensions are being cut by as much as 75% due to miscalculations by the federal government …

House votes to make misclassifying independent contractors a third-Degree felony

07/24/2008
A bill approved by the state House in June—the Construction Industry Independent Contractor Act—would make intentionally misclassifying workers as independent contractors a third-degree felony for employers in residential or commercial construction. Cases of negligence would constitute a summary offense …

Workplace bullying by managers: Unpleasant, but is it illegal?

07/24/2008
According a recent Zogby International survey, 37% of U.S. workers report that they’ve been bullied at work. Not surprisingly, they say, the overwhelming majority (72%) of bullies are bosses. Workplace bullying is harassment that’s not necessarily based on an employee’s protected characteristic, such as gender or race. But, unlike harassment based on a protected class, bullying may not be illegal …

Termination by phone: legal but unwise

07/24/2008

Q. We have an employee who has been working from home. We’ve decided we really need someone in the office. Can we terminate her by phone? Or do we have to call her into the office? …

Exempt employees and negative leave balances

07/24/2008
Q. I know I must pay exempt employees their full salaries even if they have no accrued benefits in their leave plans and their accounts have negative balances. But can I keep negative balance tallies and then subtract the negative balances as the employees earn more leave? …

Employee handbooks: Are they mandatory?

07/24/2008
Q. We have never had an employee handbook. Do we need one? If so, how do we start? …

Pregnancy discrimination law covers women who’ve had abortions

07/24/2008

By now you know that employers can’t fire or otherwise punish employees because they’re pregnant. But what about employees who choose to have an abortion? Make sure your supervisors know it’s illegal to discriminate against them, too.

Make sure bosses tell employees how to report harassment

07/01/2008
Have your supervisors and managers kept up with the changes by regularly reminding all employees—new and old—how they can report alleged sexual harassment? If not, you need to set up a training schedule. It’s the best way to ensure no employee will come out of left field with a sexual harassment complaint, take it to court—and win …