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Pennsylvania

CVS fined for child labor, overtime and timecard violations

02/01/2008

CVS Caremark Corp. was fined $226,000 by the U.S. Labor Department for changing employee timecards and violating child labor laws. The department found 43 violations at stores in Pennsylvania and six other states …

$17,000 brightens day for Worthington mushroom workers

02/01/2008

A group of fired Thai workers have settled an unpaid-wages lawsuit with Creekside Mushrooms of Worthington. The mushroom grower will pay $17,376 in back wages to four workers …

Demoting workers who belong to a protected class

02/01/2008
Q. When making demotion decisions—especially those involving employees in protected classes—what factors should an employer take into consideration to avoid legal backlash?

Setting policies for covering employees’ electronic communications

02/01/2008
Q. What areas should we cover in our electronic communications policy?

Responding to mold allergy illness complaints

02/01/2008
Q. We have an employee who claims she feels sick whenever she is at work. She attributes it to a mold allergy. What should I do?

Protecting against negligent hiring

02/01/2008

Q. I recently read an article about employees who were attacked at work by other employees who never should have been hired in the first place. How can an employer reduce its risk of liability for negligent hiring? …

Family responsibilities discrimination poses complex quandary

02/01/2008

When employers make employment decisions based on sex stereotypes about caregivers or favor employees who don’t have family responsibilities, affected employees can successfully sue for family responsibilities discrimination (FRD) …

What to do when you suspect an employee is stealing from the company

01/08/2008

Few HR dilemmas are as sticky as dealing with an employee accused of stealing from the company. Here’s how to handle the situation with care, making sure your organization doesn’t overstep its bounds and expose itself to liability.

Employee saying he ‘May’ have medical problem triggers FMLA

01/01/2008

Once an employer knows an employee will need FMLA leave, it cannot use that knowledge to the employee’s disadvantage. That’s true even if it’s only possible that the employee may need leave. It raises serious suspicions about your motives if you fire an employee shortly after he delivers notice he may need FMLA leave—and practically guarantees a lawsuit …

Show fairness by documenting all rule violations, discipline

01/01/2008

You must be prepared to show that you treated each and every employee equally when it comes to discipline. Otherwise, you may find yourself in the same situation as, in the following case, an employer that couldn’t recall how it had disciplined a white employee for violating an attendance rule, but fired a black employee for the same infraction …