• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Pennsylvania

Employment Lawyer Network:
Pennsylvania

Susan K. Lessack (Editor)

Pepper Hamilton LLP
Pennsylvania Employment Law

LessackS@PepperLaw.com
(610) 640-7806

Click for Full Bio

Susan K. Lessack is a partner in the Berwyn and Philadelphia offices of Pepper Hamilton LLP. She concentrates her practice in employment counseling and employment litigation. Ms. Lessack’s experience includes counseling employers on matters related to compliance with federal and state labor and employment laws, counseling regarding employee discipline and terminations, conducting investigations of employee conduct, including harassment, training employers on their obligations under employment laws and litigation avoidance, and developing employment policies. She defends employers in litigation of employment discrimination claims, wrongful discharge claims, and claims under federal and state employment-related statutes, such as the Family and Medical Leave Act and the Pennsylvania Wage Payment and Collection Law.

Pennsylvania Industrial Homework Act

01/15/2007

Pennsylvania regulates—and in some cases prohibits—industrial homework, which the Industrial Homework Act defines as “any manufacture in a home of articles or materials for an employer, representative contractor or contractor.” In other words, no in-home sweatshops are allowed in Pennsylvania …

Pennsylvania Law on Jury Duty

01/15/2007

Because Pennsylvania takes jury duty seriously, the legislature passed a law prohibiting most employers from retaliating against or punishing employees who become jurors. The law doesn’t require employers to compensate employees for jury duty, but it clearly states that employers can’t interfere with employees’ fulfillment of their civic duty …

You can demand that staff work overtime, but be consistent

01/01/2007

If your organization hits a busy time and needs employees to work long hours, don’t hesitate to require everyone to pitch in. Federal rules allow you to require nonexempt employees to work overtime, so long as you pay them time-and-a-half for hours worked above 40 in a week

Minor annoyances at work don’t add up to retaliation

01/01/2007

Last summer, the U.S. Supreme Court drafted a broad new legal standard for judging whether a company retaliated against an employee for complaining about discrimination. Now, the lower courts are starting to define what that standard means

Undocumented workers aren’t eligible for unemployment

01/01/2007

In Pennsylvania, laid off employees who aren’t legally documented to work in the United States aren’t eligible for unemployment compensation payments …

Give FMLA notice when employees go on workers’ comp

01/01/2007

When employees go on workers’ compensation leave, you should tell them about their FMLA rights. That starts the 12-week clock ticking. If you don’t notify them, a lawsuit may follow even if the employee settles the workers’ comp claim …

New Ruling May Help Limit Class-Action Cases in PA

01/01/2007

Attorneys looking to create extra trouble for employers have lost an important class-action ruling in Pennsylvania. Lawyers no longer will be able to file federal lawsuits and state lawsuits together in federal court …

Consensus Decisions Can Deflect Firing-Bias Claims

01/01/2007

One of the best ways to make sure a termination decision sticks is to adopt a consensus approach to the decision-making …

Employee’s ‘Audio Diary’ Spawns Lawsuit Against Pittsburgh TV Station

01/01/2007

CBS News sued a former administrative assistant at its KDKA-TV station in Pittsburgh for unlawfully recording phone calls, reading confidential e-mail and gathering private salary information. The company wants her to give the information back, including an “audio diary” she kept of phone calls for six months

Zero tolerance policy means zip, says York County employee

01/01/2007

York County’s zero tolerance sexual harassment policy didn’t add up to much for a former supervisor at the York County Youth Development Center, who has filed a federal sexual harassment lawsuit against her boss …