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Pennsylvania

Feds charge Philadelphia priest with embezzlement

06/07/2017
Monsignor William A. Dombrow faces charges he embezzled more than a half million dollars from the Villa St. Joseph nursing home for retired priests in suburban Philadelphia.

Interfering with an internal investigation qualifies as misconduct

06/07/2017
Employees terminated for misconduct aren’t eligible for unemployment benefits. But what is misconduct?

For unemployment, cursing amounts to misconduct

06/07/2017
Pennsylvania workers can be denied unemployment benefits for willful misconduct. A court just decided cursing counts, even if there’s no specific rule against it.

Termination for criminal wrongdoing? Don’t bad-mouth the recently departed

06/07/2017
You’re surely on safe legal grounds to fire an employee for conduct that breaks the law, aren’t you? Of course you are. But that doesn’t mean you’re free to talk about the circumstances.

Beware rescinding religious accommodation! You will probably have to explain why in court

06/07/2017
Employers should carefully document the process by which they deny or approve a religious accommodation. In particular, granting a request and then deciding to revoke it later may make it more difficult to defend in court.

Liability is murky, but employers should still take measures to protect personal data

06/07/2017
Can an employer be held liable for any damage that results from a data breach that leads to identity theft?

Teach managers: No complaining about FMLA

06/07/2017
Make sure all supervisors understand that they must never criticize employees for taking FMLA leave. For employees who need to care for their own serious health condition or that of a close relative, FMLA leave is a right, not a privilege.

Lawsuit: Flight attendants harassed for union roles

06/07/2017
An American Airlines flight attendant based in Philadelphia and a colleague from North Carolina are suing, claiming the airline failed to police online forums and Facebook pages it controls, permitting other employees to harass the women for their union activities.

Past discipline record beats retaliation claim

05/17/2017
Here’s another good reason to consistently document all disciplinary actions: If an employee with a history of problems such as rules violations later engages in protected activity, it will be hard for him to show that the discipline was retaliation for engaging in that protected activity.

How should we track and manage work-at-home time for nonexempt employees?

05/10/2017
Q. We try to be a flexible workplace and sometimes get requests from employees to work from home for a day or two during school breaks and so on. I don’t have a problem with this for exempt employees, but what about hourly ones? How do we track that time?