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Pennsylvania

How should we handle exempt employees’ sick leave taken under our PTO plan?

05/10/2017
Q. The FLSA requires that we pay the full salary for any week in which the exempt employee performs any work. We have a sick leave plan for all employees included in our paid time off—or PTO—plan. If an exempt employee calls off sick, we dock her PTO available, which includes sick or vacation. In other words, our PTO isn’t split into sick and vacation pay. Can we dock this bank until it’s gone before we pay her for nonwork days?

Appeals courts split on Title VII sexual orientation discrimination

05/10/2017
The 2nd and 7th Circuits have recently issued conflicting rulings, with the 2nd Circuit holding that sexual orientation discrimination is not sex discrimination within the meaning of Title VII, and the 7th Circuit holding the opposite.

Family sells 70-year-old meat company to employees

05/10/2017
Third-generation owners Mark Godshall, Floyd Kratz and Ron Godshall said they were motivated to make the transfer as a way to preserve the company’s independence.

ADA retaliation claim doesn’t require actual disability

05/10/2017
Punishing an employee who requests a reasonable accommodation is retaliation even if it turns out that employee isn’t disabled and, therefore, wasn’t eligible for an accommodation at all.

Benefits mistake creates unemployment comp eligibility

05/10/2017
A worker who claimed her new employer reneged on promised benefits has won her bid to receive unemployment compensation.

Be careful after employee wins lawsuit, but don’t be afraid of warranted discipline

05/10/2017
When an employee has won a lawsuit against her employer, managers naturally want to make sure they don’t do anything that might smack of possible retaliation. On the other hand, managers shouldn’t feel as if the employee is now “untouchable.”

Termination likely? Follow all the steps in your usual HR processes anyway

05/10/2017
Sometimes it’s obvious that you are going to have to fire an employee. First, however, you must follow your usual employment and HR procedures. Don’t just go through the motions, and don’t get sloppy!

Employee doesn’t have to follow every step in your harassment complaint procedure

05/10/2017
Don’t think setting up a multiple-path complaint process lets you off the hook. Even if an employee neglects to take her complaint “up the organization chart,” you are still responsible for stopping harassment that you find out about.

Old reviews don’t trump recent performance

05/10/2017
Employees who are fired for poor performance sometimes challenge the decision by citing previous performance reviews showing that they were good workers. Courts don’t always buy it, especially if the employer can show that the good evaluations happened under another supervisor or in different circumstances.

Feel free to set tough harassment standards

05/10/2017
When it comes to responding to sexual harassment, courts give employers considerable leeway. That doesn’t mean you can’t set extremely strict rules on your own.