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Pennsylvania

Employment Lawyer Network:
Pennsylvania

Susan K. Lessack (Editor)

Pepper Hamilton LLP
Pennsylvania Employment Law

LessackS@PepperLaw.com
(610) 640-7806

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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 anti-bias agency sued for race bias

01/03/2014
The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission (PHRC) is getting a taste of its own medicine. A candidate for the position of PHRC executive director has filed a lawsuit claiming that the commission—which investigates discrimination charges—is guilty of being racially biased.

A hairy problem: Cut biased grooming rules

01/03/2014
Here’s a warning about general grooming standards and disciplining employees over their hairstyle choices: Make sure you apply the same standards to all employees and don’t end up forbidding members of a particular protected class to wear hairstyles that are OK for other workers.

Fired for 1st violation? Better explain why

12/13/2013
There’s a first time for everything—including firing someone for violating a rule. But that may spell trouble if other employees weren’t punished for breaking the same rule.

Is there a legal way to ask if candidates will be able to work weekends and after hours?

11/27/2013
Q. We are currently interviewing for an event coordinator position, which would require the person to frequently work well beyond the usual 9-to-5 workweek. Is there a way we can ask about personal situations and make it clear that missing these events because of family obligations would not be tolerated?

How should we handle time tracking for nonexempt telecommuters?

11/27/2013
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?

Accommodating religion in the 21st century workplace

11/27/2013
Employers are often reluctant to raise concerns over the impact of an employee’s religious practices. Those issues generally aren’t considered to be job-related, and the fear is that addressing them might cause a discrimination lawsuit.

Coatesville superintendent, AD resign over racist texts

11/27/2013
The Coatesville Area School District superintendent and athletic director have both resigned after bigoted text messages between the two came to light when a technician transferred their data to new employer-provided phones.

EEOC sues over alleged ‘mark of the beast’ monitoring

11/27/2013
The EEOC is suing Canonsburg-based CONSOL Energy on behalf of an evangelical Christian who retired from his job rather than submit to biometric scanning designed to track his work time and activities.

Isolated attack not grounds for harassment lawsuit

11/27/2013
Employers can control some hazardous work conditions, but not all of them. What a particular customer or client may do when he comes in contact with an employee likely falls into the uncontrollable category.

Employee prone to ­mistakes? That doesn’t mean she’s disabled

11/27/2013
Some employees can’t seem to get it together and do their jobs properly. While an underlying medical or psychological problem may be the cause, don’t assume that’s the case if the employee hasn’t asked for help or a reasonable accommodation.