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Compensation & Benefits

Can I hire a home-Schooled teenager who doesn’t have a work permit?

06/06/2008
Q. I am a small business owner. A 17-year-old who is not emancipated and has not graduated from high school recently approached me seeking full-time employment. She claims that, because she is home-schooled, she can work full-time year-round and does not have access to a work permit from her school. Can I legally hire this minor without the school certificate required by Ohio law? …

Make sure handbook spells out maternity leave terms

06/04/2008

Is your employee handbook clear on exactly what constitutes maternity leave and how long it lasts? If you plan to permit just the 12 weeks allowed for pregnancy and childbirth under the FMLA, spell that out. Don’t refer to maternity leave separately and then provide a different week or month count …

Switched at birth: DCS women will get almost $1 million

06/04/2008
The New York State Department of Correctional Services (DCS) will pay $972,000 to 23 female DCS employees who were shortchanged by the department’s maternity leave policy when they became pregnant while on workers’ compensation leave …

Con Ed retirees sue, saying buyout was a costly sellout

06/04/2008
New York Con Ed employees who took an early retirement buyout have filed a class-action lawsuit alleging the deal was nothing more than a loan-shark scheme …

Attorney General Cuomo calls double dipping ‘Inexcusable’

06/04/2008
State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has subpoenaed the records of all 124 school districts on Long Island in an investigation of “double dipping” by administrators who received state pensions and were rehired for lucrative interim positions …

You fired worker on FMLA leave? Better have a good reason

06/03/2008
Employers can’t manipulate the FMLA to terminate employees for taking FMLA leave by trumping up charges. As the following case shows, courts grow very suspicious when employers come up with reasons to fire employees who are on FMLA leave. And they often send such cases to trial, leaving employers at the mercy of juries …

Now hear this: You’ll pay for firing worker out on health leave

06/03/2008
Colorado Sports and Spine Centers has just agreed to pay $137,500 to settle a discrimination lawsuit brought by the EEOC on behalf of former employee Kristina Siebert. The CSSC fired Siebert after she took time off to be fitted for hearing aids …

Fire away … but be prepared to defend terminations

06/03/2008
Employment terminations fall into several categories. Whether the situation involves new hires who didn’t work out, firings for cause or performance issues, or voluntary resignations, terminations often lead to litigation. For each type of termination, there are some common ways employers can make sure they can defend themselves if challenged …

Branch offices and FMLA leave

06/03/2008
Q. Our company has about 75 employees scattered throughout 10 offices in the state, with a maximum of 10 in any one office. One of our employees has requested FMLA leave for a serious health condition. Do we have to provide it? …

Hourly pay for highly paid workers

06/03/2008
Q. We want to hire certain highly paid workers at an hourly rate, but we don’t want to pay overtime at time and a half. These workers would perform exempt duties for purposes of the Fair Labor Standards Act. What are our options? …