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Employment Law

Good news: Properly worded arbitration agreement valid in California

06/18/2010
A federal court has ruled that an arbitration agreement—even an admittedly oppressive one—can be enforced in California if it’s drafted broadly enough.

When determining fitness for duty, strictly limit medical inquiries to essential functions

06/18/2010

Employers aren’t allowed to delve into an employee’s disabilities or medical history when that employee wants to keep the information private—unless the employer can show a job-related reason for doing so. To qualify, the inquiry must be narrowly tailored to assess whether the employee is capable of performing the essential functions of his job. Broad questions often run afoul of the law.

California Supreme Court redefines ’employer’

06/18/2010
The California Supreme Court has ruled that California law on who is or is not an employee goes beyond the definition contained in the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and includes a broader measure of who is an employer.

How to write a tough, but legal, at-will statement

06/17/2010
Q. We want our employees to know that they don’t have guaranteed employment. Can you provide an example of a tough at-will statement that we can give them?

Commercial pilots claim FAA retirement plan violates state law

06/16/2010
When Congress raised commercial pilots’ mandatory retirement age from 60 to 65, not all pilots were pleased. Pilots who had previously been forced to retire at age 60 weren’t grandfathered into the new system. Now the pilots are seeking back pay and lost wages under state laws and the Federal Tort Claims Act.

Favoring clear accent might not be discrimination

06/16/2010

Students often complain about foreign professors whose accents they have trouble understanding. Those concerns can be a legitimate reason for a university to hire a candidate with better communications skills. That’s true even though accent discrimination can be construed as national-origin discrimination.

Independent review protects against hidden supervisor bias

06/16/2010

Despite your best efforts, a rogue supervisor occasionally slips through. He may harbor discriminatory attitudes that can color his termination and disciplinary decisions. But you can cut that chain by doing a little independent digging into what really happened. Then document your efforts to get both sides of the story.

Don’t tolerate threats, even if they occur during conversation about possible discrimination

06/16/2010

Employees who complain about alleged discrimination are protected from retaliation for complaining. That protection, however, isn’t unlimited. There’s a huge difference, for example, between an employee who calmly reports that he has been discriminated against and someone whose complaints sound more like threats of physical harm.

Stop lawsuits before they start: Set clear process for posting job opportunities

06/16/2010

It seems logical enough: Employees shouldn’t be able to sue over promotions they never applied for. But in some cases where positions were never posted, employees have successfully sued, alleging they would have applied had they known there was an opening. Fortunately, the 11th Circuit won’t allow those employees an automatic win …

State tax workers: No Bonnie and Clyde

06/15/2010
Some criminals think big. Then there’s Stefan Arteaga-Pitzenbauer, an employee of the New Jersey Division of Taxation’s unclaimed property office who thought he had hatched a foolproof get-rich-quick scheme.