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Employment Law

EEOC wrings $500,000 out of Everdry in harassment settlement

07/08/2010
Everdry Marketing and Management, a waterproofing firm, has paid more than $500,000 to satisfy a judgment won by a group of 13 women who filed sexual harassment claims against the company.

Don’t sweat a little confusion when worker returns from FMLA

07/08/2010

If an employer has to move people and equipment around to cover an employee’s work during FMLA leave, it may be difficult to reintegrate the returning employee right away. That’s OK. Minor delays aren’t enough to support an interference-with-FMLA-rights lawsuit.

Co-worker’s single slur isn’t enough to justify lawsuit

07/08/2010
Here’s some common sense from the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals: A co-worker’s isolated idiotic comment isn’t enough to support an entire discrimination lawsuit.

Include federal jury service protection in your employee handbook and policies

07/08/2010
Make sure your employee handbook covers federal jury service and that supervisors don’t punish employees who serve on federal juries. Employees who are called to serve on juries in federal courts are protected from discharge because of their service.

Courts more reluctant to extend employee deadlines for filing lawsuits

07/08/2010

You should be able to rest easy after an employee misses a deadline to file a lawsuit. In the past, courts have been lenient when it comes to those deadlines, especially if the employee doesn’t have an attorney. But now the tide seems to be turning. Courts are beginning to get stricter about deadlines.

Discovered hostile environment? Fix the problem, ensure there’s no repeat … and rest easy

07/08/2010

Sometimes despite your efforts to prevent it, a complaint leads to solid evidence that a female employee has endured severe sexual harassment at the hands of co-workers. What’s your next move? And will that move enable you to prevent a successful lawsuit? If you correct the problem and prevent any further similar harassment, your company will be in the clear after 300 days.

Long Island firefighters win benefits in age-bias settlement

07/08/2010
Long Island’s Bayville Fire Department will allow volunteer firefighters to accrue length-of-service credit past age 65 as part of an age discrimination settlement with the EEOC. The volunteers accrue service time and then receive bonuses based on that time. The payments essentially amount to a pension.

Don’t ask for unlimited medical exam consent

07/08/2010
Under the ADA, medical exams are allowed only if needed to determine whether an employee requires a reasonable accommodation or if the employer believes the employee will be unable to safely perform the job. But can employers require employees to agree to more extensive medical examinations as a condition of employment? Probably not.

Accommodation denied? Beware retaliation suit

07/08/2010

Employers sometimes forget that merely asking for a reasonable accommodation may be a protected activity. That’s true even if it turns out that the employee isn’t disabled and therefore isn’t due an accommodation. Anything an employer does that could be construed as punishment for requesting help could spell trouble—and a retaliation lawsuit.

Are we in trouble? We just demanded that one of our employees lose weight

07/08/2010
Q. I own a restaurant where we require the waitresses to wear revealing outfits. Recently, we placed an employee on a probationary period as a result of her having gained weight. We advised her that if she did not lose 10 pounds in 60 days, we would terminate her employment. Have we done anything illegal?