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Employment Law

Employment law by the numbers: Know which laws you can ignore

06/01/2010

Employers must stay abreast of an alphabet soup of federal laws—ADA, ADEA, FMLA and so forth—each with its own requirements. To comply, you first must know which laws apply to your business, based on the number of people you employ. Here’s how to tell which laws affect your workplace … and which ones you can safely ignore.

As economy rebounds, unions feed off ‘I want my slice!’ gripes

06/01/2010
During the past few years of deep recession, employees mostly understood your organization’s need to freeze wages, stop 401(k) matches and, in some cases, trim payrolls. But the improving economy and resulting positive headlines are causing more employees to wonder when this good news will trickle down to their own paychecks. And unions are using this unease as a way to organize new members.

Can you fire an employee for threatening suicide?

06/01/2010
Suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in the United States. What should you do if you learn one of your employees brandished a gun and threatened suicide, but a doctor released him back to work? Shouldn’t you be concerned about safety? What other kinds of liability might you face?

Pre-Employment Testing

06/01/2010

HR Law 101: Many organizations use pre-employment tests to screen applicants. But be aware of the risks involved. Unless you can demonstrate that a test measures job-related qualities and fulfills a business necessity, you could be exposing your organization to charges of discrimination …

Professional Building Systems settles racial harassment case

05/28/2010
Mount Gilead-based Professional Building Systems will pay 12 black employees $118,000 to settle charges of racial harassment. According to the EEOC, which brokered the agreement, six workers filed the initial complaint and six more experienced the same harassment.

Bizarre, nonsensical lawsuit? Vigorous response still required

05/28/2010

It doesn’t take much to get a lawsuit started. Sometimes a former employee—or perhaps even a total stranger—will walk into the nearest state or federal courthouse and ask to fill out a complaint form. The court is required to accept it and send it on. Regardless of its apparent merit, respond aggressively to it. If you don’t act, you risk a default judgment.

Unexpected bias worry: denial of training

05/28/2010

Remind bosses that everyone who is qualified for training should have access to development opportunities, and that hand-selecting subordinates to attend training can be discrimination. Note: Be sure they understand that older employees are also entitled to training—even if it seems reasonable that they may quit or retire soon.

Set equitable system for assigning overtime–it’s an essential defense against bias claims

05/28/2010
Do you have a system that allows all employees in the same job category an equal shot at earning overtime pay? If not, consider setting up a fair system for distributing that extra work. Otherwise, you may find yourself facing a discrimination lawsuit.

Good news for employers: Workers’ comp retaliation isn’t a federal case

05/28/2010
Whenever a case moves from state court into the federal court system, costs go up and delays become frequent because dockets are so crowded. That’s one reason a recent decision by a federal court to send a case back to the North Carolina court system is good news. The case involved a workers’ compensation retaliation claim …

N.C. union membership rate fell even more in 2009

05/28/2010
According to the latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), North Carolina lost 17,000 union jobs last year, cementing its position as the least-unionized state in the nation. Just 3.1% of North Carolinians belonged to a union in 2009, down from 3.5% in 2008.