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Employment Law

Commercial pilots claim FAA retirement plan broke state law

05/14/2010

When Congress raised the mandatory retirement age for commercial pilots from 60 to 65, not all pilots were pleased. Pilots who had been forced to retire under the 60-years-of-age rule were not grandfathered into the new system. Now the pilots are seeking back pay and lost wages under state laws and the Federal Tort Claims Act.

Minnesota’s own ‘equal rights amendment’ moves forward

05/14/2010
The Minnesota Senate will hold hearings on the Constitutional Amendment for Equality (CAFE), a state-level equivalent of the federal Equal Rights Amendment that failed to win ratification in the 1970s and ’80s. In a statement, Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party legislators said the amendment to the Minnesota constitution would protect women’s rights in ways statutes can’t.

Massive Walmart class action moves forward

05/14/2010

It’s the employment law case everyone is watching. A massive, long-running gender pay discrimination class action against Walmart has overcome another hurdle on its way to what could become the largest payout to employees in U.S. history. The plaintiffs—potentially 1.5 million women who have worked at 3,400 Walmart stores—got a victory in April when the full panel 9th Circuit Court of Appeals gave the go-ahead for the case to proceed.

 

Employee or contractor? Ask who controls the work

05/14/2010
Independent contractors aren’t eligible for unemployment compensation, and their clients don’t have to pay into the unemployment compensation trust fund, as the following case shows.

Good news if you’re facing class action: Courts balk at letting classes snowball

05/14/2010

It’s one of the worst HR nightmares possible: One disgruntled employee claims she represents hundreds or thousands of employees who have allegedly suffered discrimination. What was a single case suddenly grows into a huge, companywide class-action lawsuit—with a price tag that has suddenly grown exponentially. Fortunately, federal courts handling Minnesota cases seem to be stepping back from the brink. They’re not approving as many class-action requests.

Stick with termination decision–and don’t hint that you’re open to reconsidering

05/14/2010
Once you’ve made the tough decision to terminate an employee, stick to it. If you let the employee talk you into reconsidering, you may end up with a lawsuit over whether a contract had been created.

Employee thinks he has you over a barrel? If it sounds like extortion, fire him!

05/14/2010

You know that you can’t retaliate against an employee who, in good faith, complains about alleged discrimination. That’s true even if it turns out that he was wrong and no discrimination actually occurred. The key there is “good faith.” It’s not retaliation to fire someone who is simply trying to extort a benefit by making a frivolous complaint.

DOL stops issuing wage-and-hour opinion letters

05/14/2010
For the past 50 years, employers could ask the U.S. Department of Labor to issue an “opinion letter” to provide guidance on fact-specific questions about overtime, FLSA or wage-and-hour issues. But the DOL stopped the practice last month, replacing the letters with “administrator interpretations.”

Must we give extra pay for extra duties?

05/13/2010
Q. We are short-staffed and some of our employees have been assigned tasks beyond what they were hired to do. Some have said they want more money because of this. Do we have to increase their pay?

OK to use deductions to collect from employees?

05/11/2010
Q. If an employee owes us money, can we collect it through deductions from his wages?