• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Employment Law

Iron Range school learns whistle-blower lesson

03/11/2010

When Elizabeth Johnson complained about unsafe working conditions at the Northland Learning Center, a cooperative of alternative schools for children with disabilities in Minnesota’s Iron Range, her boss took no action. Frustrated, Johnson wrote an anonymous letter to the local newspaper outlining the problems. That got the school’s attention …

Be careful! Caregiver discrimination claims are on the rise

03/11/2010

In recent years, employees have begun filing more and more “caregiver” or “family responsibility” discrimination lawsuits. No federal or Minnesota law specifically addresses discrimination against caregivers. However, treating employees with caregiving responsibilities differently than other employees may violate various employment laws, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the ADA, the FMLA and the Minnesota Human Rights Act.

How should we handle overtime and holidays?

03/11/2010

Q. I am wondering about rules relating to overtime during weeks with holidays. We pay a higher rate than normal for employees who work on the day of a holiday. Do we need to include the additional pay rate in calculating any overtime owed during the same week? …

How should we proceed? We want to hire someone who has signed a noncompete agreement

03/11/2010

Q. We would like to hire an applicant who used to work for a similar company, but he has a noncompete agreement with his former employer. We think the noncompete is way too broad—it lasts for three years and prevents him from working anywhere in the country—and we do not believe the work he will be doing competes with any activities of his former employer. Can we go ahead and hire him?

Worker wants to alter a discipline note she saw in her personnel file—Now what?

03/11/2010

Q. An employee asked to review her personnel file, and we let her. Now she wants us to change a discipline notice she found in the file. We don’t have to do that, do we?

The HR I.Q. Test: March ’10

03/10/2010

Test your knowledge of recent trends in employment law, comp & benefits and other HR issues with our monthly mini-quiz …

We hear a worker is sick: What can we say?

03/10/2010

Q. We recently heard from a co-worker that an employee (“Mike”) seemed to be having some health issues. Mike hasn’t said anything to his supervisor or anyone else as far as we know. What can we say?

Must employers use progressive discipline?

03/10/2010

Q. Under our progressive discipline policy, employees receive an oral warning, a written warning, suspension and finally termination. If an employee’s conduct is severe enough to warrant termination upon the first offense, can we fire the employee right away, or must we follow this progressive discipline policy?

What can we ask about how applicant would get to work?

03/10/2010

Q. In our experience, employees who take public transportation or rely on rides from others are more likely to be tardy to work than those who own their own vehicle. Therefore, before hiring an applicant for employment, we would like to make sure the applicant has a reliable method of transportation to work. Would it be appropriate to inquire, for example, whether the applicant owns a vehicle?

Remind your managers: No comments on family planning

03/09/2010

Most bosses understand they can’t use ethnic or racial slurs, but many don’t understand that the same common sense applies to discussing topics such as family planning. What sorts of comments are off limits? Just about anything that could make an employee think a supervisor might count it against her if she used FMLA leave.