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Employment Law

Aurora trucking firm sued for bilking employees on benefits

02/16/2010

The U.S. Department of Labor has sued Mid-State Express, alleging that the trucking company collected health care premiums from its employees, but never actually used them to buy insurance. As a result, employees face more than $3 million in unpaid medical bills.

Follow your own rules, courts will probably side with you

02/16/2010

You just can’t satisfy some employees. They’ll always find something to complain about. But if supervisors keep their cool and hold employees to the rules, chances are a disgruntled employee won’t get far with a lawsuit.

E-Verify now legal in Illinois … if employers play by new rules

02/16/2010

Illinois’ long-standing mistrust of the federal government’s E-Verify employment eligibility verification program has now been codified into a new law meant to make sure the online system can’t be used to harm workers. Employers that use E-Verify must now complete the Illinois Department of Labor’s “E-Verify Employer Attestation Form.”

Burden now on employees to show age bias caused adverse action

02/16/2010

Good news for employers! The U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark decision whose positive impact on employers is just being felt. The decision—Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc., (129 S. Ct. 2343, 2009)—involved an employee who alleged that his reassignment to a new position constituted a demotion that was improperly motivated by his age. That would have violated the ADEA.

How much should I worry about employees using social networking sites?

02/16/2010

Q. I heard that Facebook use is really picking up, but I don’t think most of our employees are that tech-savvy. Should I be concerned about my employees accessing social networking sites while at work?

In hiring, don’t overvalue interview skills; courts question subjective decision-making

02/15/2010

Does your selection process rely heavily on how applicants handle themselves during job interviews? If so, be aware that courts are often suspicious of such inherently subjective decision-making. That’s why it’s best to document how objective qualifications—such as education and experience—counted for more than the fleeting impression of an interview.

Majority of union members now work for governments

02/12/2010

For the first time in history, the number of unionized public-sector workers exceeds the number of private-sector union members, despite the fact that there are five times more workers in the private sector, according to a new U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report.

Lawsuit-proof hiring: Post every job opening

02/12/2010

Here’s one of the simplest ways to avoid failure-to-hire litigation: Adopt a uniform system for posting openings—and then stick with that system. If you do, employees won’t be able to claim later that they didn’t know about an opening and would have applied if only they knew.

Check CBA for pay rules on safety gear prep

02/12/2010

Sometimes it’s hard to imagine many advantages of being a union workplace, but here’s a bit of good news: At least in some limited circumstances, working under a collective-bargaining agreement gives employers some protection against FLSA lawsuits that demand payment for time spent putting on and taking off protective gear at the beginning and end of the workday.

Texas employees file FLSA suit against T.J. Maxx

02/12/2010

Employees of T.J. Maxx stores in Texas have filed a class-action suit alleging that the retailer stiffed workers out of regular wages and overtime pay. The lawsuit claims management required workers who exceeded their scheduled hours to work off the clock and told them to use vacation and sick time to cover time worked beyond their scheduled hours.