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Employment Law

Discipline ‘protected’ employee—but document why you treated similar offenses differently

12/03/2009

When it comes to discipline, the primary rule is to treat similar rule violations alike. That means you’ll have to punish all kinds of people for misbehaving, even if they’re members of a protected class. Don’t hesitate to do so if their behavior warrants it.

Courts say, ‘Enough!’: Employees must file all related claims at same time

12/03/2009

Courts are cracking down on serial lawsuits, and the result is good news for employers. A former employee who sues and then loses his case can’t keep coming up with new claims to base new lawsuits on. If the new claims are based on the same set of facts—even if they involve an entirely different legal angle—courts are ruling the claims should have been brought together.

Check union contract when tallying FMLA leave, workers’ comp absenteeism

12/03/2009

Many union contracts specifically allow employers to terminate employees who are out on workers’ comp for extended periods of time. Of course, injured employees also use up their allotment of FMLA leave while on workers’ comp leave. The question then becomes whether employers can count the FMLA absences toward the number of days the employee is absent before termination.

Beware retaliation suits even after employee’s gone

12/03/2009

If you think your liability ends when an employee leaves, think again. Employers can still be liable for retaliation if the employee complained about bias before she left and now claims you withheld compensation.

Oral agreements may be too vague to be enforceable

12/03/2009

Oral agreements are as binding as written ones, but they can be considerably less precise. Consider this case, in which a disgruntled employee claimed an oral agreement affected future compensation:

4 discriminatory hiring practices will lure EEOC to your door

12/03/2009

Since 2007, the EEOC has been engaged in a major push to stamp out race-based discrimination in hiring. Known as E-RACE, the initiative’s goal is to “eliminate recruiting and hiring practices that lead to discrimination by limiting an employer’s applicant pool.” When targeting employers for enforcement action, the EEOC often zeroes in on four recruitment and screening practices:

Fort Worth extends bias protection to transgenders

12/03/2009

On Nov. 10, the Fort Worth City Council voted to amend the city’s anti-discrimination ordinance to include discrimination based on transgender status, gender identity, or gender expression. Fort Worth now joins Austin, Dallas and El Paso as the only Texas cities banning such discrimination.

Noose, slurs lead women to sue for discrimination

12/03/2009

Two former employees of Trey Industries are suing the commercial construction company, claiming they were fired after complaining about racism they experienced while working at a Marathon Oil facility in Texas City.

After the deluge: Hurricane Ike washes up an age bias lawsuit

12/03/2009

A former employee of the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston has filed a lawsuit alleging he was fired last year because of his age. Thomas Galan claims he was let go at the age of 53 after Hurricane Ike forced UTMB to temporarily shut down in September 2008 and lay off hundreds of employees.

Congress passes new law expanding family medical military leave

12/03/2009

Just when you thought you had implemented all the necessary changes to your family- and military-leave policies, the law has again changed. On Oct. 28, President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for the 2010 fiscal year, which includes provisions that expand the military leave entitlements of the FMLA.