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Employment Law

You can discharge if there’s no way to tell when employee will return to work

05/13/2009

Employers don’t have to provide a disabled employee with an indefinite leave of absence when the employee has a medical emergency and doesn’t know how long it will take to return. As long as the employee isn’t covered by the FMLA (in which case, she is entitled to 12 unpaid weeks of leave), you can terminate the employee without violating the ADA.

Warn bosses: Don’t promise job if they don’t have the authority

05/13/2009

Here’s a reminder for all your supervisors and managers when they are interviewing and selecting potential employees. Tell them they must never promise a job before getting approval. Doing so may mean a lawsuit if the applicant relies on the promise to his detriment.

Reassignment to new location may not violate FMLA

05/13/2009

Employees who take FMLA leave are entitled to their former jobs or equivalent ones when they return to work. But sometimes employers that operate many locations move employees around to cover for the employee on FMLA leave. They may not want to move those employees again. Can the returning employee be assigned to another location?

Male-dominated mailroom costs Star-Tribune $300,000

05/13/2009

The Star-Tribune, one of the 20 largest newspapers in the country, has signed on to a class-action settlement agreement involving two women who filed sexual harassment charges against the company. The agreement was worked out by the EEOC after two women working in the mailroom claimed they were subjected to a sexually hostile work environment.

How to prepare your workplace for a possible flu pandemic

05/13/2009

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have for years predicted that a virulent influenza outbreak could kill tens of thousands, hospitalize hundreds of thousands and sicken millions. Regardless of how the swine flu crisis plays out, it should be a wake-up call for employers. If you haven’t already, now is the time to undertake pandemic planning efforts.

Can we offer equity stake in lieu of pay and still comply with the FLSA?

05/13/2009

Q. We are a small start-up company. We have an office manager whom we pay $350 per week. I understand that, in order to be exempt from overtime labor laws, we would need to pay her at least $455 per week. We can’t afford to pay that amount, but are willing to provide her stock in the company. Will that help?

Must we pay employees who volunteer at a company-sponsored event?

05/13/2009

Q. Our company is sponsoring a community art fair, and several employees have volunteered to help at the event. Do we need to compensate those employees for the time they spend volunteering?

Can we terminate an H-1B immigrant?

05/13/2009

Q. We are sponsoring an immigrant worker on an H-1B visa. Because of performance issues, we would like to terminate his employment. Can we do this?

12 weeks? 26? 38? Counting time off when caregiver leave and FMLA overlap

05/12/2009

The FMLA grants 12 weeks of unpaid leave to handle a serious medical condition. Military family caregiver leave rules provide for 26 weeks off. But what happens when an employee can invoke both, for example, when she must care for a wounded military spouse while she is pregnant?

ADA: Consider what’s a ‘major life activity’

05/11/2009

Employees who cannot drive a motor vehicle due to a physical or psychological reason don’t automatically qualify for ADA protection. That’s because driving is not a major life activity. Therefore, an employee who claims that she panics when she has to get behind the wheel isn’t entitled to transfer to a nondriving position as a reasonable accommodation.