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Employment Law

Being overly friendly isn’t harassment

05/06/2009

Title VII protects employees from discrimination based on sex, and sexual harassment is sex discrimination. That doesn’t mean, however, that every unwanted work relationship is sexual harassment. As a recent case shows, an obsessive interest, unrelated to sex, by one employee in another isn’t prohibited.

Crack down on association discrimination before it lands you in court

05/06/2009

Does your organization allow or tacitly condone it (by ignoring it) when employees criticize a co-worker who associates with members of a different protected class? If so, you should be aware that disciplining that employee can bring on a lawsuit.

Boss who hired also fired? Back it up anyway to defend against discrimination claims

05/06/2009

Employers are often advised to have the same managers who hired an employee also make the termination decision. The idea is that doing so may scuttle a discrimination lawsuit because it’s illogical for a manager to hire a member of a protected class and then turn around and fire him because of bias against that protected class. Don’t use it as an excuse to get sloppy with record-keeping and documentation.

Don’t worry about retaliation charge if all you did was ask worker to fill in

05/06/2009

It should come as no surprise that employees look for subtle as well as blatant retaliation. In one recent case, the employee thought that being asked to fill in (without being paid extra) for another employee who was on maternity leave was retaliation for her own discrimination complaint.

Be sure to document every employee problem

05/06/2009

You never know which employee will sue you, or when. Take, for example, promotion opportunities. Employees who aren’t picked may think the reason was discrimination. Then they sue. How will you support your promotion decisions?

Unable to work, ineligible for FMLA? You may be able to fire

05/06/2009

Employees who can’t come to work at all because of a disability can’t perform the essential functions of their jobs. Someone who is so incapacitated they cannot work can be discharged.

Employers: ‘Keep Out!’ Beware intruding in employee web sites

05/06/2009

It’s becoming a common problem: An employer discovers disparaging comments on an employee’s Facebook, MySpace or personal blog. Maybe a post reveals internal company information. Can the employer take disciplinary action? A series of new laws and evolving legal doctrines have placed limits on how far an employer can encroach on the private and off-site activities of its employees.

What to do if boss pushes you to hire his unqualified friend

05/05/2009

Say a company exec asks you to hire his relative or friend, or he not so subtly urges you to give the application “strong consideration.” You want to reject the candidate because he’s obviously unqualified. But you don’t want to commit career suicide. What do you do?

A gray area: What to do when older workers start to coast

05/05/2009

When employees approach retirement, they sometimes go on autopilot, frustrating everyone involved, including co-workers and supervisors. But you can demand productivity from such employees and discipline them accordingly. Just be prepared to take special steps to stay away from age bias claims.

Minor adjustments: How to comply with federal teen labor rules

05/05/2009

Your risk of running afoul of the child labor laws has increased, and penalties can be harsh. A recent government study found a surprisingly high percentage of teen employees working longer hours than federal law allows, and also in jobs deemed too dangerous by law. Now, federal and state safety investigators are more interested than ever in child labor compliance.