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Employment Law

Building supplier settles bias case for $495,000

05/05/2009

White Plains-based Marjam Supply, a building supply company, has agreed to pay $495,000 to settle the complaints of five black employees. The five filed charges with the EEOC, charging the supervisors repeatedly used racial slurs, talked about joining the Ku Klux Klan and threatened to burn crosses on the workers’ lawns.

7th Circuit reverses ‘cat’s paw’ verdict

05/05/2009

When the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, whose decisions cover Illinois, began acknowledging the “cat’s paw” theory of discrimination, it appeared to open employers to greater liability.

10 ways to stay out of legal trouble while trimming staff

05/04/2009

Even as we watch the stock market slowly recover, organizations are still laying off employees and searching for ways to cut overhead. If your organization is eliminating even one job, plan it carefully. A hasty layoff can create legal problems that cost more down the road than keeping the employee would have. Here are 10 things to consider:

Warn bosses: No negative comments on injuries

05/04/2009

There’s a fine line between legitimate concerns that an employee is abusing the workers’ compensation system and punishing the employee who has a legitimate claim. Here’s the best way to handle the problem.

Document discipline investigation steps to show sincerity, lack of discrimination

05/04/2009

Employers that want to make sure their termination decisions stick should carefully track each step of the underlying investigation. That’s the only way they can show a court they acted in a “reasonably informed and considered” way. Here’s how to document your investigation:

Rule No. 1 for evaluations: The employer—not the employee—sets the standards

05/04/2009

Some employees think they know their jobs better than their supervisors do. They want to decide which parts of their jobs are important and which parts are not. Then, when evaluation time rolls around, they try to show that they achieved their own goals for their jobs—even though management wanted other goals met. Don’t let this happen.

FMLA error costs employer more than $100,000

05/04/2009

A federal court has awarded more than $100,000—plus enhanced pension benefits—to an employee who was fired when the company wrongly believed his FMLA leave had expired.

Insisting on ‘100% healed’ may violate FMLA rules

05/04/2009

Employees who take FMLA leave are entitled to return to their jobs, or substantially equivalent ones. Employers often want a return-to-work certification to show that the employee is healthy enough to come back. But it can be risky to insist that the employee return without any restrictions at all …

Bill aims to stem Ohio’s looming nursing shortage

05/04/2009

Forty percent of Ohio’s 153,310 nurses will leave the profession within the next 10 years, according to a state government survey. It won’t be easy to train replacements because the state lacks qualified nursing school instructors. A bill in the Ohio Senate seeks the best ideas to combat the coming shortage.

Labor union steps up Wal-Mart organizing campaign

05/04/2009

The United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) has sighted Wal-Mart in its cross-hairs. The union has sent 60 organizers to more than 100 Wal-Mart stores in 15 states to try to crack the nation’s largest employer.