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Employment Law

Delta uses Minnesota jobs as a bargaining chip

12/09/2008

A Delta Air Lines official recently told state legislators the airline would consider keeping more operations in the Twin Cities if the Metropolitan Airports Commission agreed not to force early repayment of bonds owed by Northwest Airlines, which Delta acquired in October.

Be prepared to grant FMLA leave for diagnosis of serious health condition

12/09/2008

Routine doctors’ appointments such as checkups or annual physicals aren’t considered eligible for FMLA leave, but appointments aimed at diagnosing a condition may be. Employers that know the employee is seeing a specialist as part of the followup to an auto accident, for example, are on notice that the employee may need to take FMLA leave …

It’s OK to ban prescription drugs if you have genuine safety concerns

12/09/2008

Employees who take certain prescription drugs for legitimate medical conditions may be unable to work safely if their jobs involve heavy machinery, split-second judgment or the ability to remain alert. If that’s the case, it’s not disability discrimination to ban employees from working while on those medications.

Stop ‘who said what’ lawsuits: Draft policy disavowing oral pay agreements

12/09/2008

Oral agreements concerning compensation and bonus payments can be enforced in court, and that can lead to tricky “who said what” legal problems. Those are problems you can easily prevent with the help of good legal counsel.

Employee in drug treatment? Consider DATWA before firing

12/09/2008

Do all your supervisors and HR staff understand how Minnesota’s Drug and Alcohol Testing in the Workplace Act works? If not, train everyone now or face the possibility of punitive damages.

Yes to a Christmas tree but no to a menorah?

12/09/2008

Your company probably put up a Christmas tree to brighten the workplace during the holidays. Don’t be surprised if an employee suggests putting up other symbols of the season, such as a menorah. If you reject that suggestion, should you worry that you’ll be ringing in the New Year with a religious discrimination lawsuit?

Meat packer, staffing firm settle with Muslim workers

12/09/2008

St. Cloud-based Gold’n Plump has agreed to pay $215,000 to a group of Somali Muslim workers to settle a religious discrimination lawsuit brought by the EEOC. The company also granted the workers an extra paid break for prayer during the second half of each shift.

What should we do about employee’s bright solution to seasonal affective disorder

12/09/2008

Q. With the change in the seasons, an employee who claims to suffer from seasonal affective disorder wants to put up a special lighting fixture by her desk that she says will provide natural-spectrum light. Some employees complained last year when she put up this light that it was bothersome and distracting to them. Do we have to let the employee use the light? What do we tell other employees?

Must we offer severance payments?

12/09/2008

Q. It looks like it will be necessary for our company to lay off several employees. Can you tell me whether we are required to pay severance? If so, how much?

Former TV producer ups the ante in disability suit

12/08/2008

Erin Primmer, former producer of “The Montel Williams Show,” has increased the amount of her disability discrimination lawsuit against CBS by a whopping $3 million. Primmer claims she was wrongfully fired after she collapsed from a brain aneurysm in 2007 …