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Employment Law

Employee contracts prevail, even in wartime

12/04/2008

The U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has sent to arbitration a case against Blackwater Worldwide brought by the family members of four guards who were killed in Iraq.

Durham cops under investigation for slurring Obama

12/04/2008

Two Durham police officers are being investigated for allegedly posting racially charged comments about President-elect Barack Obama on their MySpace web pages in the days following the election.

Audit calls for executive oversight of state health plan

12/04/2008

An executive body should administer the health insurance plan that covers some 650,000 North Carolina teachers and state employees, not the legislative committee that currently oversees it, says an audit report released by State Auditor Leslie Merritt.

Choose your words carefully to avoid ‘accidental contracts’

12/04/2008

Most employment contracts are written documents prepared with the assistance of an attorney. However, an employment contract can be oral, written, or partially oral and partially written. If an employer isn’t careful, it’s easy to unknowingly enter into an employment contract with an employee.

Must we allow former employees access to personnel files?

12/04/2008

Q. A former employee has contacted our HR manager demanding a copy of her personnel file. Must we make this available?

How should we handle time off for workers who are emergency volunteers?

12/04/2008

Q. Several employees at our manufacturing facility on the coast are volunteer firefighters and medics. What obligations do we have to those employees who have to miss work to respond to a hurricane or other emergencies?

Can we charge higher premiums for smokers’ health insurance?

12/04/2008

Q. I know North Carolina has a smokers’ rights law. Does this law, or any other law, prevent our company from charging smokers and nonsmokers different group health insurance premiums?

Track attitude if it’s a performance criterion

12/04/2008

Before you use attitude as one of the reasons for rewarding one employee over another, consider how you will defend that decision if another employee thinks it was based on discrimination. Here’s how to use attitude as a decision factor.

Don’t delay paperwork for FMLA leave

12/04/2008

Act fast if you require employees to furnish medical certification for requested time off. Delaying sending the forms may in itself constitute interference with an employee’s right to take FMLA leave.

DOL issues new FMLA rules; time to review your policies

12/04/2008

On Nov. 17, the DOL finalized the first major overhaul of FMLA regulations in 15 years. Some changes favor employers; others will make FMLA compliance trickier than ever. They will require changes to your policies.