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Employment Law

Never ignore supervisor harassment

12/02/2019
When employees complain that their supervisor is engaging in harassing behavior, don’t ignore the complaints. Instead, fully investigate and make sure any comments stop, fast. Then check back to verify the environment has indeed changed.

Note refusal to cooperate in ADA process

12/02/2019
When a disabled worker needs an accommodation, the process is supposed to be interactive, with give-and-take discussions over what’s an appropriate and reasonable accommodation. If an employee won’t cooperate, carefully document her refusal.

California becomes 3rd state to bar ‘no rehire’ clauses

12/02/2019
In September, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB749, legislation that prohibits employers from barring sexual harassment victims from being rehired by the employer.

Finite leave may be valid accommodation

12/02/2019
It’s a difficult problem: A new employee hasn’t yet earned any leave but needs to take time off for a disability-related reason. It’s a mistake to automatically terminate such an employee. Slow down.

Despite law, 70 California firms have no women on boards

12/02/2019
Last year, the state passed a law requiring companies headquartered in California to have at least one female director on their board. As a result, female representation in California boardrooms has risen 23%. However, not all California firms received the message.

Prior service counts toward FMLA eligibility

12/02/2019
To be eligible for job-protected FMLA leave, employees must have worked for you for at least one year and for 1,250 hours in the preceding year. The minimum one-year service requirement, however, doesn’t have to be met by a single, uninterrupted 52-week period.

EEOC claims $486 million for victims of workplace bias

12/02/2019
The EEOC secured $486 million for victims of discrimination in the workplace in fiscal year 2019, according to the commission’s annual financial report.

Hiring doesn’t end accommodation process

12/02/2019
The obligation to accommodate disabled job applicants is ongoing, throughout the employee’s tenure on the job. That’s the lesson recently learned by an employer that should have known better.

Background checks cost retailer $6 million

12/02/2019
You may think it’s good business to run criminal background checks on all applicants. It’s not. In fact, poorly run criminal background checks can be a multi-million dollar mistake.

Ensure disciplinary documents contain enough detail to justify harsh punishment

11/30/2019
Details are especially important when different employees break similar rules and you punish some more harshly than others. You need to be able to show why you fired one employee while another whose misconduct was identical was allowed to keep his job.